Effective Case Reports and Small Case Series

Once the mainstay of scientific journals, in the age of evidence-based medicine, case reports and small series are now considered to represent a lower hierarchy in the medical decision-making process. However, case reports and small series represent the culmination of the time-honored traditional medical education teaching method with the descriptive case presentation. Despite being infrequently cited as references, case reports and small series still offer important contributions to patient care. The authors present a review of the strengths and weaknesses of case reports and small series and discuss ways to incorporate this form of literature into structured medical education.