Impact of a national journal club and letter writing session on improving medical students’ confidence with critical appraisal
File(s)
Author(s)
Sharma, Ekta
Gokani, Shyam Ajay
Sharma, Tanisha
Venkatesan Moudhgalya, Shyam
Selvendran, Subothini Sara
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Critical appraisal is an important skill for clinicians of the future which medical students often have limited opportunities to develop. This study aimed to evaluate whether a national journal club session could improve medical students’ confidence with critical appraisal.
Methods
98 medical students attended a critical appraisal lecture and supervised journal article discussions. Junior doctor mentors supported students to submit discussion points as a letter-to-the-editor. An online cross-sectional survey was administered before and after the conference.
Results
74 students responded, reporting increased confidence with critically appraising research articles (median score 2 vs 4, p<0.01) and increased understanding of why critical appraisal was important to their careers (median score 3 vs 5, p<0.01).
Discussion
This is the first study to demonstrate that a single national journal club session can significantly improve UK medical students’ confidence with the critical appraisal process. These opportunities are valued by medical students.
Critical appraisal is an important skill for clinicians of the future which medical students often have limited opportunities to develop. This study aimed to evaluate whether a national journal club session could improve medical students’ confidence with critical appraisal.
Methods
98 medical students attended a critical appraisal lecture and supervised journal article discussions. Junior doctor mentors supported students to submit discussion points as a letter-to-the-editor. An online cross-sectional survey was administered before and after the conference.
Results
74 students responded, reporting increased confidence with critically appraising research articles (median score 2 vs 4, p<0.01) and increased understanding of why critical appraisal was important to their careers (median score 3 vs 5, p<0.01).
Discussion
This is the first study to demonstrate that a single national journal club session can significantly improve UK medical students’ confidence with the critical appraisal process. These opportunities are valued by medical students.
Date Issued
2019-12-24
Date Acceptance
2019-12-05
Citation
Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 2019, 2019 (10), pp.1081-1087
ISSN
1179-7258
Publisher
Dove Medical Press
Start Page
1081
End Page
1087
Journal / Book Title
Advances in Medical Education and Practice
Volume
2019
Issue
10
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Gokani et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.
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work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For
permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php)
php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the
work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For
permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php)
License URL
Identifier
https://www.dovepress.com/impact-of-a-national-journal-club-and-letter-writing-session-on-improv-peer-reviewed-article-AMEP
Subjects
1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2019-12-24