Journal Club

Welcome to the UAB Center for
Palliative Care Journal Club

The mission of the journal club is to meet a dual purpose:

  1. To encourage active and critical reading of the literature in palliative care to enhance the clinical care, research activities, and training experiences within the C4PC.
  2. To stimulate the growth of a supportive community of learners by providing an opportunity to eat, drink, and debrief in an informal and comfortable academic activity.

Journal Club Format

-Monthly or bimonthly meetings at home of kindly volunteer

  • The host for the meeting should not be the same person as the moderator
  • The host will be in charge of site and refreshments – this may be their home and food, but potlucks or purchased food are fine, and neutral sites are fine as long as a conversation can be carried on without difficulty
  • The moderator will be in charge of article selection and facilitating discussion

-We will discuss one article each meeting

-Our discussion will be aided by use of a checklist or guide for methodologic criteria. Links to these guides are posted below.

-Facilitators are to use the “Education Prescription” approach developed by David Sackett, summarized here:

  • A clinical question that you have encountered in the care of patients (if you have difficulty framing a question, please contact a palliative care faculty member for assistance)

  • Your presentation should cover:

    • HOW you found what you found

    • WHAT you found

    • The VALIDITY and APPLICABILITY of what you found

    • How what you found will ALTER your MANAGEMENT of the patient

    • How WELL you think you did in addressing your question

Journal Club Schedule

Journal Club Articles »

Journal Club Archives

Sites with methodologic criteria for evaluation of articles

Contact Us

Please feel free to contact us at:

Elizabeth Kvale, MD
(ekvale@uab.edu)