How to select a case to write about We suggest that you write about a patient who is currently under your care , someone who can be a part of the writing process and is available for you to double check details, clarify parts of the clinical story, is easy to follow up in person or remotely, and can offer you their individual perspective of their experience of illness and treatment.
Thus, when obtaining consent to submit and publish your manuscript, the patient is fully informed of the process and implications of online publication. As the Internet has evolved, it has become important to safeguard the patient’s identity, thus, we ask that all patient details are anonymised – use age ranges rather than the exact age of the patient, e.g. “a woman in her 20s” is preferable to “a 24 year old woman”, do not describe ethnicity or occupation unless essential to the clinical pathology, do not use the names of places and do not use calendar dates (thus, “January 2022” would be 8 months ago”). Do not upload images where the patient may be identified – check that there is no written identifying information on the images and do not upload facial images. It is common to discuss family history in detail – all individuals mentioned in the manuscript will also need to provide informed consent – use our BMJ consent form.
How to write
Involve your patient from start to finish
Type directly into our templates
Use formal medical English
Illustrate with images and diagrams
Anonymize all patient details
Informed consent from everyone mentioned
Complete all author statements
Address all reviewer comments in earnest
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