Evidence-based Practice Journal Club: How We Do It

Abstract

Our evidence-based practice (EBP) journey started in 2006, when we were approached by the associate residency director, and asked to participate in a journal club. Inspired by our experience of gaining knowledge of the principlesandapplicationofevidence-basedmedicine(EBM),we decided to run an EBP journal club with the radiology residents at the University of Michigan. We were delighted to accept this new challenge. We had both attended a part-time MastersinClinicalResearchDesignandStatisticalAnalysisat the University of Michigan School of Public Health, which gave us sufficient methodological and statistical background andstimulatedourappetiteforevidence-basedmedicineand critical appraisal. 1 We had also attended the course for teachers in evidence-based medicine at the Centre for EvidenceBased Medicine in Oxford, UK. 2 The Centre for Evidencebased Medicine in Oxford workshop is not intended to serve as an introduction to evidence-based medicine itself but is aimed at physicians and other health care professionals, who already have some knowledge of critical appraisal and experience in the practice of evidence-based health care and who want to explore issues around teaching evidence-based medicine. This workshop is aimed at those who are committed to patient-centered learning, believe in the process of smallgroup learning, and take an active role in small group learning. Armed with this knowledge, we set about applying these methods to the journal club. In addition the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has identified 6 core competencies in the curriculum for resident development (patient care, medical knowledge, interpretation and communication, professionalism, practice-based learning and improvement, and systems-based practice). 3 Knowledge of the principles and application of EBM is explicitly included under the competencies of “medical knowledge” and “practice-based learning and improvement.” The Evidence-based Medicine Journal Club has been a great success and is now in its second year, and we would encourage anybody interested in doing this to start an EBP journal club at their own institution.