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College of Pharmacy

HelixTalk Episode #122 - The First Rule of Journal Club is That We Don’t Talk About Journal Club

Date posted: November 24, 2020, 6:00 am

In this episode, we discuss how to excel in your next journal club presentation or discussion while avoiding the all-too-common pitfalls for this unique format.

Key Concepts

  1. Selecting a good article for your journal club is extremely important!  Pick a topic that you’re interested in and one that is relevant to your rotation.  Some of the best topics are prompted by real-life patients that you have seen on rotation.
  2. You should not try to recreate an entire journal article into a Word file format.  Be selective and only include the most pertinent details of your article.  Less is more!
  3. Review basic statistical concepts like type I/II error, power, NNT/NNH, relative risk, 95% confidence intervals, and intention to treat.  These concepts frequently come up in randomized controlled trials and are common topics for preceptors to ask questions about.
  4. As a presenter, your main job is to help prompt a journal club DISCUSSION.  You can help to prompt a high-yield discussion amongst participants by preparing thoughtful questions that ask the audience their opinion about the topic.  This discussion is much more important than presenting the results of the trial and yet it’s commonly overlooked by students.