Pocket Journal Club ─ Essential Articles in General Surgery

A combination primer on how to evaluate the surgical literature and summary of the most important surgical papers of recent decades

With the acceptance of evidence-based medicine as the gold-standard of clinical care, there is tremendous pressure on students and residents to make decisions based on available clinical evidence. Many novice clinicians do not feel they are equipped to meet this challenge for two reasons: the limited time they have to read the vast amount of primary sources and the challenge to identify what is the most relevant literature. Pocket Journal Club: Essential Articles in General Surgeryis specifically written to remedy this situation.

 A unique two-in-one resource,Pocket Journal Club: Essential Articles in General Surgery is a complete primer on how to efficiently evaluate the surgical literature, plus a summary of the most important surgical papers of the past few decades. The authors have created an index of landmark papers within the fields of general surgery that trainees can refer to throughout their medical school clerkship or general surgery residency. The authors provide clear, succinct summaries of these papers enabling readers to understand the developments that have shaped their specialty and continue to inform clinical practice today. By improving a trainee’s comfort level with this knowledge, it will foster reliance on primary sources and encourage evidence-based medicine.

· Articles are arranged by subspecialty fields of general surgery

· Each article summary is accompanied by brief commentary explaining why the paper was included and why it is relevant to current practice

Kathryn L. Butler, MD (Boston, MA) is Assistant Professor of Surgery, Associate Clerkship Director, Massachusetts General Hospital.

Laura Mazer, MD (Palo Alto, CA) is Postdoctoral Research Fellow, General Surgery at Stanford University.

Kiran Lagisetty, MD (Ann Arbor, MI) Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow at University of Michigan.