Eye on EBVM: share and discuss – use of journal clubs

What is a journal club? Although the term “journal club” often refers to regular meetings to review papers, a journal club is simply a platform to share ideas on any published literature with others.

Journal clubs help you to consider the potential impact of evidence to your practice, while providing a system to critically appraise the evidence.

They give an opportunity for a team to come together and develop critical appraisal skills, disseminate and assess information around a new procedure or medication, consider current practice and ways to change it to improve the quality of care provided, and assist in the development of practice guidelines or protocols.

Participating in a journal club can also contribute towards CPD and help build understanding within your team. Whether it’s something you do as an entire practice team, or in smaller groups with members who have a common interest, journal clubs can be used in any number of ways that work for you.

Rachael Bacon, an RVN who started a journal club within her team, said: “Journal clubs are a great way to share evidence-based information, look deeper into the interests that we have, and be involved and active within the veterinary community. Sharing knowledge improves overall patient safety, as well as improving patient care.”

Using time wisely

As most of us have limited time, we must use it wisely by being selective, choosing papers that are likely to be relevant to our practice.

One way to share the work of a journal club is dividing up a presentation of a paper so different people read and present individual aspects, such as the aims, methods, data analysis, results and limitations. You can then all discuss the merits of the paper and how the findings apply to your own practice.

Discussion within the team can include the strengths and weaknesses of the study, the implications of this, and whether the evidence is robust enough to make a change to your practice.

RCVS Knowledge’s journal club resources can help with this – the step-by-step guide to setting up and running a journal club offers suggestions to think about when starting a journal club, including whether it will be held face to face or online, who should be invited and how long it will last. It also provides examples of how to facilitate a session and includes some tips for success.

RCVS Knowledge also provides checklists on suggested journal club topics to help guide you through the process.

• help link research and clinical practice
• help your team keep on top of current research and new literature
• help develop your critical appraisal skills
• stimulate debate and improved understanding of current topics within a practice
• assist with generating practice guidelines or protocols
• encourage the use of evidence-based veterinary medicine
• support quality improvement initiatives
• provide CPD
• encourage teamwork

Making journal clubs work for you

If you’re not sure where a journal club could fit in with your day, how about adding it to the end of clinical rounds? By choosing a clinically relevant paper to specific cases you have, you can ensure that your practice is evidence-based and your patients are receiving optimum care.

Some potential topics for discussion could be skin preparation, IV catheter care, pain scoring – really anything that may make a difference to the care you provide. Journal clubs are more fun where you can see the difference they make.

A great and socially distanced way to have a journal club is through a group chat, be it WhatsApp, Facebook – whatever is easiest. You could have a group chat with your team, and even friends and past colleagues who work at different practices.

If you are training for any additional qualifications alongside others, journal clubs are a great way to share and discuss relevant papers. You could choose a relevant topic, and each share evidence you have seen to discuss and compare the different evidence-based approaches.

Whatever the format, it’s important your team agrees on the purpose of the session, and sets goals and desired outcomes as a group. Probably the most important part of running a journal club is in selecting an article that’s both interesting and relevant.

RVNs play an important role in the daily care of their patients, and regular consideration of evidence is something you should always keep in mind for the benefits of your patients. Many of your discussions may lead to changes in your nursing practice protocols, which could lead to a significant improvement in clinical outcomes and patient care.

Our freely available inFOCUS resources can help you with setting up and running a journal club – visit www.infocusvj.org/journal-clubs

Our QI Boxset series offers even more support to help you implement evidence-based veterinary medicine and QI into practice. Access the free CPD by visiting www.rcvsknowledge.org/learn