Implementing evidence-based decision-making: forming a student extracurricular evidence-based journal club.

In an effort to further their understanding of the evidencebased research process (EBRP) and become prudent clinicians adept at evaluating the quality and relevance of clinical research studies, a group of UCLA dental students, graduate students, and postgraduate residents collaborated to form the Evidence-Based Research Journal Club. Every other week, the group meets to openly discuss and critically evaluate a journal article with the guidance and expertise of a faculty mentor. An important goal of the interaction is to strengthen the ability to assess the validity of clinical trials so as to distinguish between high- and low-quality studies, and to stay informed about the most current research on new techniques and materials. In the dynamic field of dentistry, how do we as future dentists ensure that each of our patients receives the most beneficial treatment? How can we be assured that clinical decisions we make for our patients are fully supported by the best available research evidence, and how can we be sure such evidence is trustworthy? Understanding the foundations of evidence-based dentistry prepares us to critically address these important questions in caring for our patients. The evidence-based research process (EBRP) is defined as ‘‘the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patients.’’ 1 It involves a thorough review of all available and clinically relevant published literature, followed by careful analysis of these studies. This systematic process leads to the eventual culmination of an overarching consensus statement about the treatment method, materials, or procedure that allows clinicians to make their own judgments and provide maximal care to their patients. 2 As future dentists and students of the scientific process, we realize that EBRP is an important tool not only to be used in an academic setting, but more importantly, in real world applications where our main responsibilities are to the patient. The curriculum at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Dentistry includes a series of courses in the first and second year dealing with ‘‘Evidence-Based Dentistry.’’ These introductory courses provide students a glimpse into the world of evidence-based research, tools, and methods. However, it is rather unfathomable and unrealistic that, as busy students, we are expected to become proficient in the EBRP after just a short period of time. Because of the short duration of the lecture course and the large number of students taking the class, a number of students felt that it would be important to continue our learning of the applications of evidence-based tools in dentistry in a more intimate setting conducive to lengthier discussions. Naturally, the establishment of the Evidence-Based Research (EBR) Journal Club was the perfect approach to enhance the vital skills we learned during the didactic course. We feel that every dental student should participate in these types of interactive and collaborative meetings throughout the course of their dental education. The idea progressed rapidly from a meeting between