If you are staring at your unfinished case report, wondering if you need to take PTO to finish it, you are not alone.
With the July 1 deadline for the ABPTS Oncology application looming, you’re probably feeling the stress to finish everything on time.
But after listening to today’s episode, you are going to feel a huge weight lifted from your shoulders because we’re going to talk all about how it’s possible to finish your case report…
- On time, and
- Without going full hermit mode.
Let’s go!
Now real quick before we dive in:
If you are panicking, as in saying to yourself “I don’t have time to even read this blog post, I’m so behind on my case report,” then Case Report Writing Workshop is exactly what you need. Our signature course walks you through the step-by-step process of outlining, drafting, & writing your case report, with helpful tips to avoid endless re-writes you don’t have time for.
Don’t just slap together a case report – write one you’re proud to put your name on. Start today at TheOncoPT.com/workshop.
Reverse Engineer Your Deadline
Before you start writing (or keep writing any more), you need to get crystal clear on your writing plan. The most effective way to do this is by creating a backward plan, aka starting with the end in mind.
Let’s work through an example:
- If you want to submit your case report and application by June 30, your case report obviously needs to be done by this date.
- However, your case report absolutely must be reviewed by colleagues, trusted friends, mentors, etc. before you submit. Therefore, you should give yourself at least a week for your reviewers to read your case report & provide meaningful feedback. So your case report needs to be finished by June 23.
- With this in mind, do the math to determine how many writing days you realistically have left. Then plot out the remaining parts of your case report on your calendar.
- Last step: get to work!
No matter if you’re submitting for the July 1 deadline or the September 30 deadline, this process of reverse engineering your deadline will keep you focused on the finish.
Make sure to be realistic with your writing time. Don’t overcommit yourself and get burned out writing a sloppy case report.
One of the biggest mistakes I see is people spending hours polishing their introduction or coming up with the perfect title instead of locking down the actual case narrative. In Case Report Writing Workshop, we dive deep into how to structure your case report and conquer all ABPTS-required sections so you’re not wasting time spinning your wheels.
Write Out of Order
Another big mistake in case report writing is trying to write your case report in order.
This is a BIG MISTAKE because you get hung up on the finishing touches, rather than the foundation of your case report!
Instead, you should start by writing what’s easiest or clearest for you. A great place to start is the Case Narrative, which includes the patient’s background and presentation, examination, evaluation, plan of care, and outcomes of the case. These sections are you communicating WHAT HAPPENED in your episode of care, which is fairly black and white.
Once you’ve established the Case Narrative, then you can work on other sections that require more interpretation, scientific references, and frankly contemplation.
You should save the abstract, key words, title, & other finishing touches for the verrrrrrrry end of your case report, once everything else is complete.
Done Is Better Than Perfect
You didn’t get to be an OncoPT without ruthless dedication to becoming the best possible physical therapist for your patients with cancer. Maybe there is even a smidgeon of perfectionism amidst that pursuit.
However, perfection is not something to strive for in your case report. You should be striving for DONE.
There’s a quote we talk about in Case Report Writing Workshop:
“The pursuit of perfection is actually the practice of procrastination.”
In essence, pursuing perfection while writing your case report is the fastest way to get stuck in perfection paralysis.
Obsessing over the perfect way to structure a sentence is not going to get your case report accepted. Submitting your case report by the deadline is the single best way to get your case report accepted.
If you get stuck on a section, jot down bullet points of your thoughts or important points you want to include, and then move onto another section.
Your Next Step: Case Report Writing Workshop
Once you’ve determined your deadline & backwards plan to achieve your case report goal by this deadline, decide right now what section you’ll focus on today. Block 30 minutes of distraction-free writing time, & get to work. It’s amazing what you can accomplish by starting.
If you’re serious about finishing your case report without burning yourself out — or using up your precious PTO — I want to personally invite you to Case Report Writing Workshop. No fluff, no perfectionism. Just a finished case report you can be proud of. Join now at TheOncoPT.com/workshop before the deadline hits.
Want to watch the episode instead?
Watch this week’s episode of TheOncoPT Podcast on our YouTube channel!
Transcript
Elise Cantu (00:19)
Hey Onco PT and welcome back to this episode of the Onco PT podcast. We are continuing with our specialization arc of episodes that we’re doing here in June. And today we are talking a little bit more about the case report. We teased it a little bit in last episode with our year ahead look at the specialization journey. Now we’re really going to talk about the case report because if you are staring at your unfinished case report,
wondering if you need to take PTO to finish it by the deadline, you are not alone. With the real time July 1st deadline of the ABPTS oncology application looming, you’re probably feeling the stress to try and finish it on time. But after listening to today’s episode, you are going to feel a huge weight lifted off of your shoulders because in today’s episode,
We are going to talk all about how it is possible to finish your case report on time and without going into full hermit mode. Let’s get into it.
Now, real quick, before we dive in, if you are panicking real time as you were listening to this, saying to yourself, I don’t even have time to finish this podcast episode. I am that behind on my case report. Then Case Report Writing Workshop is exactly what you need. This signature course walks you through the step-by-step process of outlining, drafting, and writing your case report with helpful tips to avoid the endless rewrites you don’t have time for.
Don’t just slap your case report together. Write a case report that you’re proud to put your name on. Start writing today at TheOncoPT.com/workshop and I will see you inside.
Now our first tip on how to not make case report writing your full-time job from now until the deadline is to reverse engineer your deadline. So before you start writing or before you start writing anymore, depending on where you’re at, you need to get crystal clear on what your writing plan is. And the most effective way to do this is to create a backwards plan, AKA start with the end in mind. Let’s work through an example.
So if you are aiming for the July 1st deadline, I would say you should probably have your case report and application submitted on June 31st in case things happen. Websites crash. Gosh knows there’s a whole bunch of other things that happen. my gosh, we had a hailstorm the other day and our power went out. Okay, great example. Stuff happens. Don’t leave this until the last possible minute, AKA July 1st or whatever your deadline is. So I would encourage you.
Make a plan to have your application including your case report submitted on June 30th. Now in order to do that, your case report obviously has to be done by this date. But if you are implementing what we preach here at the OncoPT, which is that you need to have other people reviewing your case report before you submit it, they’re going to need time for that.
And so we would recommend that you actually need to finish your case report two weeks before your deadline, whatever that is, so that you have time to share your case report with those reviewers. Again, like your colleagues, your trusted friends, your mentor. I had my former clinical, my former clinical instructor review mine. Highly recommend it was outstanding.
but you need to give them about a week to review that case report. And then you need to give yourself about a week to get that case report back, review that feedback, and then actually implement it into your case report as you need to. So you need to actually backdate the finish date quote of your case report two weeks in front of whatever that, you know, again, we’re talking.
July 1st deadline, submitted on June 30th, so whatever two weeks before June 30th is. So with this in mind, you can use this beginning with the end in mind to work backwards and do the math and determine how many writing days do you actually have left? What all do you need to finish in your case report? What needs to be done still?
and then you can plot out those remaining sections of your case report onto a calendar. And I really would do this. I would take and assign, okay, this section of my case report is going to be done on this day. And I really would at the beginning, I would go section by section of this. So once you’ve plotted out the remaining sections of your case report onto the remaining days of your calendar, now it’s actually time to get to work, right? Start writing and start doing the thing that you actually need to do.
No matter if you are submitting for that July 1st deadline or the September 30th deadline, this process of reverse engineering your deadline is going to work the same. It is going to keep you focused on the finish and work backwards so that you can realistically plan what needs to be done in that timeframe. Now I say that on purpose, realistic, because you do need to be realistic with your writing time. As wonderful
and as incredible as you are. You know it. That’s why you’re here. As incredible, amazing, wonderful, chef’s kiss perfection that you are, you are not a superhuman.
And there is a limit to how much you can write and write well in a day. You do have to be realistic with what am I going to write in this amount of time, right? Do not over commit yourself and get burned out writing a sloppy case report that then isn’t even submission ready by the time that the deadline rolls around. One of the…
biggest mistakes that I see people make when writing their case report. This is why I harp on this so much is that they don’t stay focused on these are all the things that I have to get done. I’m going to put them on the calendar to get done. Instead, what happens is they spend too much time focusing on one specific area of their case report. So for example, spending hours
polishing their introduction when their discussion isn’t even drafted yet or spending hours coming up with the perfect title for their case report when their you know, their case narrative section of the case report isn’t even done yet. In Case Report Writing Workshop, we dive deep into how to structure your case report and conquer each of those AB PTS required sections.
so that you’re not wasting your time spinning wheels. You address all of the requirements of the ABPTS oncology case report, and you can get that submitted by the deadline. Remember, you can save your seat today at the oncopt.com slash workshop, and we will walk you through each of those steps. So that is one of the big mistakes. Do not make that mistake. And if you need help avoiding that mistake, my friend, Case Report Writing Workshop is here for you.
Now our next lesson, our next ⁓ step in how to not let case report writing consume us is to actually write out of order. And this is something that we actually implement in Case Report Writing Workshop and I recommend every case report writer implement. You should not try to write your case report from start to finish, from the first prompt to the last prompt in order as you’re doing this.
This is a huge mistake because you are actually going to get hung up on the finishing touches first rather than the foundation of your case report. Let me give a perfect example. The very first blank or prompt or response that you have to type into your application for your case report is the title.
That should actually be the last thing that you write, completely serious. Your title is the ultimate summary of your case report. It is the one liner that is going to tell me generally what is this case report about? And also, is this something I’m interested in? Is this something that would be worth spending my time reading? Now you and I know that your case report is definitely worth spending the time to read on, but
It doesn’t hurt to have a title that really jazzes things up and really grabs my attention. You can’t do that. You cannot write a great title for your case report if you don’t know what the rest of your case report is going to be about. That needs to be at the very end. So those first few ⁓ sections of your case report, the title, the keywords, the abstract, those need to be the last things that you write in your case report.
Instead, what you need to do is you need to start by writing what’s easiest or what’s clearest for you. And many times this is going to be the case narrative sections of your case report. This is going to include the patient’s background, their presentation, you know, like how did they come and see you for the first time or, you know, that you went and saw them for the first time.
the examination that you did on this patient, the evaluation, the plan of care, the outcomes of the case. These are very black and white sections, as in they’re more factual. The patient was experiencing this. This was the result of the timed up and go that I did, right? This is information that you can also pull directly from.
chart notes, right? And that is part of this. Like you do have to reference charts and whatnot. We really recommend that you start writing that section first because you can source it directly from notes. It’s very factual. It is a what happened. We’re not asking you to put too much energy and effort yet into the interpretation or the this is why I’m a specialist. We recommend case narrative first. Again, we’re black and white. The what happened in your episode of care.
And then moving into the other sections that require more interpretation, scientific references, and frankly, contemplation, so that you can show and ultimately communicate in your writing that you are a specialist in oncology physical therapy, AKA the whole reason why we’re doing a case report. The abstract, the keywords, the titles, very, very last thing you do. Those.
and other sections depend on you being crystal clear, solid as a mountain on this is what happened in my case report. And then this is why I chose to implement these things in my case report. This is what I would have changed. This is what I would have kept the same, et cetera. You have to have this foundation of your case report before you can start putting the sprinkles on top.
of your ice cream sundae. There is an order to writing. It is not the order that those ⁓ sections of your case report are listed in. So please be aware of that. Now, as we’re kind of wrapping up on different tips here, the last kind of big tip that I’ll talk to you about here is done is always better than perfect. You didn’t get to here.
You didn’t get to be the onco PT that you are today without a ruthless dedication to becoming the best possible physical therapist that you can be for your patients with cancer. That’s the truth. I’m not trying to pull your leg here. This is the truth. You put a tremendous amount of work and energy and time and probably a little blood, sweat and tears to get to where you are today. At the cusp
of becoming a specialist in oncology physical therapy. And I would imagine based on some of you that I know and who I will know shortly who listened to this podcast, there’s probably even a smidge of perfectionism that carried us to this point for better for worse. Perfectionism has no place in writing a case report.
Perfectionism is not something that you should strive for in your case report. You should be striving for done in your case report. There is a quote that we talk about in Case Report Writing Workshop that I actually came up with by myself. It’s based on lots of, you know, lots of info being poured into me from lots of many great other thinkers. But here’s the quote. The pursuit of perfection is actually the practice of procrastination.
marinate in that for a little bit. In essence, pursuing perfection in your case report is the fastest way to get stuck in perfection paralysis.
obsessing over the perfect way to structure a sentence or a phrase in your case report is not going to get your case report accepted. Submitting your finished case report by the deadline is what is going to get your case report accepted. A perfect case report is not a done case report until it’s submitted.
And even then I wouldn’t consider it perfect. You’re, and I’m not saying be sloppy, right? I don’t want you to be sloppy with your case report. It needs to be done. It needs to be finished. It does not need to be perfect. Because again, we, a human, are dealing with a human on the other side of this patient case, right? Your patient was a human. And I would wager,
because I know my case report did, there were things that I would definitely change going back. Like I would, there were a couple of outcome measures that upon reflection, I was kind of kicking myself saying, I really should have included that. I will do that in the future. My patient, ⁓ may have heard me talk about this before, who I ultimately wrote my case report on, had multiple challenges, ⁓ kind of adverse events that threw off our plan of care. Guess what?
That’s called working with a human who also happens to have cancer on top of everything. That’s just how it is. So my case report, not perfect, but it’s done. It’s finished and it was accepted. And that’s what matters, my friend. So if you happen to, you know, as you’re writing and you’re getting stuck on a section and you are like, I am not making any more progress on this. Like, I don’t know what to do here. What I would recommend.
especially to not get stuck in this like perfection paralysis jot down some thoughts or some important points you want to communicate in that section and then move on to a different one. But do not obsess over getting things perfect because you will be paralyzed by this. Again, I do have to give myself like two snaps here. Remember this quote, the pursuit of perfection is actually the practice of procrastination.
Okay, now that we’ve committed this to memory, we’ve ingrained this on the inside of our skulls so that our brains can read this all the time. Let’s go ahead and start writing our case report, okay? So your next step, where do you go from here? Where do you go from this podcast episode? Once you’ve determined your deadline, reverse engineered it, remember, and backwards planned to achieve your case report goal by whatever deadline you pick, decide right now. Okay, I’m talking to you, let me talk to you.
decide right now what section of your case report you are going to focus on today.
Set a timer for 30 minutes. That’s it. Okay. Just 30 minutes. Set a timer for 30 minutes of distraction free. there it is. On purpose, distraction free writing time and get to work. It is amazing what you can accomplish by getting started. I know. I know friend. Now, if you are serious about finishing your case report without burning yourself out,
Or having to use up your precious PTO, I want to personally invite you to Case Report Writing Workshop. No fluff, no perfectionism, just a finished case report that you will be proud of. You can now join Case Report Writing Workshop at TheOncoPT.com/workshop before your deadline hits. And until next time, this is Elise with the Onco PT. And remember, you
are exactly the physical therapist that your patients with cancer need. So let’s get to work.