FY1-2

21%

CT1-2

13%ST3-7

65%

Training grades attending

IMPLEMENTATION OF A SUCCESSFUL TRAINEE-LEDREGIONAL-WIDE JOURNAL CLUB

#journalclubandbeerP Shorrock , M Jackson*, N Plummer

On behalf of NWRAG

Participation in journal clubs is commonplace in medicine. Journal clubs enable the dissemination of best current practice, engagement with the literature and acquisition of research methodology skills, all of which are mandated in the Anaesthesia CCT curriculum. [1]. Most trainees’ experience of journal club is within the hospital setting as either a breakfast or lunchtime meeting, often competing with clinical commitments. We report our experience of developing an extracurricular trainee-led region-wide journal club.

In conjunction with our regional research and audit group we have facilitated a bi-monthly evening regional journal club taking place in a public house, in the recognition that anaesthesia trainees feel they receive little education in research methodology [2]. Each session is planned and advertised via e-mail and social media. Suggestions of articles to review are welcomed. The meeting is open to all anaesthesia and potential anaesthesia trainees. As a pre-requisite, all attendees must bring a copy of the article, which they have read. The article is then summarised and dissected using a structured check-list [3]. The final section of the meeting is to draft a letter summarising our conversation. The letter is refined over e-mail and submitted to the journal editor.

Since its establishment 16 months ago there have been eight successful journal club meetings. An average of six trainees attend, with a spectrum of grades from foundation to senior speciality trainees (see figure, below). As a result of this endeavour we have submitted seven letters [4-7]. Four of which have been accepted for formal publication, the remainder of which are held on the relevant journal’s web rapid response sections. One meeting was also acknowledged in another publication.

Moving journal club outside the clinical space has created a forum which enables trainees to not only engage with the usual learning objectives of journal club but to learn to articulate their analysis of current research in professional academic language. All training grades report a positive experience of journal club. Foundation doctors gain an insight into anaesthetic practice and specialty trainees develop core appraisal skills. The relaxed environment without the time constraints of hospital educational activities has provided a useful networking opportunity, whilst still providing continuing professional development in a needed area.

[1] Deenadayalan Y, Grimmer-Somers K, Prior M, Kumar S. How to run an effective journal club: a systematic review. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 2008; 14: 898-911.[2] Patvardhan C, Jackson M, Nightingale P. North west research and audit group (NWRAG) a trainee-led research network in the north western deanery. RCOA Bulletin 2014, 84: 28-30[3] http://bestbets.org/links/BET-CA-worksheets.php[4] Lomas J-P, Jackson M, Martin A, Pasha T, Patvardhan C & Ramsaran R. Spinal catheter observer effect; Surgical technique. Br. J. Anaesth 2014, 112 (5): 945-946[5] Hanison J, Wythe S, Lund K, Asen S, Shorrock P, Williams B, Jackson M. Does fasting time alter fluid responsiveness after induction of anaesthesia? Br. J. Anaesth. 2015, 114 (3):533. [6] Jackson M, McCormack V, Shorrock P, Lie J, Hanison J, Baylis C, Leech M, Scott A, Plummer N, Blomeley S. Avoiding awareness in Caesarean sections under general anaesthesia. Br. J. Anaesth. 2015, 114 (3):530-531.[7] Shorrock P, Heaton T, Cochrane N, Jackson M, Lund K, Plummer N. The effect of dexmedetomidine on postoperative pain. Anaesthesia 2015, 70 (3):372

*corresponding author

NWRAG Journal club has run for the last two

years in the Northwest. Trainees meet in a

pub and consider a wide range of articles

from the recent Anaesthesia, Critical Care

and Pain Medicine literature—many of the

meetings have resulted in a PubMed

referenced publication.

Beer is not the only difference between

#journalclubandbeer and a traditional

journal club:▲ All attendees want to be at the meeting

▲ All attendees have used a structured tool

to read the paper before the meeting

▲ There is no power point

▲ There is group learning

▲ We question how the papers finding will

affect our clinical practice

▲ We question how the papers

methodology will affect our research

▲ We summarise the meeting as a letter to

the journal▲ The meeting format changes as we

understand what works…and doesn’t

▲ We enjoy ourselves

@NWRAG NWRAG@hotmail.co.uk www.NWRAG.com