The journal club and medical education: over one hundred years of unrecorded history

Sir William Osler organized a journal club at McGill University in 1875, and several authors suggest that journal clubs were found in certain European countries (in particular, Germany and England) prior to that time. The evolution and development of the journal club, however, has not been recorded...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Postgraduate medical journal 1987-06, Vol.63 (740), p.475-478
Main Author: Linzer, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Education, Medical, Graduate - history
Europe
History of medicine
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
Humans
Periodicals as Topic
Societies, Medical - history
United States
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Summary:Sir William Osler organized a journal club at McGill University in 1875, and several authors suggest that journal clubs were found in certain European countries (in particular, Germany and England) prior to that time. The evolution and development of the journal club, however, has not been recorded in the medical literature. Through personal communications and interviews with senior clinicians and historians, I have traced the history of the journal club as an educational modality. In the early 1900s in Germany, journal clubs were routinely found in departments of medicine and medical schools. From 1917-1975, journal clubs evolved into a forum for continuing medical education. Recently, journal clubs have been designed to teach critical appraisal skills to physicians-in-training. Journal clubs are currently found in the fields of medicine, surgery, psychiatry, nursing, pharmacy, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics and geriatric social service. This powerful educational tool has played an active role in medical education for over a century. The journal club should be more formally incorporated into the medical educational curriculum.
ISSN:0032-5473
1469-0756
DOI:10.1136/pgmj.63.740.475