Implementation and Evaluation of a Journal Club for Acuity Adaptable Units

Friday, 20 April 2018

Jennifer L. Kitchens, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC, CVRN
Risk Management, Eskenazi Health, Fishers, IN, USA
Margie A. Hull, MEd, MNS, LDE, ACNS-BC, CDE, RN
Quality/Risk Management, Eskenazi Health, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Janet S. Fulton, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, ANEF, FAAN
School of Nursing, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

Background: Creating and sustaining a practice environment based on research and evidence is an essential requirement for achieving Magnet, a designation signifying a highly professional nursing clinical setting awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. One strategy for bringing research to the bedside is Journal Club. Journal clubs have been shown to be an effective, interactive strategy for increasing nurses’ knowledge of research and evidence. Journal clubs also provide opportunities for experienced nurses to mentor newer nurses in a comfortable, informal setting. The Journal Club can be individualized to meet unit/setting interests, making it a flexible format for contemporary and cutting-edge evidence for addressing current problems and exploring new initiatives. There has been an ongoing evaluation of the Journal Club to determine its effectiveness over time. The purpose was to implement and evaluate a Journal Club for general medical-surgical units.

Methods: Journal Club is held monthly at the same time and location with reminder notices and the feature article disseminated 1- month prior. Facilitated by two Clinical Nurse Specialists, topics are determined by practice priorities and staff recommendations. The Journal Club is implemented by: surveying for best time; maintaining consistent time and location; advertising; and inviting guest speakers. Guest discussants provide provocative and in-depth discussion of a selected article. CNE credits are provided to nurses. The literature-based objectives of the Journal Club were evaluated using a 15 - item survey administered to participants and two open-ended questions.

Results: Within the past 24 months, mean attendance per meeting was 7, range was 3 to 10. A total of 6/6 available participants completed the survey. A 4-point Likert Scale was used with: 1= strongly disagree; 4= strongly agree (higher scores equaling higher satisfaction). The mean satisfaction score was 3.7/4. For item 5, “I feel my overall knowledge about EBP/research has increased by attending Journal Clubs” the mean score was 3.7/4. For the open-ended question, “Why do you choose to attend Journal Club?” the responses were: “great educational delivery model”; “I love this way of learning”; it helps me to provide the best care for my patients” “the people and knowledge obtained”; and “to learn and keep updated knowledge”. For the open-ended question, “What do you like about the Journal Club?” the response was “the topics are in just the right time for the clinical uses which is very instrumental”.

Conclusions: Results indicate nurses’ satisfaction with Journal Club, and an increased attainment of overall knowledge about EBP/Research. The effectiveness of Journal Clubs on supporting evidence-based clinical decision making is not clearly evident. A different approach is needed to evaluate the impact of a Journal Club on use of EBP/Research in clinical practice.

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