Hospital Pharmacy Journal Club

Journal clubs are widely recognized as a forum for discussing the critical evaluation and clinical applicability of selected primary biomedical literature. ¹ For health care professionals, journal club meetings are a useful way to maintain awareness regarding current relevant literature. For health care students, journal club preparation and participation is a valuable educational tool for developing critical analytical skills and practicing oral presentations.^2–5 In pharmacy schools, critical evaluation of the primary literature is taught in support of clinical decision making and is included in both didactic and experiential curricula.^2,3,7 For postgraduate residents and fellows, leading journal club discussions may be a required outcome for program completion and often is recognized as a rite of passage. Journal clubs also provide a collective and communal professional experience, ultimately planting the seeds for improvements in patient care and organizational efforts.

To this end, Hospital Pharmacy has developed a journal club program designed to promote meaningful literature evaluation experiences, to increase critical appraisal skills, and to encourage professional discussion among pharmacy clinicians, academicians, managers, preceptors, residents, fellows, and students. From each issue of Hospital Pharmacy, an article will be selected as a journal club feature and will be accompanied by discussion points in the form of a proposed question set to stimulate dialogue regarding the topic and its application to relevant health care and/or management practices. The proposed question set also serves as a template for the development of additional discussion points. Articles selected will cover diverse topics and employ a variety of study designs and methodologies. The selected article and proposed questions can be found each month on the Journal Club home page (www.thomasland.com/HPJ_journalclub.html). Answers will be provided on the Journal Club home page after 6 months. Before this time, preceptors, faculty, and residency directors may obtain answers to a specific set of questions by sending an e-mail request (jgenerali@thomasland.com).

In addition to this monthly journal club activity, the Journal Club home page will host a variety of journal club resources, including a comprehensive reading list, preparation tools for students, and assessment tools for preceptors. Participants are encouraged to share forms and tools that may be useful for others. Journal club articles will be open to nonsubscribers for a limited time period. Our hope is to promote professional dialogue regarding Hospital Pharmacy publications. Feedback regarding this new program should be addressed to jgenerali@thomasland.com.