Interactive Journal Club: A Learning Method to Enhance Collaboration and Participation among Medical Students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Informatics
• Pedagogy

Background:

• Traditional medical education often relies on passive learning methods.
• There is a need for innovative teaching strategies to foster active learning and engagement among medical students.
• Interactive Journal Clubs (IJCs) offer a potential solution to enhance critical thinking and literature appraisal skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the interactive journal club (IJC) as a learning pedagogy for medical students.
• To compare the IJC's impact on active learning and engagement against traditional journal club formats.
• To highlight the importance of student-centered didactics in medical training.

Main Methods:

• The IJC was implemented in a Health Informatics course at the University of the Philippines Manila.
• Medical students were divided into leaders (presenters/moderators) and audience (critical analyzers).
• Data was collected through reflection papers and student surveys to assess the IJC's perceived usefulness and impact.

Main Results:

• The IJC was perceived as an exciting and stimulating learning experience.
• It fostered a student-centered approach emphasizing critical thinking and active learning.
• A key challenge was ensuring consistent student participation, suggesting a need for clear expectations and assessment.

Conclusions:

• Interactive and student-centered learning, like IJCs, is crucial for improving medical students' literature appraisal and evidence-based critical thinking.
• IJCs serve as an effective alternative strategy for developing essential physician skills.
• Future implementations should include setting learning outcomes and using pre- and post-surveys to measure effectiveness.