Impact of a Medical Journal Club on House-Staff Reading Habits, Knowledge, and Critical Appraisal Skills
- 4 November 1988
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in JAMA
- Vol. 260 (17), 2537-2541
- https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1988.03410170085039
Abstract
The journal club is an established teaching modality in many house-staff training programs. To determine if a journal club improves house-staff reading habits, knowledge of epidemiology and biostatistics, and critical appraisal skills, we randomized 44 medical interns to receive either a journal club or a control seminar series. A test instrument developed by the Delphi method was administered before and after the interventions (mean, five journal club sessions). By self-report, 86% of the house staff in the journal club group improved their reading habits vs 0% in the control group. Knowledge scores increased more in the journal club group than in the control group, and a trend was found toward more knowledge gained as more sessions were attended. Ability to appraise critically a test article increased slightly in each group, but there was no significant difference between the groups. We conclude that a journal club is a powerful motivator of critical house-staff reading behavior and can help teach epidemiology and biostatistics to physicians-in-training. (JAMA1988;260:2537-2541)Keywords
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