Effectiveness of Journal Club Presentation as a Learning Modality in the Endocrinology and Endocrine Surgery Module in an Integrative Undergraduate Medical Curriculum

Abstract

Introduction

The journal club is widely used in most postgraduate programs of medical institutes; however, the use of journal clubs in undergraduate medical programs is nearly absent or very rare.

Aim

The aim of this work is to document the insertion of the journal club as a method for learning in the undergraduate starting with the endocrinology/endocrine surgery module to be fully implemented in all modules of the MBBS of FMBU. In addition, the study aimed to outline the steps of designing a journal club by following specific procedures and Identification of students’ and faculty satisfaction through 5-years implementation of the journal club.

Material and Methods

A total of 453 students representing the five consecutive batches of medical students from 2019 to 2023 who studied the endocrinology/endocrine surgery module were entered into the study. Following guidelines for implementation of the journal clubs that were adopted by the quality and accreditation committee, the faculty select the types of papers from the articles chosen by students. The papers discussed were case reports, original research, and review articles. The students were asked to formulate critical appraisal topics, PICO, for each paper. A 20-question test was applied to all participants. The students’ attendance, scores, and students/faculty satisfaction were estimated.

Results

A total of 50 papers were discussed in the 5-year journal club 15 case reports (30%), 26 original research (52%), and 9 review articles (18%). The student’s attendance ranged from 72.53±3.74 to 98.07±3.15. The students and faculty’s satisfaction were 3.52 and 3.82 respectively. The mean Students’ score in A 20-question test in a 5-year journal club was 76.93 ± 9.78 and the lowest score was in the 2nd batch (online batch).

Conclusion

The insertion of a well-structured journal club in the undergraduate medical program is necessary to improve the knowledge including knowledge among students. In addition, journal clubs inspire students to be lifelong learners.