*The Newest PRESENT* eZine Premieres Thursday Night** Making your job of keeping up with today's podiatric and medical literature...Easier

I'm Andrew Meyr, DPM, an Associate Professor at the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine. The purpose of this new bi-weekly eZine is to bring some focus to the critical review of the podiatric medical literature that we are bombarded with everyday. The sheer volume of peer-reviewed medical research being produced in the 21st century is simply staggering. Although a seemingly simple task, keeping “up-to-date” can actually represent a near impossible challenge for not only busy podiatrists, but all other medical and surgical specialties as well. The intended emphasis of this eZine is fairly simple. We hope to present an organized review of the current medical literature covering topics reaching all aspects of podiatric medicine and surgery. Obviously this review will be relatively basic, but we are optimistic that it will provide a foundation for you to develop a routine of both reading and critical analysis.

Introduction to PRESENT Journal Club

Each Journal Club issue that you will receive will include the following four sections:

PODIATRIC LITERATURE DIGEST

THE FIRST SECTION, Podiatric Literature Digest, will highlight the table of contents of a recent journal that is directly related to podiatric medicine and surgery. This includes the all of the foot and ankle journals that you are so familiar with: The Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery; The Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association; Foot and Ankle International, etc. One specific article from this journal will be reviewed in detail, and then reading recommendations will be made with respect to the other articles in the issue.

We’ll try to keep the format for specific article reviews fairly simple and answer four basic questions:

–Why did the authors undertake this study? In other words, what was the clinical hypothesis, question or situation they were trying to obtain more information about?

–How did they attempt to answer this question? In other words, what were the specific outcome measures used in the article? What were the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the population cohort?

–What were the specific results? In other words, what did the descriptive and comparative statistical analyses demonstrate with respect to the outcome measures?

–How did the authors interpret these results? In other words, what were the author’s interpretations of the results, and are these the same as your interpretations? What take-home points will change the way that you will view your next patient-care situation?

Each eZine will be presented in a similar format; broken into these four distinct sections. They will conclude with a discussion forum, utilizing PRESENT Podiatry's eTalk forum.

MEDICIAL LITERATURE DIGEST

THE SECOND SECTION will highlight the table of contents of a recent journal that is indirectly related to podiatric medicine and surgery. This will represent a diverse collection of journals and topics (pain management, general medicine, infectious disease, vascular surgery, etc.), and hopefully, present material that you probably would not have come across otherwise. Once again, we'll review one article in detail, and then make recommendations with respect to the other articles in the issue.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

THE THIRD SECTION of this eZine, Critical Analysis of Medical Literature, will attempt to focus on one specific aspect of the critical analysis of medical literature. As our profession transitions into an era of evidence-based interventions, it will become increasingly important for physicians to hone skills in areas where they may not have received formal training. This section will slowly build on some basic statistical principles and gradually accumulate the knowledge base of its readers. Our goal is not simply to get more people reading, but also to critically evaluate the specific information that they are reading.

PRESENT JOURNAL CLUB

THE FOURTH AND FINAL SECTION is The PRESENT Journal Club, which will be what makes this a true journal “club” as the name suggests. Each eZine will transition into an eTalk where we can establish a dialogue about these and other articles. What is your opinion of the articles chosen for review? What have been your clinical experiences dealing with the topic? How do you plan on using this information in your next patient encounter? What other interesting articles have you come across in recent weeks?

The first issued of PRESENT Journal Club is coming Thursday evening. Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything I can do to make this a more educational and clinically relevant journal club.

Andrew Meyr, DPM
PRESENT Podiatry Journal Club Editor
Assistant Professor, Department of Podiatric Surgery,
Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
[email protected]

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