THLA Journal Club September 2017

It’s the September edition of the THLA Journal Club!

THLA Journal club is back from summer break! Join us on Wednesday September 20th for our next meeting. We’ll be meeting at Pizzeria Via Mercanti (87 Elm St. Toronto, ON, M5G 0A8). We will start gathering at 5:30 (discussion of the article will begin closer to 6:00).

Sharon Bailey will lead our discussion of the following (freely available!) article:

Rivera, Josette A., Rachel B. Levine, and Scott M. Wright. "Completing a scholarly project during residency training." Journal of general internal medicine 20.4 (2005): 366-369.

ABSTRACT:
Resident research has potential benefits and scholarly activity is an internal medicine residency training requirement. This study sought to learn about the resources needed and the barriers to performing scholarly work during residency from residents who had been successful.

A questionnaire was delivered to 138 internal medicine residents presenting their work at the 2002 American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine annual session. Residents were asked to comment on why they had participated in a scholarly project, the skills and resources needed to complete the project, as well as the barriers. Comparisons were made between residents who presented a research abstract and those who exhibited a clinical vignette.
Seventy-three residents (53%) completed the questionnaire. Thirty-nine residents presented a clinical vignette and 34 displayed a research abstract. Residents participated in research for a variety of reasons, including intellectual curiosity (73%), career development (60%), and to fulfill a mandatory scholarly activity requirement at their residency program (32%). The most common barriers were insufficient time (79%), inadequate research skills (45%), and lack of a research curriculum (44%). Residents who had presented research abstracts devoted more time (median, 200 vs 50 hours; P<.05) to their project than those who exhibited clinical vignettes. Sixty-nine percent of residents thought research should be a residency requirement.
The majority of respondents reported that their scholarly project was a worthwhile experience despite considerable barriers. Teaching research skills more explicitly with a focused curriculum and providing adequate protected time may enable residents to be successful.
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To help you informally appraise the methods and findings of the study, we have put together a list of questions you can use (if you like) for most articles - with no math required.

Did you know?

You can receive accredited CE hours for attending our Journal Club! Here’s how it works:

• Become a member of THLA for 2017 (or renew your membership in THLA for 2017)

• Attend one or more THLA Journal Club meetings, held every other month, and sign in

• At the end of the year, fill in the evaluation form you will receive via email.

• Your official CE hours certificate will arrive in your email!

See you there!

The THLA Executive