The Facilitation of a Nurse Led Journal Club and it’s Impact on Research

David Cothran, MS, RN, CCRN

The History at AnMed

A Critical Care Journal Club was founded several years ago with corporate sponsorship

The club had good participation with “numbers”

Transitions in leadership within CCU– Demonstrated the need for consistency and focus– Mission or Purpose Statement for the Club

The History at AnMed

Participation dwindled Some seemed more interested in “lunch vs.

learn” Few were actually reading the provided

articles Occasionally it became a forum for vendors

to promote products

Lessons Learned

Journal Club should be a Journal Club– Not a forum to promote vendor products

Interest must be maintained– Lunch is OK (and encouraged) but keep the focus on

critique of the research

Leadership plays a critical role– Encourage, engage, and challenge presenters and

participants

The Decision to Facilitate A Meaningful Journal Club

Discussions between Manager and Director began within the context of increasing staff RN involvement in research

Several ideas were discussed and implemented

“Remember when we had the journal club…”

The Decision to Facilitate A Meaningful Journal Club

AnMed Leadership wanted to encourage nurses to be more involved in research

Intent to focus on quality care and to improve caliber of the bedside nurse

A mechanism to facilitate evidence based practice

Planning the Club

Journal Club idea revisited, rethought, and retooled

Must avoid the pitfalls of the past Make it relevant, current, entertaining,

engaging, and challenging Assess nurses response to the meetings

Journal Club at AnMed

Making it Relevant– Decision to ask for nurse input into the articles

reviewed– Articles should focus on Nursing Research when

available– Often utilized articles within the discipline or sub-

specialty of the audience (Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery)

Journal Club at AnMed

Making it Current– Adhere to standard research guidelines– Articles written in current years– Scrutiny of the work

Journal Club at AnMed

Making it Entertaining– Avoided articles that did not interest the audience (tied into

keeping it relevant)– Food is always good (who can resist a free lunch!)– Selecting the facilitator/presenter– Questions asked prior to and during the meeting

Make it fun Humor helps No wrong questions or answers Maintain an open atmosphere (No stuffy types allowed)

Journal Club at AnMed

Making it “Engaging”– Questions asked but not forced– Make time for discussion and analysis– Have a sign up list – know the audience and send out

articles and questions for discussion and analysis– Pre-load questions

Questions or topics for discussion sent out to the participants Presenter prepares the discussion but encourages the

audience to discuss as well

Journal Club at AnMed

Making it Challenging– Articles selected for interest and relevance– Ask what is the “interest de jour” (evaluations and

follow-up)– Have a repertoire of articles available for “dry

periods”– Presenter should know the material and be

prepared to lead without dominating the discussion

Journal Club at AnMed

Evaluating– Evaluation tools are essential– Must be aware of dynamic interests and opinions– Be prepared to shift focus but maintain the

purpose of the journal club– Resist the urge to get slack

The Result

Evaluations proved to be overwhelmingly positive

Nurses began to discuss research relevance to quality patient care

A group of nurses in the CVICU decided that they were already conducting informal research – why not do it right?

The On-Q Pain Study

Please see the poster presentation CVICU Nurses asked the question, designed the

study, sought input from statisticians, clinical specialists, nursing leadership, and physicians

Resulted in an ongoing study which influenced surgeons use of pain management tools/orders.

Quality Patient Care assessed, researched, and proven reliable

Final Remarks

Make sure the audience is aware of research/statistical vocabulary (devote a meeting to this if necessary)

Assess continually Encourage the fruits of the labor Remember to make Quality Outcomes a part of the

mission statement. This is contagious – other service lines within AnMed

have started journal clubs

David.cothran@anmedhealth.org