Interesting Journal Articles

Why not try publishing a case report?
BMJ Career Focus 2008;336:31.
Tips on getting a case report published.

Jane: Suggesting Journals, Finding Experts.
Martijn J. Schuemie and Jan A. Kors, Bioinformatics, January 28, 2008.
"Have you recently written a paper, but you’re not sure to which journal you should submit it? Jane can help! Just enter the title and/or abstract of the paper in the box, and click on ‘Find journals’ or ‘Find authors’. Jane will then compare your document to millions of documents in Medline to find the best matching journals or authors."

"Jane" is an abbreviation for Journal / Author Name Estimator. Link via DavidRothman.net.

Medical podcasts: the future of continuing professional development?
BMJ Career Focus 2008;336:29-30
The exciting potential of podcasts as a new educational medium.

Clinical hospital medicine fellowships: Perspectives of employers, hospitalists, and medicine residents.
Philip H. Goodman, MD, MS, Andrius Januska, BS. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 02/2008.

Mastery learning of thoracentesis skills by internal medicine residents using simulation technology and deliberate practice.
Diane B. Wayne, MD et al. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 02/2008.

Rates of medication errors among depressed and burnt out residents: prospective cohort study. Amy M Fahrenkopf et al. BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.39469.763218.BE (published 7 February 2008)

The setting was in 3 urban children’s hospitals in the United States, 20% of the participating residents met the criteria for depression and 74% met the criteria for burnout. Depressed residents made 6.2 times as many medication errors as residents who were not depressed. Burnout did not correlate with an increased rate of medical errors.

Conflicting views:

Are condoms the answer to rising rates of non-HIV sexually transmitted infections? Yes.
BMJ 2008;336:184 (26 January)

Are condoms the answer to rising rates of non-HIV sexually transmitted infection? No.
BMJ 2008;336:185 (26 January)
The article features "A to Z" of prevention strategies for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, if somebody can remember them all.

A time efficient way to stay up-to-date with medical literature

"How do you eat in elephant? In small bites." The same rule probably applies to staying current with the ever expanding avalanche of medical literature. One can try the following approach:

1. Subscribe the to the RSS feeds of the 5 major medical journals (NEJM, JAMA, BMJ, Lancet and Annals) plus 2-3 subpecialty journals in your field of interest.


Medical Journals tab: A screenshot of iGoogle with RSS feeds from the major medical journals.

2. Read the journal on the day it is published online, for example, NEJM on Wednesdays.

3. Use text-to-speech to listen to articles you do not have time to read.

4. Listen to journal podcasts. Click here to subscribe the podcasts of the 4 major journals in iGoogle.

Related:
Make Your Own "Medical Journal" with iGoogle Personalized Page
Share iGoogle Tabs with Medical Journals, Podcasts and Gadgets
Annals of Internal Medicine Launches Podcast and Audio Summaries
Text-to-Speech Programs and Continuous Medical Education
Image source: OpenClipArt, public domain.