Refining the Journal Club Presentations of Postgraduate Students in Seven Clinical Departments for Better Evidence-based Practice

Background: A gap between best practice and actual clinical care exists and this can be overcome by evidence-based practice (EBP), which is essential to improve the clinical decision making. A strategy to reduce deficits in care provision is to train the postgraduate students in the practice of EBP in the journal clubs as evidence from medical colleges in India reveals that current format of journal club presentations is unsatisfactory.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to refine the journal club presentations of postgraduate students of clinical departments and to study the effectiveness of EBP training in them for better EBP.

Subjects And Methods: This study was conducted in S. Nijalingappa Medical College, Bagalkot, Karnataka, India, and it was a pre- and post-trial. This study was a pre- and post-trial done during the journal club presentations of postgraduate students from clinical departments. Postgraduate students' understanding of concepts about EBP was assessed using Fresno test questionnaire in traditional journal club presentation. A hands-on session incorporating steps of EBP was imparted to them. Soon after the session, each student was assessed. In the next journal club presentation, 1 week later, the students were assessed again with the same questionnaire by the same faculty. Scores of the postgraduate students, before and after intervention (immediate and 1 week later), were compared. Data were analyzed by paired t-test using SPSS.

Results: An increase in mean posttest scores was seen immediately and also 1 week later as compared to the pretest scores. The scores also increased significantly, when each step of EBP was considered.

Conclusions: Incorporating teaching of EBP in journal club presentations improved the competencies of postgraduate students in clinical decision making.