Volume 2 - Issue 9
Prabhaharan Renganathana,*, Suresh S. Venkitab
Technical Editor - Kauverian Medical Journal, Kauvery Hospital, Trichy, India
Group Medical Director, Kauvery Hospitals, India
*Correspondence: prabhaharan@kauveryhospital.com(R. Prabhaharan); gmd@kauveryhealthcare.com(Dr. Suresh Venkita)
A journal club is a dedicated meeting where medical practitioners gather to discuss published articles from peer-reviewed journals. These meetings help fellows and residents keep up with current research findings, exercise their critical thinking skills, and improve their presentation and debating abilities. A journal club is a core element of residency and fellowship training in almost every medical specialty.
A journal club is a form of meeting regularly held among health practitioners to discuss recently published literature. The first organized journal club is credited to Sir William Osler, one of the greatest teachers in Medicine, at Montreal, Canada, in 1875, although Sir James Paget described a kind of club among some pupils at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London to read journals together in the period 1835 to 1854. Approximately a decade later, Osler started the first journal club in the United States at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1889 [1]. During the next 100 years and after, it has flourished in various disciplines in the medical field in many countries.
The format of a journal club has evolved over decades. The most commonly recognized formats include a traditional journal club format and a more recently introduced evidence-based format [2].
In the traditional journal club, one trainee presents previously selected articles, and attendees discuss the results and findings. Senior faculty give comments mainly based on their expertise and clinical experience.
The articles are chosen based on clinical questions arising from clinical practice. Discussions include the critical appraisal of methodological aspects of the study and whether the findings would modify clinical practice.
Recently, an innovative flipped journal club was introduced [3].
Flipped format requires senior faculty to select an important clinical topic and a related landmark article, and trainees to select an accompanying background paper and a social medical piece, while also preparing an in-depth discussion in advance.
In recent years, virtual, online, journal club has become increasingly popular.
Large institutions usually decide the topics for discussion and organize the journal club, whereas participants from other centres contribute to the discussion. This format provides great opportunities for practitioners in community hospitals to get updated.
However, each journal club format has its advantages and disadvantages (Table 1). Therefore, the flexible integration of different formats may be considered to fulfil various objectives.
Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of different formats of a journal club
Formats of a Journal Club |
Specific Aim |
Advantage |
Disadvantage |
Traditional format |
Keep up-to-date with recent literature |
No need to prepare in advance for the attendees |
Quality of selected articles is inconsistent; audiences might be ill prepared and disengaged |
Grasp clinical updates in an efficient way |
|||
Evidence-based format |
Improve critique skills |
Promote critical appraisal skills and research skills |
Basic biostatistical and methodological knowledge are needed |
Flipped format |
Engage all learners |
Provide in-depth discussions |
Spend more time on organizing and preparing |
All learners are involved |
|||
Virtual online format |
Make the journal club more accessible |
Easy to access without location restriction |
Interaction among attendees is limited |
Encourage communication among multiple centers |
A journal club could be structured through a series of questions.
The main purpose, and format of the journal club is focussed on the specific educational goals - to gain knowledge about advances in the medical field, and to improve the skills of presentation and communication. The journal club has been recognized as an efficient tool in graduate medical training.
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