The history behind Journal Clubs

In 2019, the British Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered Institute for IT, Health & Care Executive was instrumental in moving the BCS Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) group. In doing so, it adopted a new title – BMJ Health and Care Informatics or BMJ HCI.

To promote the new title, members of the BCS Health & Care Executive had the idea to run a series of journal clubs which is usually a discussion group on a published article amongst academic students and staff. The aim of these journal clubs, like the journal itself, was to reach a much broader audience. The journal does publish academic research articles but practitioner-led service development and implementation reports are equally, if not more, valued. So, thoughts turned to how to reach that wider audience who are interested in all things digital in health and health care informatics.

Reaching a wider audience

Digital Health is well-known for its appeal to CCIOs, CIOs, the wider health and social care professions and digital health professionals. Its lengthy list of ongoing events, hugely popular Summer School and REWIRED conference are matched by an extensive list of subscribers. A clear match for the planned BCS BMJ HCI Journal Clubs and Jon Hoeksma said ‘yes’.

Authors of selected recently published BMJ HCI articles have been contacted directly by the inaugural, and still current, Journal Club Chair, Dr Katie MacLure, a health services researcher, Deputy Editor of BMJ HCI and Fellow of the BCS based in Scotland. In the hour long session, the authors present their work, which they usually do using slides, then engage in discussion to answer questions posed by the journal club audience.

Journal clubs to date

To date, there have been 18 journal clubs, all recorded for later access, usually held at a lunchtime or early evening GMT depending on author location. The authors presenting have been based mainly in the UK but also in Australia, Norway and east, west and central USA. The professions and digital health informatics topics have included artificial intelligence in image reading, breast screening, contact tracing apps, continuing professional development, decision support systems in pharmacy, electronic patient records, evaluation tools, genomics, global digital exemplar, health data research, machine learning, medicines optimisation, nursing, ophthalmology, peer review for novices, patient informatics, pharmacy, philosophy and ethics of medical algorithms, predictive modelling, procurement, psychology, software development, speech and language therapy, stroke care, suicide and surgeons. The list continues to grow.