Avoid copying and pasting your text. Concise statements will grab people’s eyes and leave you more space for charts and images. Visuals grab the reader’s eye better than small-font text.
Conclusion
Your first clinical vignette can be a truly great experience. Although it is a lot of hard work, presenting clinical thought is a skill that you must learn. Once you do this, you might find that you have “caught the bug,” and will find yourself well on your way to a role in medical education. You might even start a larger project based on this experience.
Alfred Burger, MD, is associate program director of internal medicine residency in the department of medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center and assistant dean and assistant professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, both in New York City.
Elizabeth A. Paesch, MD, is a comprehensive care physician in the section of hospital medicine at the University of Chicago, and assistant professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
Chad S. Miller, MD, is director of student programs, associate program director, residency, and associate professor of medicine in the department of medicine at Tulane Health Sciences Center in New Orleans.
Note: Learn how you can share your story with The Rheumatologist. Visit http://www.the-rheumatologist.org/view/forAuthors.html.
Reprinted with permission from the Society of Hospital Medicine. The Society of Hospital Medicine will be accepting clinical vignettes, research and innovation submissions for Hospital Medicine 2015 through December 10, 2014. For more information, visit www.hospitalmedicine2015.org.
