Can a Journal Club Bridge the Gap Between Research and Practice?

Abstract

It is imperative that nursing students learn to use research as a basis for making clinical decisions. The author discusses how a journal club was structured and designed to promote evidence-based practice and to reduce several of the barriers in utilizing research in the clinical setting. Vignettes illustrate the serendipitous events that also triggered the staff nurses' participation. An informal evaluation of the journal club is presented and suggestions for implementing future journal clubs are provided.

Journal clubs: A two-site case study of nurses' continuing professional development

“…Findings from nursing journal club research suggest that they can improve nurses' confidence in interpreting and appraising research articles and foster a positive attitude towards research (Goodfellow, 2004); establish a regular habit of reading and raise awareness of relevant literature (Sheehan, 1994); increase knowledge (Kartes & Kamel, 2003); and lead to practice changes (St. Pierre, 2005;Kartes & Kamel, 2003;Kirchhoff & Beck, 1995). Furthermore, surveys of satisfaction of participants in journal clubs found positive evaluations from nurses (Campbell-Fleming, Catania, & Courtney, 2009;Sheehan, 1994;St.…”

“…In fact, the majority of nursing journal club literature merely describes one author's experience with a nursing journal club (Campbell-Fleming et al 2009;Goodfellow, 2004;Kartes & Kamel, 2003;Kirchhoff & Beck, 1995;Luby, Riley, & Towne, 2006;Rich, 2006;Sheehan, 1994;St. Pierre, 2005;Tibbles & Sanford, 1994;Valente, 2003).…”

“…Most importantly, there is a lack of investment in EBP among many practicing nurses (Krom et al, 2010;Thompson et al, 2001). Journal clubs are one way to establish "science as conversation" (Wright, 2004), foster a positive attitude towards research (Goodfellow, 2004), and help nurses gain skills required to enhance knowledge translation for EBP (Goodfellow, 2004;Kartes & Kamel, 2003;Kirchhoff & Beck, 1995;Sheehan, 1994;St. Pierre, 2005).…”

Misconceptions about practicing evidence-based orthopedic surgery

“…In this respect, aspects of EBM can be viewed as epistemology and a resident or trainee can begin to ask the question "how do we know what we know?". There is also some evidence to suggest that incorporation of the principles of EBM into resident journal clubs and education not only enhances self-assessment abilities but also the perceived educational value of these events (Sandifer et al 1996, Simpson et al 1997, Carley et al 1998, Khan et al 1999, Letterie and Morgenstern 2000, Cramer and Mahoney 2001, Gibbons 2002, Dirschl et al 2003, Goodfellow 2004.…”

Promoting Evidence-Based Practice and Information Literacy through an Undergraduate Nursing Journal Club

“…The benefits of journal clubs in both professional and educational settings are extensively documented as a way to raise awareness of research and evidence-based practice, develop professional reading habits and appraising skills, improve critical thinking, and promote a shared knowledge base via interdisciplinary collaboration (Edwards et al, 2001;Goodfellow, 2004;Hunt & Topham, 2002;Thompson, 2006;Valente, 2003). Journal clubs are more likely to be ineffective when articles are chosen randomly, with no clear purpose identified other than to summarize findings (Pitner, Fox, & Riess, 2013).…”