Undergraduate Journal Clubs
Current and Future Discussions
The benefits of the discussions, debates, and sharing of opinions and insight by small journal clubs of medical students, residents and practicing doctors can also be shared by undergraduates. We encourage NextGen readers and other readers interested in clinical research literature to form groups to discuss topics in medicine. In this section of NextGen, you will find a set of discussion topics and questions accompanying each issue of The Next Generation to be used in journal clubs and discussion groups.
We welcome consensus statements on discussions from journal clubs in response to the questions posed by the NextGen Editors. We also welcome individual essays, opinion pieces, and descriptive pieces on health issues and topics in your local community, city or region. These pieces, after a review and acceptance process with the NextGen editors, will appear in the Letters to the Editors section of Comments and Correspondences.
We are inviting the authors of the Selected Papers from NEJM to read and respond to the opinions, questions and ideas you submit to us.
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NextGen Hot Topics and Questions These topics and questions accompany each issue of The Next Generation and are designed to encourage discussion and the sharing of opinions and insight. While we, as students, may not have the answers at this time, it is important that we develop the critical thinking skills and perspectives from which to approach these issues before we enter the field of medicine as clinicians and researchers. This Issue's Topics and Questions 1. What are some of the challenges of conducting emergency medicine? What health conditions were frequently observed during the aftermath of the tsunamis in Indonesia on December 26, 2004? 2. As a physician, how would you help parents and children approach the issue of managing weight? 3. Why do you think many medical students are thought to lose much of the compassion they bring to medicine during the process of medical training? Do you think this is a necessary cost or occurrence, or should this be amended? Past Topics and Questions Volume 1, Issue 1 1. What steps toward improving public health should follow a study showing evidence of the negative effects of motor vehicle emissions on respiratory health? On what levels and in what forms should these changes be executed: health policy, commercial practice, community initiatives, clinical practice, or others? 2. How can American researchers, policy-makers and the general public most effectively reconcile their differences regarding the ethics of stem-cell research? Can one side convince the other with effective public education on the subject, or will a compromise be necessary? 3. Which national or international leaders need to work together to find a consistent approach to stem-cell research that can minimize ethical concerns and advance medical research? Together, could these leaders convince the researchers, policy-makers and the general public that their solution is the most appropriate? Volume 1, Issue 2 4. What role can doctors play in reducing the disparities in health care regarding race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors? 5. Drs. Czeisler and Landrigan state that a disadvantage to the reduction of work shift hours is the increase of handovers from one shift to the next. Passing patients from one team to another may increase the rate of medical errors. How can one limit the problems of handovers while reducing the length of work shifts? 6. What, if any, are the potential shortcomings of each [2004 presidential] candidate's health reform proposal? 7. In your opinion, what are the key issues in medical education reform? What issues have not been addressed? At what level of education? Volume 1, Issue 3 8. With respect to doctors counseling women on delivery after a c-section, are the relative risks or absolute risks of VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) more significant? How does this paper change what doctors should recommend to expecting mothers? 9. How does the controversy over the pharmacist's "right to refuse" extend to other ethical situations in medical care delivery? How well do the authors' recommendations for handling the ethics of providing emergency contraception apply elsewhere? 10. Rationing in the face of a shortage appears different than rationing to cut health care costs and extend health care coverage to more people. What lessons learned in approaching the former can be applied to dealing with the latter? Volume 1, Issue 4 11. With a finding like that in the original article for this issue, is it appropriate to recommend moderate drinking to older women? 12. If you are a prospective medical school student, what kind of preparations are you making to pay for medical school? 13. Although competition can bring benefits to patients in the long term, balance must also be found between competition and its effects on those patients who may be less profitable to profit-driven hospitals. Where might a balance be struck? Volume 1, Issue 5 14. How can physicians and health care providers work together to address the mental health of the families of patients? Are there other situations in which families might be affected by the health conditions of the patient? 15. Do physicians and insurers have other effective means besides class-action lawsuits through which to reconcile differences? 16. In the past, health conditions such as illnesses, heart conditions, and stroke have been prevelant, but hadn't affected projections of average lifespan. What makes obesity and diabetes different? |