Challenges of E-Journal Club: A Case Study

Abstract

Background: Journal clubs, founded by Sir William Osler in 1875, have been used as a teaching format in academic medicine for over a hundred years. New generation of journal club include EBM format, Audio journal club and the latest, E-journal clubs. This study aimed the challenges of helding E-journal club in MUMS. Method: For this, a special virtual space was designed for e-journal club and a practical article was selected for on-line comments. It was possible for participants to register in a 7-day time span. Leader of journal club sent an e-mail for participants and explained the process for them and asked them to read the article and leave a comment. As there was impossible for being on-line at the same time for participants, it was decided to design the second space for leaving comments. Both participants and leader could access the others’ comments, so the interaction became possible for them. The time for leaving comments considered 10 days. Result: Although participants included faculty members and students who were familiar with e-methods, there was no comment on the space. Conclusion: It seems, other involving factors should be considered. The other factors apart from educationals, influenced on performing and participating in new generation journal clubs which demands further observation