The Medical Journal Club - A Tool for Knowledge Refinement and Transfer in Healthcare

Abstract

The information base for healthcare is rapidly expanding. There are more than 20,000 biomedical journals. Approximately 17,000 new biomedical books were published in 1990, and these were projected to increase by annually up to 7% (Sackett et al., 1996; Siegel, Cummings, & Woodsmall, 1990). With such an exponential increase in information, there is a need for effective and efficient strategies to keep up-to-date with clinically relevant new knowledge. Without current best evidence, medical practice risks becoming out-of-date, to the detriment of patients.