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Master of Child and Family Health: Case studies

What is a case study?

A case study is the story of a patient or client in a clinical situation who presents with health or lifestyle challenges. The practitioner must apply critical thinking and knowledge about their practice to this patient’s case. 

Examining case studies is a safe way to expose students to clinical situations. This provides you with the opportunity to research and apply evidence-based practice to the scenario. The questions guide your thinking and focus your response to a specific case.

This applied learning approach develops patient-centred care - the scenario illustrates a possible ‘real world’ situation. Your job is to apply your researched knowledge about theories, standards and practices to the case study.

Writing a case study

Planning

  • Read the instructions carefully. Identify the key knowledge areas to be assessed (the marking rubric can assist with this).
  • Create a mind map based on the case notes. Link information according to patterns you see.
  • Note the assignment questions beside the relevant items of information from the case.
  • Search for peer reviewed journal articles that give answers to the questions and are relevant to the details of the case.

Writing

  • Introduction: State the key topic, why it is important and briefly introduce the case. 
  • Answer questions: If relevant and allowed, create sub-headings for each question, eg. Medication etc. Describe how the theoretical knowledge will be applied to practice relevant to the case study details.
  • Incorporate information: Include information from the case study and use relevant evidence.

Study skills

The study skills website has helpsheets that may be useful for case studies.

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