Journal Club Overview

Purpose of a Nursing-Focused Journal Club

  • Promote perioperative nursing knowledge
  • Serve as a community for supporting perioperative practice
  • Discuss challenging clinical situations
  • Facilitate contact hour attainment

How to Coordinate a Journal Club Event

  • Decide the method (ie, in-person, virtual).
  • Designate a leader who will
    • invite participants,
    • identify a journal and an article,
    • schedule the Journal Club event (eg, education at an AORN chapter meeting or separate event, set a time parameter [eg, one hour]),
    • use the Journal Club Discussion Guide to plan the conversation,
    • if needed, schedule an appropriate location to hold the event (eg, large enough to accommodate participants with adequate seating), and
    • facilitate discussion during the event.
  • If continuing nursing education (CNE) is included with the article, plan to encourage participants to complete it.
  • If CNE is not included with the article, consider developing CNE for the Journal Club activity (eg, through AORN or another professional organization, state nursing association, or ANCC). There may be a cost for this option.

    Complete the New Live Presentation Application to seek approval from AORN for a CNE activity.
  • Hold the event (eg, allow opportunities for all participants to contribute, ask follow-up questions to generate dialogue).
  • After the event, seek feedback from participants and remind them to complete CNE if applicable.
  • Schedule the next Journal Club event (eg, quarterly).
  • Share successes on social media.


A Journal Club discussion about an AORN Journal CNE article is an opportune way for chapter meetings to include CNE because AORN members are able to access complimentary Journal CNE through the My AORN web page.