Journal Clubs and Study Clubs
Many of you have been waiting for clarification on how to organize and sign up for a Study Club or Journal Club. First, thank-you for your patience. Secondly, the ‘Study Group ’to which many of you have belonged, is no longer an option. To clarify and target your learning, you need to identify your ‘group’ as either a ‘Study Club’ or a ‘Journal Club’. The description of these two very different ‘clubs’ are as follows:
Study Club
The concept of a study club is individuals who meet regularly to facilitate learning through a variety of methods, combining traditional mentored group “study” with that of constructive learning. This is based on the idea that learning is active and constructed; learners build new knowledge upon the foundation of previous learning.
Some groups may choose to have a mentor to guide the learning; others will share the responsibility amongst the group members. The mentor acts to engage members and facilitates group interaction in developing understanding, assessing knowledge, and thereby, learning.
Journal Club
The purpose of a journal club is to facilitate the review of specific evidence-based research and to discuss implications for clinical practice. It is a valued educational resource as the fundamental concept of a journal club is to “improve [client] care by incorporating evidence into practice”; the implementation of what one learns and knows into clinical practice.
A journal club offers the opportunity for participants to review and discuss the current, academic literature, and provides a forum for developing skills in critical appraisal for evaluation of the literature, an essential part of being a competent clinician.
Examples of Study Club and Journal Club Learning
Study Club
• May have clinical and/or non-clinical components
• Research-orientated
• Could include Case Study review
• Activities may comprise of a combination of approaches that lend themselves to selected topic(s) which could include speakers and/or presentations
Journal Club
• Critically evaluate recent articles in the academic literature
• Literature review of a topic
• Single article review
• Specific Journal review
Examples of NEITHER
• Lunch and Learn
• Communication and/or networking between colleagues
How to Sign-Up
To sign-up for a Study Club or Journal Club, a ‘Club’ representative provides the necessary details to the registrar via email. More information is required than previously requested for sign-up. Please see the links below for the journal and/or study club sign-up forms, which should be printed, scanned and emailed to the registrar at registrar@cdhm.info. Additional Study Club and Journal Club information is attached for your review. If you have already provided a list of names for your ‘Study Group’ to the CDHM office, please determine whether you are a ‘Study Club’ or a Journal Club’ and re-submit completing the appropriate sign-up information to the registrar.
