Finding papers for journal clubs

 

Are you interested in getting involved in a journal club? The library’s Knowledge and Evidence Specialists are happy to provide advice and support for journal club set-up or participation and growth. Here we’ve compiled some handy tips for finding and selecting papers to discuss in a journal club.

 

Aims of a journal club

There are many purposes to running a journal club, including:

• To learn how to critically appraise literature
• To improve participants’ understanding of research methodology and evidence-based practice
• To keep up to date with current literature
• To maintain constant involvement in research
• To enhance communication and debating skills through presentations and discussions
• To network with other staff

Initial thoughts for selecting a paper

• Look for original research (e.g. RCTs, cohort studies etc.) or systematic reviews and meta-analyses, avoiding opinion pieces or general literature reviews (without robust search methodology). It’s also good to vary study designs from session to session.
• Think about how recently the article has been published and how important it is for the article to be up-to-date for the topic/field.
• Select articles from reputable journals (use the Think.Check.Submit. website’s advice to avoid predatory/fake/deceptive journals).
• Think about what the current issues are for your group’s area(s) of practice or learning. What might be of interest and relevance to them?
• Be aware of the length of the article and how much time participants need for pre-reading before the session.

Browsing

If you don’t have a specific idea of a topic or question, you could browse certain journals or platforms to find an article of interest. Potential resources could be:

• BrowZine: a website and mobile app that allows you to browse e-journals from different publishers in one simple interface on any device. You can browse by specialty and find links to the full articles.
• BMJ Best Practice or DynaMed: to find further reading on topics of interest, you could search for a particular condition/treatment on these point-of-care tools. Look in the references section for hyperlinks to original research  – these may be potential papers for appraisal.
• The NHS Knowledge & Library Hub is suitable for quick keyword searches.

You will need an Open Athens account to access BMJ Best Practice, DynaMed and the full text of articles that we subscribe to. You can register for an account at https://openathens.nice.org.uk/

If you find an article which you would like to use but can’t access through Open Athens, please email the library.

Structured searching

If you are aware of a gap in your team’s knowledge or have a clinical question in mind, you can structure a search strategy to retrieve results in databases.

One way of framing a clinical question in order to search for a paper is PICO: Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome(s). Not all of these elements have to be present, for example, you might not want to specify a comparison.

Once you have identified the key concepts in your question, you can pull out the key terms, as well as the synonyms and variant forms of these words – think spelling (US and UK English), plural v. singular, abbreviations, etc.

E.g. for the term ‘training’ you could include education, learning, instruction, CPD, workshop etc.

The asterisk * can be used in many databases to search for the root of the word you have typed in and retrieve any alternate endings, e.g. train* for either train, training, trained, trainer, trainee etc.

(However, be aware that truncation can sometimes make your search too broad.)

Once you have your terms, combine them together with OR or AND. E.g. (anxiety OR generali#ed anxiety disorder OR GAD) AND (Cognitive Behavio?ral Therapy OR CBT) AND (older adult* OR older person* OR older people OR elderly)

Structured searches can be carried out in databases such as Medline, Embase, Emcare and PsycInfo on the Ovid platform. You will need an Open Athens account to access the Ovid databases.

If you would like training on how to search for articles, use databases or critically appraise the articles you find, please email the Knowledge and Evidence Specialists: mtw-tr.evidence.specialists @nhs.net.

Refresh your knowledge and learn new skills: upcoming training courses

 

Knowledge & Evidence Specialists are here to help you get the most out of the information resources that the library services offer. Supporting evidence-based practice for both clinical and non-clinical staff, they offer training in several areas:

• evidence searching: tips for searching databases and finding published research

• searching beyond databases: guidance for finding and using grey literature (e.g. reports from public bodies, online documents produced by other NSH trusts etc.)

• critical appraisal: an overview of how to evaluate quantitative research papers

• using AI safely in the NHS: awareness of the benefits and risks of using AI in information-related tasks

• health literacy: guidance on how to support patients to understand clinical information when communicating with them either in written or verbal form

• preparing for study: covering study skills such as note-taking, time management, referencing and academic writing

• getting your research published: tips for the publication process, including selecting a journal to publish in, Open Access and funding, writing a journal article and disseminating your research

How to Book

MTW staff: Book via MTW Learning at https://mtwlearning.org/login/

KMMH staff: Book via iLearn at https://ilearn.kmpt.org

If you would like to arrange alternative sessions for tailored support, please email mtw-tr.evidence.specialists@nhs.net

You can find out about the other ways that Knowledge & Evidence Specialists support trust staff, such as evidence searching and current awareness, by visiting the library webpages at tinyurl.com/2freb4yb

Getting to know the Knowledge and Evidence Specialists

Get to know your Knowledge and Evidence Specialists:

Maria- Maria has worked in Library and Knowledge Services for over 13 years, beginning her career as a Library Assistant at institutions including The British Library, the London School of Economics, and University College London. She joined Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Library and Knowledge Services in 2018. Her experience spans acute, public health, and mental health settings, including outreach work with the Public Health Team at Kent County Council and time as a Mental Health Librarian with Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust. Maria has a particular interest in the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare and how emerging technologies can support evidence-based practice.

Nikki- Before joining MTW in 2024 Nikki worked as an Evidence Support Information Specialist at the British Medical Association in the Library and Archives team doing literature reviews and systematic review searches.  Prior to that she worked in a Ministry of Defence scientific research organisation as a Knowledge and Information Agent doing literature searches, database/Information Management/Knowledge Management training, looking after the MoD reports repository, editor of the organisation's wiki and managing communities of practice. Nikki has a particular interest in current awareness tools to help people keep up to date with the latest evidence. She is also keen to improve knowledge sharing across the organisation using the Knowledge Mobilisation framework and launched the inaugural Coffee Connect round at the end of last year. 

Mary- Mary completed her initial library training at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Social Science library. After graduating from UCL with a Master’s degree in Library & Information Studies, she worked at the Templeman library at the University of Kent. She joined the NHS in 2022, working in the Library & Knowledge Services at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, before coming to MTW in 2024. Her current professional interests include the impact of climate change on the NHS and the ways in which library services can support sustainability.

1. What is a Knowledge and Evidence Specialist?

From 1st April the Clinical Librarians will be changing job titles to Knowledge and Evidence Specialists. The core service will continue, but with a clearer evidence-focused identity. The services that we provide are all designed to support evidence-based decision making across the Trust. We also help with the acquisition of knowledge through services and resources provided through the Library and Knowledge Services.

More about why we have library services within healthcare settings can be found in the national NHS Knowledge & Library Services strategy.

2. How do we support evidence-based decision making?

We carry out literature and evidence searches for staff and learners across the Trust, whether clinical, managerial, research, business or operational decisions. Most decisions need an evidence base and that’s what we provide. Here are some examples of searches we have completed recently:

•     How organisations can mitigate the impact of cuts, mergers, and similar disruptions
•     How artificial intelligence is being used in recruitment processes
•     The use of Zoomorphic robots for mental health and wellbeing
•     Forensic service models and interventions for autism
•     Laboratory predictors of venous thromboembolism in high-risk cancers
•     The use of AI tools for sleep disturbances 

Having high-quality evidence can support decisions by ensuring that changes are effective, safe and cost-effective. Whilst staff often don’t have the time to gather and sift through evidence themselves, the Knowledge and Evidence Specialists can present a report with high-quality, available evidence to support decisions. We can also help identify evidence gaps to support research applications.

If you would like to request an evidence search, please fill out our online form

3. Who can use this service?

We support all staff groups—clinical, non-clinical, corporate, trainees, AHPs, nursing, medical, students and learners.

No prior knowledge of research or searching is needed.

5. How can you work with us to save you time?

The Knowledge and Evidence Specialists have expert searching skills which speeds up the gathering of evidence. The Evidence Specialists know how to navigate complex medical databases and where to look for the right information for your query. We also have expertise in developing robust search strategies. Search quality improves the decision-making process. 

An average search can take up to 4 hours, whilst a more complex search can take days to gather all relevant evidence. This is a big time saving for staff.

6. What training do we offer?

We also offer a range of training sessions to support with information literacy skills and staff development. These include:

• Evidence Searching
• Critical Appraisal
• Study Skills
• Health Literacy
• Beyond the Databases
• Getting Research Published
• An Introduction to AI in Healthcare

Getting started with Copilot

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Sessions are bookable on MTW Learning or iLearn (for KMMH staff). Or we also can provide 1-1 training or training delivered to a team.

7. What else do we provide?

Evidence searches and training sessions are a large part of what we deliver, but it’s not all we do. Here are some other services that we provide:

• Current awareness and evidence updates
• Knowledge mobilisation support
• Staff research repository 
• Help with referencing, research design or publication processes
• Journal club support

For more information on Knowledge and Evidence Specialists, please see our website Knowledge and evidence specialist services | Website 

To contact us, email mtw-tr.evidence.specialists@nhs.net