Advances in Medical Education and Practice (Dec 2019)
Impact of a National Journal Club and Letter Writing Session on Improving Medical Students’ Confidence with Critical Appraisal
Abstract
Shyam Ajay Gokani,1,* Ekta Sharma,2,* Tanisha Sharma,3 Shyam Venkatesan Moudhgalya,3 Subothini Sara Selvendran,4 Nikhil Aggarwal5 1Research Department of Primary Care & Population Health, University College London (Royal Free Campus), London, UK; 2Academic Section of Vascular Surgery, Division of Surgery, Imperial College London, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK; 3Department of Medicine, St George’s University of London, London, UK; 4Department of Medicine, Southampton University, Southampton, UK; 5Department of Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Shyam Ajay GokaniResearch Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London (Royal Free Campus), London, UKTel +44 20 7679 2000Fax +44 20 7472 6871Email [email protected]: 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.Keywords: education, evidence-based medicine, scientific letters
