Description
Research Critique II Journal Club
Purpose: A journal club is an open forum for nurses to professionally engage and critically evaluate nursing literature. Journal clubs provide an opportunity for nurses in a variety of roles to collaborate and discuss how nursing literature and research may be translated to clinical practice, education, administration, and research. The purpose of the Research Critique II is to have the student identify a topic of interest and prepare to discuss and evaluate a self-selected study with peers.
Process: The student will evaluate the research study and relate the information to a selected topic of interest in clinical practice. This will be accomplished through the submission of an evidence table (found in Canvas), completed using the study information and evaluating the level of evidence using the Johns Hopkins rating scheme. The student will submit the article of interest and the evidence table to Canvas by the due date. The student will introduce the rationale for selection of the article and lead an in-depth discussion with peers, preparing questions to stimulate group conversation ultimately determining the relationship or application to clinical practice. There will be a sign-up for presentation times.
Guidelines:
- Choose a topic of interest and perform a literature search. From this search, you will be required to choose one scholarly, research article from a credible source.
- The topic for this article should focus on a clinical issue.
- The chosen article should focus on safety and/or quality in providing patient care. Think about how this article can be used to improve safety and/or practice quality.
- Some suggested research journals (partial list): Nursing Research, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Research in Nursing and Health, Advances in Nursing Science, etc.
- Select research studies done in the USA within the last 5-7 years.
- Identify a PICOT question.
- The Journal Club discussion is minimally 20 minutes in length.
- As a discussion leader, make sure you have thought about possible answers to each question you post to the class.
- The primary mistake made by discussion leaders is that they talk too much. Remember your job is not to make an oral presentation but to promote discussion by others. Generally, you will initial discussion by asking a question or by making a statement and asking for a response. Typically, someone in the class will respond promptly to your questions, but sometimes your question will be met with a long and uncomfortable silence. This may happen at the outset of the discussion when participants do not yet feel at ease. What you do in the response to this silence is crucial. Above all, do not answer your own question or begin a presentation of the material. Try rewording the question. Eventually someone will say something and start the discussion.
- Once the discussion gets going, you are faced with the important task of providing periodic direction to the discussion. This may be done by clarifying or rephrasing what a participant has said and/or by asking a related question. Prevent the discussion from veering too far away from the subject at hand. You may need to interrupt the discussion, acknowledge the current focus of the discussion, and announce that you want to bring the focus back to the original topic.
- It is important to make sure that all participants are involved and contributing. When a participant has made an attempt to contribute but was unable because another participant spoke up sooner, offer the opportunity for the participant to comment on the discussion.
- At the end of the discussion, take a minute or two to make a few summarizing comments regarding the discussion. This is also an excellent time to reemphasize certain points associated with the discussion.
In-Class discussion will include:
Full identification of the study
- Journal title, article title, author(s), date of publication
- The student will introduce the rationale for selection of the article
Initiate discussion questions. The following questions are suggested, but not all inclusive. As the discussion leader, you may have other article-related questions to promote discussion.
- What is the primary research question or clinical problem that is addressed in the article? Why is the problem important to the members of the Journal Club?
- Why is the research question critical to nursing clinical practice, education, administration, or research?
- Are there secondary research questions asked by the researcher(s)?
- What does the introduction and background tell you about why the study was conducted?
- How does the review of the literature support the need for studying the research question?
- Which research design was used to answer the research question or hypothesis?
- Who was the target population for the research study?
- How was the sample for the study determined? What was the inclusion/exclusion criteria?
- How many subjects were recruited to the study and how many subjects completed the study?
- Was the final sample for the study representative of the target population?
- Did the study go through a review process (IRB or research committee)? Did the participants in the study give consent?
- Was the study a pilot study? If so, what was being piloted?
- What were the independent variables for the study? How were they defined and measured?
- What were the dependent variables for the study? How were they defined and measured?
- Were the conceptual and operational definitions of the variables logically consistent?
- Were there any extraneous variables in the study? If so, how were they controlled?
- What were the methods used for data analysis (statistics or content analysis etc.)?
- Were the findings statistically significant, if statistics were used?
- Were the findings clinically significant?
- Did the researchers provide reliability and validity estimates for the measurement instruments based on data from populations similar to the study sample? Were the estimates within acceptable ranges?
- What were the results of the study? Did the study results include a description of the sample characteristics and answer the research questions or hypotheses?
- Did the tables and figures present information that complimented and was consistent with the article text?
- Did the discussion (section) compare and contrast the findings of the study to previous research or current practice?
- What were the limitations of the study? Were they acknowledged?
- What were the conclusions of the study? Were the data that were collected consistent with and sufficient to support the conclusions?
- Can the conclusions be generalized to the target population? Why or why not?
- What are the implications of the research for nursing practice, education, administration, and/or research?
- What is your analysis of the study findings? Are the findings useful to nursing practice? Do the findings provide value to patient care (safety, quality of life or health)? Do the finding provide value for nursing practice?
- Which of the recommendations would you consider implementing in your setting? Why or why not?
- What would be the next steps to apply the information presented in the clinical review article in your setting?
- What are your recommendations for future research?
