A: A "case study" or "case report" is an in-depth study of a single patient. You can search for a case study within some of the library’s databases (ie. CINAHL Ultimate and Medline Ultimate) by searching for your topic and selecting "Case Study" under Publication Type on the database homepage.
However, the best place to search for case studies is PubMed, the database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
• Select PubMed from our A-Z Database list.
• Type your condition or topic into the search bar.
• On the left side of the screen, there is a box labeled "Article types".
• Click on "Customize" and then check the box next to "Case Reports" and click the blue "Show" button.
• When you return to the results page, you can click on "Case Reports" under “Article types.”
• You will now only see case reports related to your topic.
If you are unable to view the full text of an article you find on PubMed, check to see if the WCU library has it available in full text. The easiest way to check if the library owns the article is to copy and paste the title of the article into the search bar found in the middle of the library catalog homepage. If the library does not have the article, you can contact your campus library staff to make an Interlibrary Loan request.
