title: A case report curriculum to promote scholarship.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Engaging in scholarly activity during residency can facilitate the acquisition of important skills; however, residents may encounter barriers such as unclear expectations as to what constitutes scholarship, a paucity of dedicated time and a lack of mentorship. Residents may encounter barriers such as unclear expectations as to what constitutes scholarship OBJECTIVE: In July 2013, we developed a Case Report Curriculum (CRC) for first-year residents to guide them towards creating a high-quality case report and helping them to achieve the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education scholarly activity requirement.
  
  
  METHODS
  The CRC is composed of four 1-hour educational sessions (seminars and group work) at intervals of 4-6 weeks, with specific homework assignments. Sessions are divided into four topics: (1) importance of scholarship and selecting a case; (2) defining appropriate learning objectives; (3) writing a discussion; and (4) editing and submitting. The culmination of the CRC is a poster competition at our institutional Academic Week.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2012/13, the year prior to CRC implementation, six of 18 (33%) first-year residents participated in scholarly activity. During the following 2 years, 20 of 20 (100%) of the 2013/14 first-year residents and 21 of 22 (95%) of the 2014/15 first-year residents participated in the CRC and presented a case report. Furthermore, 16 of 20 (80%) of the first-year residents who completed the CRC in 2013/14 voluntarily continued to work on scholarly projects, with a total of 44 projects published or presented regionally or nationally.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CRC represents a practical structured framework for promoting scholarship, which can be easily implemented in a residency programme.
authors.affiliation: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Behdad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Besharatian
authors.affiliation: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Velez
authors.affiliation: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
authors.affiliation: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stefan
authors.affiliation: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luciano
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods*