Welcome to the GI Journal Club Blog!
Goal: The goal of journal club is to allow our division to gather as a group to discuss recent, compelling articles from the literature that have significant relevance to clinical work in gastroenterology. We will apply basic principles of evidence-based medicine and aim to critically appraise the literature using brief, structured presentations. We’ll communicate in person at the monthly journal clubs, and through the GI journal club blog for reference.
Format: Two articles will be presented monthly. At any particular journal club meeting, one paper will be presented from one of the key content areas, and there will be one “hot-topic” presentation. A faculty member may also present an additional paper from a key content area.
Presenters: Two fellows are assigned to each journal club date. One fellow is assigned a key content area from which to choose an article. The faculty “section editor” for each key content area will approve the fellow’s article and help recruit a faculty member to present a different paper in that key content area. One fellow (usually an upper-level fellow) will present the “hot-topic” which can be from any content area. This fellow can work with Dr. Wood and any of the content leaders to select and review an article if needed.
Please do send your article (with PMID) one week before the GI Journal Club date so that it can post it to the website for everyone to review. Here is a list of info to send with your article:
Title of article
Journal
PMID
Type of Paper (diagnosis, prognosis, therapy)
Key statistical test you intend to discuss
Attachment with PDF of paper
Choosing an Article: The main criteria in selecting an article should be something that noteworthy with potential to change the way we think about a disease, or the way we practice medicine. It will be important to note new guidelines and position statements, and critically evaluate them. The overarching goal of GI journal club is to stay informed about our evolving field and to evaluate new developments with academic rigor. Links to GI journals and “editor’s picks” will be helpful ways to begin reviewing the literature. The “hot topic” should be any recent paper related to GI from a major journal that is particularly note worthy.
Presentation Focus: Plan to present on the following areas: background (is there a controversy in the field? what is the clinical need where advances must me made?), then tell us the research question, study design, results, limitations, and your assessment of take home points and how your paper might change practice. Please do write these down (Powerpoint not required at all) in a text document that I can also post to the blog as a summary of the paper. We’ll add any important points from the discussion before posting to the GI journal club blog.
Key Content Areas:
- Advanced therapeutic procedures / Imaging
- Biliary/Pancreas
- Colon cancer screening
- Esophagus
- Hepatology
- IBD
We realize that several areas are under-represented here: nutrition, celiac, PEGS, clinical practice (sedation, bowel prep, quality), functional/IBS, non-liver transplant medicine, stem cells, genetic/metabolic, aging etc, and if there are important papers that emerge in these areas, our goal is to cover them under the umbrella of the “hot topics” category.
