Continuing medical education: merits of a surgical journal club

Journal clubs have been used as part of a continuing medical education programme for over 100 years. The major role of a journal club is to introduce concepts of critical thinking and evaluation of research literature. This study describes how the understanding of papers presented in a surgical journal club improves by the use of a handout as an aid to revision, and reading skills of the participants are evaluated by a post-test. It shows how participation improves when a climate of mutual respect is created and when the subject under discussion answers questions related to real life needs and the new knowledge acquired has an immediate application.