Does combining antibiotics improve survival in severe sepsis? This 2012 journal club scrutinises an observational analysis from EduSepsis, exploring differences between treatment groups, confounding and why a reported mortality association does not establish that combination therapy caused the benefit.
JC: Blunderbuss antibiotics in sepsis?? Read More
Can a clinician’s gut feeling help identify serious infection in a child who otherwise seems well? This 2012 journal club examines a Belgian primary-care study, exploring diagnostic definitions, false alarms and the limits of transferring its findings to the emergency department.
JC: Gut feeling about serious paeds infections Read More
Does reaching hypothermia sooner after cardiac arrest improve outcomes? This 2012 journal club examines an observational study of cooling times, using its results to explain relative risk, absolute risk and number needed to treat while questioning whether confounding could explain the apparent benefit of later cooling.
Getting Chilly Quickly at St.Emlyn’s Read More
St Emlyn’s launched its Twitter journal club in 2012 to take critical appraisal beyond the department. This post explains how shared papers, live discussion and subsequent blog summaries were intended to help colleagues learn together despite different locations and shifts.
Twitter Journal Club @JC_StE at St.Emlyn’s Read More
Can ultrasound improve assessment of suspected skin and soft tissue infection in children? This 2012 journal club introduction questions whether finding an abscess necessarily improves outcomes, and raises concern about unnecessary interventions before linking to further ultrasound learning resources.
JC: Diagnostic panacea? USS that paeds abscess? Read More
Does patient-controlled analgesia improve pain relief in the emergency department? This 2012 appraisal examines a randomised trial in acute abdominal pain, considering blinding, exclusions, the comparison treatment and how pain was measured, with additional explanations of area under the curve and block randomisation.
JC: Patient Controlled Analgesia in the ED Read More
What matters more in a fluid trial: haemodynamic targets or outcomes that matter to patients? This 2012 appraisal of CRYSTMAS examines hydroxyethyl starch versus saline in severe sepsis, questioning the analysis population, clinical relevance of the primary outcome and interpretation of mortality findings.
JC All I want for CRYSTMAS in ITU land…, are some more potatoes, and a drink! Read More
If medical publishing changes, do we still need journal clubs? This short introduction argues that critical appraisal matters just as much for blogs and other online evidence, and points readers towards practical advice for making an emergency medicine journal club useful.
JC: Journals are dead: Long live the Journal Club Read More
