Case Report Archives
Future Developments
Acupuncture Case Reports is working towards creating a searchable case report database. Throughout the history of Chinese medicine, acupuncturists have pored over the case records of famous physicians to learn how they solved difficult problems. In modern day practice, with the depth of knowledge available to us in acupuncture, a flash of insight or a new connection may be possible to any practitioner. Sharing these insights with the acupuncture community in the Case Report Archive will help to strengthen the field, point us in new directions, and help to improve the quality of acupuncture care for all.
With the growing number of articles and publications available in modern times, compiling acupuncture case reports into a searchable archive will make it possible to sift through the literature to find a case report that sheds light on your challenges in clinic. While a good number of reports have been published in acupuncture journals, it is currently difficult to search for acupuncture case reports as acupuncture journals tend not to be catalogued on databases like PubMed.
Because published case reports have varied greatly in format and level of detail, Writing Acupuncture Case Reports: Theory and Practice was written to establish a standard format for this type of research. While the Case Report Archives will include limited information from previously published case reports, this project aims to curate a wide variety of full text case reports written by modern day acupuncturists about how to solve challenging cases. If enough practitioners are willing to contribute their own case reports, we will be able to create an archive as a professional reference.
What difference can I make?
The effort to build this database depends on you! In order to have an archive, we need contributors. The current case report literature is in its infancy. We will need practitioners of all different styles to contribute, experts in different content areas for peer review, and most of all, both new and experienced acupuncturists willing to spend the time and energy to write professional case reports to share their expertise and grow the field of traditional acupuncture!