Welcome to the Annals of Family Medicine Journal Club

The Annals 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

Feb/Mar, 2023: Nurse Navigator for Lung Cancer Screening

Previous Selections

How It Works

In each issue of the Annals, 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 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(s), 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 re-start the cycle.

C) Online Discussion (eLetters)

The Annals 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 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)