The Annals of Family Medicine Journal Club is designed to develop a learning community of those seeking to improve health care and health through enhanced primary care. It is a forum where people who care can meet, share, learn and create change.
Current Selection
Sep/Oct 2024: Family Medicine Presence on Labor and Delivery: Effect on Safety Culture and Cesarean Delivery
Previous Selections
How It Works
In each issue of the Annals of Family Medicine, the editors select an article or articles and provide discussion questions. We encourage you to take a RADICAL approach to these materials, and to post a summary of your conversation in our eLetters section of the website. For details, see A, B, and C, below.
A) Discussion Questions
Annals of Family Medicine Journal Club discussion questions can be used to stimulate reflection and conversation. In particular, these questions are designed to help journal club participants a) identify key points addressed by the article and put them in context, b) discuss the scientific validity of the findings, and c) consider how the findings apply to practice, policy, education, or research. The current selection(s) (above) and previous selections (below) include article citation, discussion tips, and discussion questions.
B) A RADICAL Approach
We encourage you to take a RADICAL approach to these articles. RADICAL stands for Read, Ask, Discuss, Inquire, Collaborate, Act and Learn. Journal clubs can get RADICAL by adopting these steps:
Read the article critically.
Ask the key questions for yourself.
Discuss the meaning and shared interpretation.
Inquire into other sources of knowledge and insight.
Collaborate with others who know or care about the issues.
Act by sharing an online (TRACK) comment and working to change practice, policy, training, or research.
Learn from what others share online and from your actions and collaborations and restart the cycle.
C) Online Discussion (eLetters)
The Annals of Family Medicine eLetters online discussion forum (formerly called TRACK) is a way for you to share insights and conversation themes with other journal clubs and with readers worldwide. After discussing an Annals of Family Medicine article in your journal club, we ask you to consider summarizing your conversation in an eLetter. (Sample eLetter) This is a unique opportunity for your journal club to be part of a global learning community.
To submit a comment in the online discussion, open the article online and click on the eLetters tab. You may submit a brief, informal comment or a more structured, prepared letter. Comments may be as short as one sentence and usually do not exceed 400 words and up to 5 references. Prepared eLetters would be appropriate to cite in your CV.
- Introduction to the Annals Journal Club (Stange KS, Miller WL, McClellan LA, Annals journal club: it's time to get RADICAL. Ann Fam Med. 2006;4(3):196-197).
- Bibliography (Extensive references about journal clubs and how to read and evaluate medical literature)
Previous Selections