A journal club is an opportunity for a group of people to come together to discuss a published paper. The motivation for setting up a journal club will vary, depending on the subject of the paper and what the group hope to get out of the discussion. Reasons may include improving critical appraisal skills, assessing the quality of a paper and the evidence it presents, and providing a basis for discussion about current practice and how this could change in order to improve quality of care.

For those without experience of assessing published evidence it can be difficult to know where to start. RCVS Knowledge has produced a step-by-step guide to setting up and running a journal club and a checklist to guide your discussion of papers. The QI Boxset which is available on the RCVS Knowledge e-learning platform includes the following Setting up and running a journal club in practice (webinar) and WhatsApp journal clubs (podcast) (Registration required).

Journal clubs – suggested reading material