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Access to articles for hospital journal clubs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jessica Beard
Affiliation:
Northern Deanery Higher Specialist Training Scheme in General and Old Age Psychiatry
Peter L. Cornwall
Affiliation:
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, St Luke's Hospital, Middlesbrough TS4 3AF, email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2007

Evidence-based critical appraisal of articles in journal clubs forms an essential part of psychiatric training. The College emphasises the importance of journal clubs as part of the postgraduate teaching programme (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2003) and a journal club presentation will be one of the workplace-based assessments undertaken by trainees to demonstrate competencies in the new curriculum (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2006).

However, since the loss of the National Health Service licence regarding copyright privilege it has become increasingly difficult to organise journal clubs. Previously, once a paper was identified, it could be photocopied and sent out in advance or handed out at the session. Now each individual attending must be sent details of the paper, and they must download and print their own copy. This involves excessive time and also increases cost (as printing is more expensive than photocopying). It also means that many trainees fail to have a copy of the paper for discussion, either because of lack of computer access, lack of time or perhaps through laziness. This certainly does not facilitate good-quality teaching and learning.

We wonder if other teaching programmes have had similar experiences and it they have found a more convenient way to organise access to journal articles. One way forward would be for the College to authorise the reproduction of its own publications for members organising journal clubs, allowing photocopying of articles from several peer-reviewed, hopefully high-quality journals.

References

Royal College of Psychiatrists (2003) Basic Specialist Training Handbook. Royal College of Psychiatrists. http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/PDF/bst.pdf Google Scholar
Royal College of Psychiatrists (2006) Curriculum Pilot Pack. Royal College of Psychiatrists. http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/training/curriculumpilotpack.aspx Google Scholar
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