I am writing this message on the heels of the AASV Annual Meeting in Nashville. It was a great meeting of learning, collaborating, and connecting with friends and colleagues. I also managed to keep my step count up (I cleared 21,000 steps on Saturday) by walking around the massive Gaylord Opryland Resort. I participated in the Sunday preconference session titled Case Reports, Case Studies, Field Trials, Oh My! It was a great session with lots of gems shared. I wanted to highlight this session as I know not everyone can attend all the sessions, it is not always easy to read the entire proceedings, and I selfishly want to get my message out to the broader membership.
In my proceedings paper and presentation, I discussed the important role that case reports play in veterinary medicine1:
…case reports and case studies play a role in disseminating information about unique or rare cases, unusual disease presentations, management success stories (or limitations), or unexpected outcomes. Case reports are often referenced as foundation reports of emerging diseases or new clinical presentations of a known disease.2 They provide a valuable platform for sharing personal experience(s) and allow others to learn from your observations and expertise.
Who is best suited to have access to case material? Practitioners! And yet, who has the least amount of time to devote to writing up case reports? Practitioners! I get it! When I was in practice, I rarely found time or motivation to write up cases. I was happy getting through my day, solving the problems as they presented. So, I feel a bit hypocritical encouraging practitioners to find the time to write up cases. But I will say this, do not be like me. As I mentioned in a previous message, “As practitioners you are our “first responders” to seeing novel diseases, novel presentations of common problems, an unexpected complication, or perhaps just something interesting that you feel should be communicated in a formal way to your colleagues.”3
Case reports are at the bottom of the pyramid of evidence for evidence-based decision making.4 However, case reports can deliver valuable insights into hypothesis generation and research, as well as for solving problems in practice. Case reports also contribute to learning as an educational resource for new veterinarians. Additionally, getting formalized research into the peer-reviewed literature is always a bit time delayed.
And at the risk of repeating myself, “The journal strives to publish information that is useful for the busy practitioner. How can a busy practitioner become involved in contributing to the peer-reviewed literature? Consider contributing a case report or case study to the journal.”3
There are detailed author guidelines and genre templates that you can find online that outline the format for case report and case study articles. As always, the journal staff are here to help you. Please feel free to contact the journal office if you need any general guidance on how to proceed.
Terri O’Sullivan, DVM, PhD
Executive Editor
References
*1. O’Sullivan T. From farm observations to publication: Practical considerations on how to prepare and publish case reports, case studies, and field research. In: Proc of the 55th AASV Annual Meeting – Seminar #8. American Association of Swine Veterinarians; 2024:3-5. https://doi.org/10.54846/am2024/s8-1
2. Florek AG, Dellavalle RP. Case reports in medical education: a platform for training medical students, residents, and fellows in scientific writing and critical thinking. J Med Case Rep. 2016;10:86. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13256-016-0851-5
*3. O’Sullivan T. Practitioner case reports [Editorial]. J Swine Health Prod. 2021;29(5):233.
4. Sargeant JM, Brennan ML, O’Connor AM. Levels of evidence, quality assessment, and risk of bias: Evaluating the internal validity of primary research. Front Vet Sci. 2022;9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.960957
* Non-refereed references.