07/23/2008

Op-Ed  Page.

The Op-Ed page is a collection of articles written about any topic related to medicine that may be useful to the medical student. It is not the “editorial” point of view of the Finlay Medical Society, the entity that sponsors and maintains this site. The readers, their interests, issues, and their willingness to go on the record sharing their points of view in a rational and civilized manner will dictate the content of the Op-Ed page. The decision to accept or reject an article for publication in this section will center on the timeliness, creativity, clarity, ingenuity, strength of argument, freshness of opinion, clear writing and newsworthiness of the material in the eyes of the reviewers.

The SOM Journal will accept Op-Ed articles on any topic from students or faculty members involved in training medical students. Op-Ed articles should not exceed 750 words in length.

Articles may be sent in any of these two ways:

By e-mail to: SOMJournal@finlay-online.org 

Or by mail to:

SOM Journal
Op-Ed Page
PO box 523096
Miami. Florida 33152

If you haven't heard from us within three weeks, you can assume we are not able to post your article on the Op-Ed page. If we review your article and suggest a revision, you are encouraged to resubmit it once it has been revised.

Review topics

Review topics may be submitted provided they are:

1.      Original work written by student or students

2.      Topic is selected and limited appropriately

3.      Length is limited to 2,500 words maximum

If more than author is involved, the precise role of each of them must be defined in the cover letter of this type of submission.

Articles may be sent in any of these two ways:

By e-mail to: SOMJournal@finlay-online.org 

Or by mail to:

SOM Journal
Review Topics
PO Box 523096
Miami. Florida 33152

Case Report Page

Case reports are published by a number of journals. Since 1966 more than 6000 cases have been published in the medical literature. In general, cases that should be reported in the general medical literature are cases that fall into one or more of these categories:

1.      Provides important demonstration of certain aspect of the illness – including its natural history - or the treatment.

a.       Clinical presentation

            i.      History

            ii.      Physical examination

            iii.      Laboratory studies

            iv.      Other objective tests

 2.      Demonstrates bizarre or unexpected case or a common case with a bizarre or uncommonly seen natural history

                                                  i.      Clinical course

                                                  ii.      Therapeutics

                                                  iii.      Survival

3.      Demonstrates a complication and how it can be avoided.

                                                   i.      Work up

                                                  ii.      Therapeutics

                                                  iii.      Follow up

                                                  iv.      Education

 4.      Demonstrates an unusual concurrence of certain pathological processes.

                                                  i.      A new syndrome – unknown until published.

                                                  ii.      A new link between pathological entities

 5.      Demonstrates a deviation from the standard textbook or literature understanding of:

                                                  i.      An illness

                                                  ii.      An ethnic group or race faced with an illness

                                                  iii.      A national trait in reference to an illness

 6.      Demonstrates certain aspects of management dealing with:

                                                  i.      Safety

                                                  ii.      Toxicology

                                                  iii.      Economic features

                                                  iv.      Psychological issues

                                                 v.      Sociologic issues

 7.      Demonstrates particularly well certain issues on a case such as:

a.       Photographs

b.      Detailed follow ups, graphs, tables.

For the general medical literature that you will aspire to write, the features of a particular case that will lend it publishable in a particular journal will depend on these and other issues. However, for the student of medicine, it is necessary to gain experience in:

1.      Identifying cases for publication

2.      Gathering reliable and complete data

3.      Organizing clinical and literature data

4.      Reviewing the pertinent literature

5.      Writing the cases in an organized manner

6.      Arriving at certain valid conclusions.

7.      Referencing the case report

8.      Sharing the report with other students and faculty mentors.

9.      Arriving at a defendable consensus and polishing the presentation.

10.  Selecting a journal for publication

11.  Preparing the case report for submission

12.  Sending it to the journal with a cover letter

13.  Reviewing the case report according to suggestions and questions of reviewers and resubmitting on a timely basis.

14.  Waiting for the mail.

15.  Doing all of this while you take several courses, partake of another rotation and help with the on-call schedule.

 One of the important purposes of this journal is to provide a place where the student of medicine can submit his or her work, have it reviewed and enter into the interchange that later on will lead to an effective publication of a worthy clinical observation.

 We feel that the case report format of publishing clinical data is an ideal first step for a medical student to enter the world of medical writing. Generally, the student is trained in the clinical rotations to present cases to small groups of students and residents. Case presentations are necessary in order to provide continuity of care in group practices, obtain consultations from other services, demonstrate certain aspects of data gathering, education, pathophysiology and therapeutics, and to simply share the experience and obtain feed back on what you are doing in the clinic and the wards. Once the student of medicine has gained familiarity with work rounds case presentations, he or she is ready for a formal case presentation. The next logical step in the line of professional growth is the writing of the case report.

 Case reports will be reviewed promptly. The format will be as follows:

1.      Introduction

2.      Case presentation

a.       History

b.      Physical Examination

c.       Laboratory data

d.      Radiographs

e.       Other objective data

3.      Discussion

a.       Selective yield of appropriate literature searched

b.      Initial differential diagnosis at each stage:

                  i.      History

                  ii.      Physical Examination

                  iii.      Other data

c.       Conclusive diagnosis

                                                            i.      Criteria

                                                            ii.      Gold standard

d.      Management

e.       Outcome

4.      Summary

5.      Key words

6.      References

Tables and figures must be numbered separately, sequentially and individually. The figures are to be numbered with Roman numerals.

One or more students may write the case report. The case report cannot have any identifying numbers or names with which the case presentation may be linked to a particular patient, individual or provider. The purpose of this journal is strictly educational for students of medicine to learn the process of publishing a case report and other writings.

By e-mail to: SOMJournal@finlay-online.org

Or by mail to:

SOM Journal
Case Reports
PO Box 523096
Miami. Florida 33152

Student Chronicles

This section of the journal is devoted to consider submissions of reports, experiences, and anecdotes from students of medicine regarding all facets of their personal experience, interactions with patients and life in general.

At no time, the work submitted will be considered for publication if its purpose and content are directed to a specific complaint or criticism of a person, a rotation or a school. Such criticism should be channeled through the appropriate venues in order to correct whatever fault or deficit exists. The journal provides a venue to share experiences and it does not pretend to enter into the arena of corrective action.

Articles may be sent in any of these two ways:

By e-mail to: SOMJournal@finlay-online.org

Or by mail to:

SOM Journal
Student Chronicles
PO Box 523096
Miami. Florida 33152

Book Reviews

Book reviews may be submitted for publication provided they fit into these criteria:

1.      Published with the last 5 years

2.      Original review written by a student of medicine.

3.      Topic generally of interest to students of medicine

4.      Length of the paper 1,500 words maximum.

5.      Referenced properly

6.      No conflicts of interest

Articles may be sent in any of these two ways:

By e-mail to: SOMJournal@finlay-online.org

Or by mail to:

SOM Journal
Book Reviews
PO box 523096
Miami. Florida 33152

Medical Spanish

The section of the journal will accept short papers on tips, information, and communication skills in medical Spanish useful to the readers. The papers in this section have a 1,000-word limit, maximum.

Articles may be sent in any of these two ways:

By e-mail to: SOMJournal@finlay-online.org

Or by mail to:

SOM Journal
Medical Spanish
PO box 523096
Miami. Florida 33152

Letters

We will also publish representative letters on topics that have been covered in this site.

Letters must be submitted within sis months of the appearance of the source paper. The maximum length for letters is 500 words. Letters may be written by students of medicine, significant others, close friends, wives or husbands, parents, or their children.

Articles may be sent in any of these two ways:

By e-mail to: SOMJournal@finlay-online.org

Or by mail to:

SOM Journal
Letters
PO box 523096
Miami. Florida 33152

The prospective authors are directed to the following site to further information on medical writing for publication:

http://jama.ama-assn.org/misc/ifora.dtl#GrandRounds