Introduction

The inspiration for this journal club curriculum came to me when I was in the first month of my OBGYN internship. I was assigned to present an article at the first journal club of the new academic year. Not knowing where to begin, but determined to make a good impression, I searched the library catalog and came across a book that soon became my EBM bible: How to Read a Paper, by Trisha Greenhalgh. In a few easy to read chapters, I learned the basics of critical appraisal.

It is interesting to note that "journal clubs" existed long before the era of "evidence based medicine."

“As an entity, journal clubs have a long history in postgraduate medical education which is well documented by Linzer(1). The earliest reference to a journal club is found in a book of memoirs and letters by the late Sir James Paget(2), a British surgeon and one of the founders of modern pathology. He describes a group at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London in the mid-1800s with 'a kind of club ... a small room over a baker's shop near the Hospital-gate where we could sit and read the journals.' It is believed that Sir William Osler established the first formal journal club at McGill University in Montreal in 1875, though Osler himself might have been aware of similar gatherings that were taking place elsewhere(3). The purpose of Osler's early journal club was 'for the purchase and distribution of periodicals to which he could ill afford to subscribe'.”

Milbrandt EB, Vincent J.
Evidence-based medicine journal club.
Crit Care. 2004 Dec;8(6):401-2

Over the ensuing one and a half centuries, journal clubs have taken a variety of forms that have evolved to meet the needs of the participants. In the context of contemporary graduate medical education and the ACGME Core Compentencies, the journal club is a key component of teaching and assessing practice-based learning and improvement.

This curriculum is designed to equip participants with fundamental skills to keep up with current literature, to impact clinical practice, and to teach critical reading skills.

References:

1. Linzer M: The journal club and medical education: over one hundred years of unrecorded history. Postgrad Med J 1987, 63:475-478.
2. Paget S: Memoirs and Letter of Sir James Paget. London: Longmans, Green, and Co; 1901:42.
3. Forsen JW Jr, Hartman JM, Neely JG: Tutorials in clinical research, part VIII: creating a journal club. Laryngoscope 2003, 113:475-483.