Writing for publication. Part 3: Case reports and conferences

If you flick through this copy of Dental Nursing you will see that there are different styles of articles. All of the articles are useful, but some will appeal to you more than others. This article discusses what are, for me, some of the most interesting article styles—client case studies and project work. I always find myself drawn to these in any professional journal. In addition, this article covers the skills required in writing an abstract for a conference presentation.

I have worked with and taught thousands of nurses over the years. One thing that is common to all of the nurses, is that they are genuinely interested in people's lives and this is true of dental nurses as much as all the other types of nurses there are. Harnessing and capturing the interest and curiosity we all have in people can be achieved using client case studies. Once you are genuinely interested in what you are reading you will learn from it and it will excite you and motivate you to take what you are learning forward into action. That is why case studies are so important in professional publications.