Catatan

Seven-plus years ago, as planning for the nascent Journal of Hospital Medicine was well
underway, the journal’s inaugural editor-in-chief, Dr. Mark Williams, challenged us to
create a feature in which an enigmatic clinical case would be presented in a stepwise
manner—in his words, “similar to morning report.” With the ultimate diagnosis masked
until the end of the case, the Clinical Care Conundrum (CCC) format would allow readers
to generate their own hypotheses and differential diagnoses and to compare their thoughts
to comments of an expert discussant unfamiliar with the case. Following the unveiling
of the diagnosis, a concise discussion would review the key features of the case. We
enthusiastically accepted this charge, and over the ensuing years have spent far more
hours involved in the endeavor than any of us anticipated at the outset. The bulk of our
effort has involved developing relationships with authors and helping them nurture their
manuscripts through the review process. Along the way we have found opportunities
to coauthor submissions to the feature ourselves. The series has featured manuscripts
authored by highly seasoned, senior authors, and we have also had the privilege of
working with novice authors and shared their pride in seeing their work in print.