Written Journal Club
The goal of the Written Journal Club is to present recent, relevant publications to readers in a simplified and abridged manner that provides one perspective and incorporates additional contributions from other faculty. This may help to stimulate discussion in a format that may build interest and participation in all ASRA Pain Medicine Special Interest Groups (SIGs).
While articles can be submitted by people in at any career level, we are starting this program to gain fellows’ valuable perspective on articles of interest in this field and to create a dialogue on what is particularly relevant to them during their fellowships as they prepare for their post-fellowship careers in pain medicine. This could be helpful in their academic careers in producing a review and in preparing for potential article reviews and editorial board activity after their fellowships.
You can read entries on the Neuromodulation SIG ASRA Pain Medicine Connect board.
Article Review Format
The standardized presentation is:
- Name of article reviewed and URL link (article must be Open Access)
- Background
- Overview
- Methods
- Results
- Reflections
- References
- Comments
Background, Overview, Methods, and Results will be an objective presentation of the study design and results of the trial.
The Reflections section will be the thoughts of the author commenting on both the quality of the trial itself and how the results will affect the way we treat our patients.
Reference style example is below:
Fischer B. Benefits, risks, and best practice in regional anesthesia: do we have the evidence we need? Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2010;35:545–48. https://doi.org/10.1097/AAP.0b013e3181fa6b90
The Comments section will allow for perspectives from the other participants who have reviewed this journal article. One to two comments from other people should be submitted with your review.
Click here for an example review.
Submission and Review Process
1. Use the article review format above to write your article.
2. Complete the Written Journal Club submission form. Either the author or the person submitting the article on the author's behalf must be a current member of ASRA Pain Medicine.
3. A team of experts will review the submission to ensure accuracy of the work. ASRA Pain Medicine staff will review the work for compliance with the style guide. ASRA Pain Medicine cannot reproduce images, charts, graphs, etc. without written permission/approval from the publisher. Links to these items should be provided in your review.
4. You will be notified of your article review status within 2-3 weeks of submission.
Q&A
1. When can I submit an article review?
Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.
2. Do I need to be an ASRA Pain Medicine member to submit an article review?
The person submitting the review must be a current member of ASRA Pain Medicine.
3. What types of articles should I review?
Our journal club is different from other societies' journal clubs because it will be in a written format and reviews could be broad in scope. While there will be an opportunity to review journal articles, this could be an opportunity to extract what is most salient about the field of a subject (e.g., neuromodulation) to an audience that may or may not be particularly familiar with this field.
You could capture the interest of a field that may be looking to find the most meaning in studies to apply to their own field and to see how your subject may be a consideration when they themselves might not be particular experts in this field. Original research articles have a role perhaps equally as much so to an article evaluating methodologies, systematic reviews, and topics that might only tangentially be related to a subject but may be timely and worthy of consideration in a written journal club format.
4. How old can the article be?
Here is another way the Written Journal Club is particularly different than others. You can revisit an older article and extract the meaning from it at the time in a historical sense, and see how relevant it may have been then, and if it continues to hold relevance now. It is particularly relevant to know what landmark studies helped to "pave the way" for newer technologies or current protocols. We can see what continues to resonate and what no longer may, giving reason for current or future studies.
As an example, we can consider landmark studies such as Susan Lord's paper on cervical medial branch radiofrequency ablation, which is neuroablative perhaps more than neuromodulatory, yet helped contribute to the practice of radiofrequency ablation. It has also given rise to the opportunity to consider peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS), such as 60 day PNS implant which, in a clinical trial and subsequently, has gained traction as a neurostimulatory option for sparing the multifidus muscle and providing relief to patients who have been refractory to prior neuromodulation.
5. Do you have an example article review?
Please log into the Written Journal Club board on ASRA Pain Medicine Connect to see an example.
6. How do I list my Written Journal Club authorship on my CV?
This would work well for most medical school standardized formats for their students' and faculty's CVs under the section for "Other Scholarly Work in Print or Other Media."
7. Who do I contact if I have more questions?
Please contact us at NeuroSIG@asra.com.