<p>Impact of a National Journal Club and Letter Writing Session on Improving Medical Students’ Confidence with Critical Appraisal</p>

Abstract

BackgroundCritical 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.Methods98 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.Results74 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).DiscussionThis 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.

Hábitos de lectura y sus factores asociados en estudiantes de medicina de una universidad peruana

“…Esta situación se podría evitar potenciando el hábito de lectura desde el pregrado por medio de actividades de las mismas universidades o de las sociedades científicas. Una opción muy útil y con buenos resultados son los clubes de lectura 13,14 . En cuanto al sexo de los estudiantes, se percibió que las mujeres tenían un mejor hábito de lectura.…”

Impact of a "Journal Club" on the confidence of dental students to critically appraise a clinical trial

“…Before starting the first session and at the end of the sixth session, a survey was conducted to assess the students' confidence to critically appraise scientific articles and the personal characteristics of each participant. The survey consisted of a scale that included 13 questions based on the studies conducted by Gokani et al, 11 and Gurney et al, 12 using a five point Likert scale (from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree; where a score of 5 indicated a strong agreement with the question). The scale was subjected to content validity through experts who first assessed the linguistic translation from English to Spanish, and then the clarity and relevance of the questions.…”

La carta al editor en la publicación científica. Consideraciones para su elaboración

“…Desde el punto de vista pedagógico, las cartas al editor sirven como punto de iniciación en el mundo de la investigación y de la publicación en investigadores jóvenes y estudiantes. Ello gracias a su estructura poco compleja; lo que les permite insertarse a la actividad científica además de reforzar capacidades de redacción, lectura crítica, entre otros (7,18) . De esta forma son una estrategia de formación del recurso humano para la investigación.…”