Running a Journal Club
Ziba Nadimi
Outreach Library Service Manager
September 2010
Objectives
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Definition
History
Goals
Journal club types
Success Structuring
Useful resources
Conclusion
Definition
“A group of individuals who meet regularly to
critically discuss applicability of current articles found
in medical journals”
Kleinpell, RM, Rediscovering the value of the journal club, Am J
Crit Care, 2002;11:412-4
History
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Journal club was first mentioned in London between
1835 – 1854 in the memoirs of Sir James Paget
describing the situation in St Bartholomew’s Hospital
as:
“Some of the pupils, making themselves into a sort of club, had a small
room over the baker’s shop near the Hospital Gate where we could sit
and read the journals and where some, in the evening, played cards”
(quoted by Linzer, 1987)
Source: Cave MT, Clandinin J. Revisiting the journal club, Med Teach
2007; 29:365-370
Goals
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Keeping abreast with the literature
Promoting evidence-based practice
Teaching research methodology, clinical epidemiology
and statistics
Providing opportunities for training in clinical decision
making
Gaining critical appraisal skills
Informing guidelines development
Goals
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Cont.
Fulfilling continuing professional education’s
requirements and fostering life-long learning
Fulfilling a social role of having regular contacts with
colleagues and have social interaction
Being an important part of continuing medical education
Types of Journal Clubs
Traditional
 Selecting articles
- Selecting random articles- may not be relevant to
current clinical practice
- Appraising them without using any tools to assess
validity and applicability
Types
Cont.
Problem and Evidence-based
 Identifying a current clinical problem
- Clinical problem is then discussed with a senior staff
or among trainees
- The problem is then converted into focused and
answerable question using PICO tool (for population,
intervention, possible comparison and outcome)
 Searching the literature to find the relevant articles using
keywords and search filters
- An information specialist can help in the whole
process
 Critically appraising the selected articles using a checklist
 Presenting and discussing the findings
Successful Structuring
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Having written learning objectives
Having a motivated individual or small group to organise
and run the club
Involving information specialists/librarians to provide
one-to-one or group training in literature searching and
help with critically appraising the retrieved evidence
Maintaining continuity without periodic abandonment
Maintaining regular attendance
Providing food and refreshments
Useful Resources
CATmaker software
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Stores the research question and search strategies
Helps frame the question itself and allows appraisal
Can carry out clinical calculations including confidence
intervals, ratios, numbers needed to treat
Generates files which can be formatted, saved, sorted
and printed using any word processing software
Conclusion
A journal club:
 is an integral part of doctors’ continuing medical
education
 is a step forward in evidence-based practice
 needs to use surveys to assess goals and monitor
satisfaction
References
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Conducting a journal club
Buffington D
http://www.cop.ufl.edu/doty/pep/bufingtonffw2008.ppt
The journal club: a modern model for better service and
training
Yousri A. et al, Education 2006; 8:186-189
How to make journal clubs interesting
Swift, G., Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2004),
vol.10:67-72