A. Who can participate
Internists up to 35 years of age representing national societies of internal medicine or other institutions who are the official partners of the 4th McMaster International Review Course in Internal Medicine (MIRCIM). Each partner can endorse up to 5 case reports for the contest. Reports are selected by the partner (for instance, through internal qualification).
B. Criteria for submission
1. Only original case reports previously unpublished and not under consideration for publication elsewhere endorsed by a MIRCIM partner may be submitted.
2. Case reports should describe an original observation concerning diagnosis, treatment or both. They should fit into one of the following categories:
- Rare conditions.
- Unusual presentation or complications of a relatively common condition.
- A difficult road to diagnosis.
- Cases of high educational value for other reasons.
C. Stages
Stage 1: Submission of case reports
1. Case reports should be sent by email to MIRCIM secretariat (secretariat@mircim.eu) with a subject “BCRC 2018”. They should include an abstract, a full text and a poster. See below for detailed instructions.
2. Submissions must be made before March 15, 2018.
3. The submitted case report must be accompanied by the following documents:
- PDF of the submission form signed by the presenting author.
- A letter from a MIRCIM partner confirming endorsement of the case report.
Stage 2: Review and selection by the jury
Five members of the jury, chosen by the MIRCIM Scientific Committee, will be responsible for:
- Reviewing all submitted case reports and approving the reports meeting all required criteria.
- Selecting 15 best case reports for stage 3.
Authors of the approved submissions will be contacted by March 31, 2018. Authors will be requested to register for MIRCIM by March 31 and eligible for a reduced fee. Please note that the organizers do not cover any expenses incurred on the part of participants.
Stage 3: Oral presentation
Authors will present their case reports at the conference Clinical Cases in Internal Medicine: Learning Through Practice, which will take place on May 10, 2018.
A single presentation should not exceed 10 minutes, with the number of slides adjusted accordingly, to allow for 5 minutes of experts’ commentary. See below for detailed instructions on oral presentations. All presentations must be sent to MIRCIM secretariat before May 1.
After the conference the jury will award the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place through voting. The results will be announced at the award ceremony on May 11 at 12:25 in the ICE Congress Centre. All authors are required to attend the ceremony.
The oral presentations will be recorded and published on the MIRCIM website (www.mircim.eu) after the conference.
Stage 4: Poster session
All accepted case reports will be presented as paper posters on May 11 in the ICE Congress Centre. Posters will be printed and mounted at the expense of the organizers. Authors are requested to present their posters at indicated times on May 11. Members of the jury will select 3 best posters.
Posters may be collected by authors on May 12 at the registration desk.
D. Jury
1. Experts chosen by the MIRCIM Scientific Committee.
2. Experts delegated by MIRCIM partners participating in the contest.
3. Chair: Prof. Mark Crowther, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Chair of the Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Canada.
E. Awards
Abstracts will be published in the conference proceedings in the Polish Archives of Internal Medicine (www.pamw.pl).
Main awards
| Award | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diploma | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Publication in the Polish Archives of Internal Medicine (IF 2.3) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free attendance at MIRCIM 2019 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free accommodation (up to 3 days) in Kraków at MIRCIM 2019 | Yes | Yes | |
| 1 month observership* in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada) | Yes |
* The winner has to meet the required criteria for observership.
* Please note the application fee is not applicable to the winner of BCRC.
Posters
Authors of the 3 best posters will be awarded a diploma and free attendance at MIRCIM 2019.
F. Guidelines on preparing case reports (abstract, full text, poster)
Medical jargon should not be used. The number of abbreviations should be limited with preference for those commonly used. Abbreviations should be spelled out the first time they are mentioned, except from those commonly recognized (eg, ECG).
Suggested structure of a case report
1. Title (short, informative).
2. Author names (presenting author listed as the first author).
3. Institutional affiliations.
4. First author’s corresponding email address.
5. Introduction (relevance and importance of the case).
6. Case description:
a) Clinical situation.
b) Course of events.
c) Clinical resolution.
7. Discussion.
8. Lessons to be learned from the case.
Suggested reading on writing case reports:
www.acponline.org
Abstract (published in the conference proceedings)
1. Structure: see above.
2. Number of authors: up to 3.
3. Length: up to 500 words.
4. Number of keywords: up to 5.
5. References: none.
6. Figures/tables: none allowed.
Full-text case report (assessed by jurors to qualify for oral presentation)
1. Structure: see above.
2. Number of authors: up to 3.
3. Length: up to 1500 words.
4. Abstract: required, up to 150 words.
5. Number of keywords: up to 5.
6. References: up to 8.
7. Figures/tables: up to 3 figures and 1 table.
Poster
1. Structure: see above.
2. Portrait orientation, A0 size: 1189 mm (height) x 841 mm (width).
3. Font size should allow for reading from 2–3 meters.
G. Guidelines on preparing oral presentation
1. Slide format: 4:3 aspect ratio and 1024 × 768 minimum resolution.
2. Presentations will be played on a computer running Windows 10 and PowerPoint 2016.
3. Presentations must be saved as a PowerPoint PPTX file.
4. Use standard Windows fonts only (avoid non-standard and language-specific fonts).
5. Minimum resolution of embedded images: 300 dpi.
6. Accepted video formats: MP4 (preferred), WMV, AVI.
7. Presentations created on Apple computers should be tested on a Windows computer, preferably running Windows 10, before they are submitted.
8. Private computers may not be used for running presentations.
