TY - JOUR T1 - Using a journal club to navigate a maze of COVID-19 papers in a front-line hospital service JF - BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine JO - BMJ EBM DO - 10.1136/bmjebm-2022-112130 SP - bmjebm-2022-112130 AU - Rachel Wenke AU - Paulina Stehlik AU - John Gerrard AU - Sharon Mickan AU - David Henry Y1 - 2023/01/19 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/01/18/bmjebm-2022-112130.abstract N2 - The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic placed clinicians in a position of having to manage patients with a previously unknown disease, with no well-established information on diagnosis, treatment or prognosis. Simultaneously, the published research addressing these questions increased exponentially. Suddenly, clinicians, health services and governments were making decisions impacting whole populations based on non-peer-reviewed preprints of varying quality. Keeping abreast of the literature and rapid deployment of critical appraisal skills were more vital than ever.In April 2020, PS and colleagues began a regular hospital-wide COVID-19 journal club at our busy tertiary hospital in Gold Coast, Australia. While journal clubs have been widely used by clinicians for over a century to enhance critical appraisal skills,1 2 their power to drive clinical practice changes should not be underestimated.Our journal club, which was active from the start of the pandemic, was attended by the infectious diseases department staff, including the director and senior staff specialists, and a variety of clinicians across the health service over videoconference. The journal club began weekly. However, the schedule was flexible and adapted to clinical needs of the group, becoming fortnightly to monthly, with occasional ‘ad-hoc’ journal clubs scheduled at the request of the infectious disease team to discuss important emerging trial data (ie, data on vaccine efficacy). The journal club was a … ER -