Tips for case report success

If you are struggling to get started with your case reports you are not alone!

Here are my top ten tips for provisional psychologists who are delaying starting their case reports...

I know it sounds obvious, but you just need to start.

I often speak to people who put off starting their case reports for various reasons. I get it! The internship is challenging and there are so many tasks to complete, but putting things off won’t make it any easier…

I challenge you to set a timer for 30 minutes and just make a start. Dig out the guidelines, consider some suitable cases, jot down some bullet points or even just diarise some time over the next few weeks and months to focus on these reports.

Once you’ve made this commitment to yourself, it will feel easier to return to.

Case reports are a vital component of the internship as they showcase your expertise in a range of different areas such as assessment, diagnosis, case formulation, treatment planning and evidence-based practice.

View this as an opportunity to demonstrate the breadth and range of your skills to yourself, your supervisor and AHPRA. It may also provide you with a chance to reflect on and reinforce all the great work you have accomplished so far!

When writing your first case report, choose a presentation that is within your scope of practice and that you feel confident with.

I suggest that you initially select the most straightforward cases you have worked with, as there is quite a lot to fit into a limited word count.

As you progress with your reports, you could begin to introduce some different presentations to showcase your knowledge and skills in different assessment tools, diagnostic categories and evidence-based interventions.

But keep it simple to start with!

Before I introduced my Case Report Challenge to all my primary supervisees, I would often receive requests to review initial draft reports where the diagnosis section was left until the end.

It is essential to have a clear diagnosis from the start, as it helps in determining the information to include in each section of the case report. It also helps to develop a comprehensive client presentation as the report progresses, allowing the reader to understand the assessment process and how the working diagnosis was reached.

To avoid feeling overwhelmed, I recommend beginning by deciding what content to include in each section rather than worrying about how to write it.

Trying to get it perfect can often hinder progress, so making a list of bullet points is a helpful starting point.

After you have all the necessary information, you can rearrange the points as needed, before writing it up in paragraph format. Once you have everything organized, writing it up will be much simpler.

My case report challenge guides you to complete one section of the report at a time. I suggest that you work through the sections in a particular order (with the diagnosis section at the beginning) so you get a sense of completion and don’t leave too many “gaps” to come back to later.

It's always possible to make changes and revisions later, but it's better to get started and have something done rather than striving for perfection from the outset.

There are no silly questions!

The AHPRA case reports have a specific format that can be challenging even for experienced report writers, including supervisors.

For someone new to these reports, it can be difficult to know what is expected in each section. If you are uncertain about any aspect, it is best to seek clarification from a supervisor who has experience in submitting these reports.

Most likely, your supervisor has answered similar questions numerous times before. They also want AHPRA to approve your case reports, so don’t hesitate to ask for help and clarification if needed.

As a supervisor, reading a complete draft of a case report from beginning to end allows me to gain a clear understanding of the case and determine whether any changes are needed to AHPRA’s requirements (after reviewing these reports for over 10 years I have a pretty good understanding of whether a report is likely to pass or not).

It is harder to do this when reports are half-finished or have sections missing, and this typically takes up more of your supervision time. Your supervisor will still need to read the report from beginning to end in one sitting to ensure that it contains all the required information and clearly flows from one section to the next.

Remember that your first draft does not have to be perfect.

Supervision is valuable, so I encourage you to use the time as efficiently as possible.

It can be such a relief to finish and submit your first case report! While you will want to take a well-earned break, I suggest not leaving it too long before starting your next case report.

Once you are familiar with the structure and requirements of these reports, they do get easier (I promise!)

Picture yourself having completed all your case reports. Focus on the emotions, feelings and sensations that go with that to stay motivated and keep up the momentum.

Reward yourself when you complete a case report AND when a report is approved by AHPRA.

When learning something new, we sometimes get so caught up in trying to improve that we forget to take a moment to recognize and appreciate our accomplishments.

Finishing a case report is a huge achievement that should be celebrated and acknowledged. The journey to registration is long and challenging, so I recommend taking the time to recognize and appreciate your hard work and effort whenever possible.

I can show you how to write a case report from scratch in just 2 weeks. My Case Report Challenge provides a step-by-step guide to writing both assessment and intervention case reports, including video tutorials, templates and examples of how to write up each section.