Perceived benefit of a student-led journal club presentation in a pharmacotherapy module

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate student's perceptions of a student led journal club.

There were four, paired student led journal club sessions throughout the five week Women's and Men's Health Pharmacotherapy course. Journal club topics expanded upon didactic lecture material. A voluntary end-of-course survey was administered. Survey questions pertained to student's perception of the activity. Course and journal club grades were collected to identify correlations between demographics and performance.

All 91 students were given the survey (92.3% completion rate). Most students had not completed the journal club elective course or a journal club presentation previously (84.5% and 70.2%, respectively). Post-intervention prior to the course, most students did not feel confident in evaluating primary literature or presenting a journal club (61.9% and 59.5%, respectively). By the end of the course, most students felt an improvement in confidence in evaluating primary literature and presenting a journal club (88.1% and 89.3%, respectively). Most students agreed the journal club activities adequately complemented course material and was a beneficial course component (84.5% and 85.7%, respectively). Students felt better prepared for their Doctoral Candidate Seminar and pharmacy year four experiential rotations (76.1% and 86.9% respectively). Overall students reported that the journal club activity should be included in future courses (79.7%). The only parameter that predicted student confidence to present the journal club was completion of a journal club prior to the course. (p = 0.013) SUMMARY: Students perceived the journal club presentation in a pharmacotherapy module to be beneficial and agreed it should be included in future courses.