How to Start a Nursing Journal Club
A nursing journal club is an excellent way to keep current with new practices and clinical updates. A journal club can also provide an educational activity for the participants. Participants can learn how to critique a research study and define implications for practice. The key to a successful journal club is promoting awareness, having a facilitator to moderate discussion, and scheduling the club meetings for maximum attendance.
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Instructions
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Choose a research article. The journal club can be specific to a type of specialty such as pediatrics or broad to include a wider audience. Performance improvement is a topic that is very extensive and covers many different areas and all specialties.
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Choose a location and time. It is ideal to choose a central location and the best time for all members to promote maximum attendance. Keep the time and location the same for all journal club meetings. Send out regular reminders of the meeting.
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Select a facilitator. Ideally, the facilitator can be a clinical educator, a clinical nurse specialist, a nurse practitioner, a nurse manager or a nurse subject matter expert. The facilitator should have excellent knowledge of research techniques and how to critique a research article. The facilitator will initially lead the journal club, and as members become more comfortable with critiquing and discussion, then the lead can be turned over to individual members on a rotating basis.
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Meet regularly. The journal club should be a lively forum for discussion of the article. The facilitator should be skilled at encouraging the members to participate through active questions and answers. The club should also be a neutral place to share dissenting views and encourage more research and a deeper understanding of the topic.
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Gather feedback from the club members. Feedback can include suggestions for how the club is run, choosing a facilitator and inviting guests. Club members may wish to record sessions and make them available to those who could not attend or to promote wider attendance. Feedback is important to the success of the club, and it encourages members to take an active role and promote the club.
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Tips & Warnings
The hospital may be able to provide continuing education credits for participation in the journal club, which will make the club very attractive to participants. The nursing education department is often able to assist with providing those credits.
