Background: Health-based journal clubs have been in place for over 100 years. Participants meet regularly to critique research articles, to improve their understanding of research design, statistics and critical appraisal. However, there is no standard process of conducting an effective journal club. We conducted a systematic literature review to identify core processes of a successful health journal club.
Method: We searched a range of library databases using established keywords. All research designs were initially considered to establish the body of evidence. Experimental or comparative papers were then critically appraised for methodological quality and information was extracted on effective journal club processes.
Results: We identified 101 articles, of which 21 comprised the body of evidence. Of these, 12 described journal club effectiveness. Methodological quality was moderate. The papers described many processes of effective journal clubs. Over 80% papers reported that journal club intervention was effective in improving knowledge and critical appraisal skills. Few papers reported on the psychometric properties of their outcome instruments. No paper reported on the translation of evidence from journal club into clinical practice.
Conclusion: Characteristics of successful journal clubs included regular and anticipated meetings, mandatory attendance, clear long- and short-term purpose, appropriate meeting timing and incentives, a trained journal club leader to choose papers and lead discussion, circulating papers prior to the meeting, using the internet for wider dissemination and data storage, using established critical appraisal processes and summarizing journal club findings.
Ahmadi N, McKenzie ME, Maclean A, Brown CJ, Mastracci T, McLeod RS; Evidence-Based Reviews in Surgery Steering Group. Ahmadi N, et al. J Surg Educ. 2012 Jan-Feb;69(1):91-100. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2011.07.004. Epub 2011 Oct 2. J Surg Educ. 2012. PMID: 22208839 Review.
Lizarondo L, Kumar S, Grimmer-Somers K. Lizarondo L, et al. J Allied Health. 2010 Spring;39(1):e17-22. J Allied Health. 2010. PMID: 20216996
Duffy JR, Thompson D, Hobbs T, Niemeyer-Hackett NL, Elpers S. Duffy JR, et al. J Nurs Adm. 2011 Oct;41(10):422-7. doi: 10.1097/NNA.0b013e31822edda6. J Nurs Adm. 2011. PMID: 21934429
Berger J, Hardin HK, Topp R. Berger J, et al. J Nurses Staff Dev. 2011 May-Jun;27(3):116-20. doi: 10.1097/NND.0b013e318217b3bc. J Nurses Staff Dev. 2011. PMID: 21602628
Dwyer D. Dwyer D. Int J Evid Based Healthc. 2011 Dec;9(4):388-402. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-1609.2011.00239.x. Int J Evid Based Healthc. 2011. PMID: 22093388 Review.
Schendzielorz J, Jaehn P, Holmberg C. Schendzielorz J, et al. GMS J Med Educ. 2024 Apr 15;41(2):Doc16. doi: 10.3205/zma001671. eCollection 2024. GMS J Med Educ. 2024. PMID: 38779698 Free PMC article.
Pelletier J, Ahn J, Golden A, Astemborski C, Lall MD, Kim A, Dimeo S. Pelletier J, et al. Cureus. 2024 Feb 12;16(2):e54092. doi: 10.7759/cureus.54092. eCollection 2024 Feb. Cureus. 2024. PMID: 38496089 Free PMC article.
Alghamdi AH. Alghamdi AH. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2023 Oct 31;14:1209-1220. doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S429167. eCollection 2023. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2023. PMID: 37928932 Free PMC article.
Moore CE, McBee E. Moore CE, et al. Cureus. 2023 Sep 18;15(9):e45451. doi: 10.7759/cureus.45451. eCollection 2023 Sep. Cureus. 2023. PMID: 37859928 Free PMC article.
Fleiner T, Trumpf R, Schnorr T, Buchner T, Haussermann P, Zijlstra W, Morat T. Fleiner T, et al. BMC Med Educ. 2023 Oct 11;23(1):756. doi: 10.1186/s12909-023-04732-0. BMC Med Educ. 2023. PMID: 37821923 Free PMC article.