Polishing the Case Report

Robert, a senior consultant, and Melissa, a resident, are sitting in the staff room reviewing Melissa's draft of a medical case report for publication.

Polishing the Case Report

Listen and choose the right answer

What grammatical feature does Robert advise Melissa to use in her draft?

• Active voice with direct pronouns
• Nominalisation to create formal distance
• Narrative storytelling with dramatic tension

Why was the management decision deferred in Melissa's original draft?

• Because the chief medical officer was in a bad mood
• Due to the unavailability of the CT scanner
• Because the patient decided to self-discharge

What step did Melissa already complete to protect patient privacy?

• Obtaining the editor's personal consent
• The anonymization of the CT scans
• Shortening the manuscript to meet the word limit

What is the twist at the end of the conversation?

• The journal editor rejected the case report completely.
• The editor wants to publish Melissa's informal, humorous draft as a blog post.
• Robert decided not to be a co-author on the paper.

Listen again and complete the sentences

• Robert: Melissa, I've reviewed your first draft of the ____ . The clinical course is fascinating, but we must write up the details in a strict formal style.
• Robert: Exactly! That's the spirit. We also need to rephrase the ____ and your differential considerations to sound less conversational.
• Melissa: Got it. I shouldn't say 'we thought about several things' but rather 'several ____ were evaluated' in the passive voice.
• Robert: Perfect. Now, regarding the ____ , you wrote, 'We decided to wait because the chief was in a bad mood.'
• Robert: Much better. Let's look at the ____ . You've done a solid literature review, but we need to highlight the case's novelty.

Sources: photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels