Abstract

Background: Writing and presenting clinical case reports is a vital educational activity for medical students, fostering critical thinking, scientific writing, and engagement in scholarly pursuits. Nonetheless, medical students often face barriers and challenges like a lack of training and insufficient mentorship, which hinder their ability to effectively engage in these activities.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 209 medical students in their 4th, 5th, and 6th years at Bisha University’s College of Medicine. Questionnaires were distributed onsite and collected, than interred to our software system via Excel. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 27.
Results: The study revealed that mentorship (72.5%), finding a suitable, interesting case (70%), and financial assistance (69.2%) were the most influential factors in facilitating the writing and presentation of clinical case reports. Key benefits identified included enhanced presentation skills (81.9%), improved scientific writing (79.6%), and strengthened curriculum vitaes/residency applications (83.5%). The primary barriers were a lack of training in reviewing scientific literature (77.9%), insufficient mentorship (74%), and time constraints due to clinical rotations (69.4%).
Conclusion: Writing and presenting clinical case reports enhance critical observation and scientific writing, but barriers like inadequate training and mentorship hinder student participation. Facilitating factors, such as mentorship and engaging cases, highlight the need for structured training programs and institutional support. Integrating case-based scholarly activities and mentorship into the medical school curriculum could maximize these benefits.

Key words: Case reports, Medical Education, Barriers, Training.