Taking scholarship personally: a new season of journal club opens

Two years ago, John Lipsey had the great idea to revamp journal club by asking faculty members to open their homes to residents to discuss journal articles of interest. The chief residents at the time suggested that the article discussed be written by the faculty member who was hosting, so the faculty member could provide additional context, describing not only the paper but also the process by which the scholarly work was produced, the rationale for including or not including particular data, etc. Residents would have some informal time with faculty and would learn more about a topic. The idea has been well received and a wide variety of faculty over the last two years have participated. An optional activity, journal club usually draws 6-10 residents.

This year's first journal club was at my house this past Wednesday and included PGY2-4s. We discussed a paper from our eating disorder group (including contributing work from Anne Leonpacher, then a medical student and now a PGY2) on rapid refeeding in anorexia nervosa. We rapidly refed as well (!), with chili and cornbread, and talked about the paper. Katherine made the lovely point that the residents are more acquainted with this paper than with other research topics because the residents are a vital part of the clinical outcomes for our patients. We could not care for the patients, as sick as they are, without the residents working with us. Describing our clinical work and its outcomes is an important kind of scholarly work, especially in fields like eating disorders where clinical outcomes are understudied.

At least as important as the content of the discussion - for me, anyway - is the opportunity to spend a very pleasant evening with residents.