Journal Club Guidelines and Expectations*

Journal Club is an important educational activity in the Genetic Counseling Program.

Goals: 1. To become familiar with the latest developments in genetics and genomics. 2. To present developments in the field to students and colleagues in a succinct, understandable, and professional manner. 3. To read a scientific publication critically and identify weaknesses, strengths and areas for future research. 4. To prepare for the workplace where giving presentations is a common occurrence.

Journal Club Schedule Journal Club will occur every Wednesday (time differs slightly in fall and spring semesters) except as noted on the schedule. Each second year student will present once in the fall and once in the spring.

Fall Journal Club articles must be chosen from an appropriate journal (articles from Journal of Genetic Counseling may not be used), be no more than nine months old and from one of the three general categories below:

1. Molecular/Cytogenetic 2. Public policy/ethical issues 3. Psychosocial

Presenting students should:  Have the article approved by Judith or another faculty member prior to distributing it to everyone.  Read the through the entire article to make sure that the paper worthy of presentation, before you submit the article to a faculty member.  Choose a paper based on valid research that you will not absolutely rip apart.  Be sure presentation of the article will take the full time allotted-if your paper will take 15 minutes to present then you probably have not chosen a suitable article.  Circulate PDF of article to students and faculty at least one week ahead of scheduled presentation date

Spring Students will present an interesting case they saw during a clinical rotation as well as a paper that helped them to either prepare for, or follow up on, that patient encounter.

Presenting students should:  Present an actual case (anonymized) with appropriate follow up (this may require going back to supervisor after an internship has ended)  Select a relevant article used for patient encounter-it does not need to be approved by a faculty member  Seek guidance from faculty on choice of case and/or article as necessary  Circulate PDF of article to students and faculty at least one week ahead of scheduled presentation date

Presentations Students are expected to:  be their best professional selves in dress (business casual), manner, choice of language, etc.  present and critically assess the journal article, taking into account study design, potential biases, statistical analyses, interpretation of the results and conclusions.  discuss how this article applies to genetics and how it should or should not be incorporated into clinical practice.  check the spelling and pronunciation of all words (other than names) beforehand. Don’t rely solely on SpellCheck.  Present for approximately 30-35 minutes. General time allotment should be*/**: Background and Introduction: 5 to 10 minutes Materials and Methods: 10 minutes Results and Discussion: 10 to 15 minutes Evaluation and Application of article: 5 minutes Questions: 5 minutes *do not include a slide in the presentation with this time breakdown **time for presentation of journal article in spring should be shorter to allow for case presentation and follow up  email a copy of the PowerPoint to Judith to present using her computer

Evaluation  Each person’s presentation will be digitally videotaped during the fall semester and given to the speaker to review and learn from them. No one else will receive the tapes, nor will they be kept in the program’s files.  Presenters will be asked to fill out a Self-Evaluation to encourage each honest self-assessment of his/her own presentation and allow for reflection on ways to improve.  The week following each presentation, the presenter must meet with Judith to review the presentation, reflect on the videotape of the JC, go over the Self- Evaluation form and review the results of the audience evaluations. The best time for these meetings is Wed. between 11 and 11:30 the week after a presentation. *Adapted (with permission) from the guidelines used in the Northwestern Genetic Counseling Program. Revised by GHS August, 2016Genetics and Genetic Counseling in the News

Following each fall Journal Club presentation, we will use the remainder of the time to have a brief discussion of a recent news article relevant to genetic counseling. This can be from a newspaper, magazine, news report-typically something that would reach the greater public (for example, the Angelina Jolie story or the recent reports of NIPT findings that have implications for the mother’s health).

Expectations  Students will be expected to lead this discussion the week following their own journal club presentation.  An article or a link to the article should be circulated to students and faculty no later than the Monday before they are the discussion leader  No formal Powerpoint presentation is required. However, students should be fully prepared to facilitate the discussion on their assigned day. This can include, but not be limited to, addressing the following questions: o Was the information in this article accurate and presented in an unbiased way? o What was your initial reaction upon reading this article? o Do you think the lay public had a different reaction? If so what was it, and why? o How do you think this article portrays genetics, genetic testing and /or genetic counseling? o What impact do you think this information being disseminated to the public will have on views of disease or disability, genetic services, genetic counseling, etc.? o Do you think any further information in response to this news article would be warranted? If so, what?