Michelle Lin

Free Open Access Meducation (FOAM): the rise of emergency medicine and critical care blogs and podcasts (2002-2013)

Disruptive technologies are revolutionising continuing professional development in emergency medicine and critical care (EMCC). Data on EMCC blogs and podcasts were gathered prospectively from 2002 through November 2013. During this time there was a rapid expansion of EMCC websites, from two blogs and one podcast in 2002 to 141 blogs and 42 podcasts in 2013. This paper illustrates the explosive growth of EMCC websites and provides a foundation that will anchor future research in this burgeoning field.

The Social Media Index: Measuring the Impact of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Websites

Introduction The number of educational resources created for emergency medicine and critical care (EMCC) that incorporate social media has increased dramatically. With no way to assess their impact or quality, it is challenging for educators to receive scholarly credit and for learners to identify respected resources. The Social Media index (SMi) was developed to help address this. Methods We used data from social media platforms (Google PageRanks, Alexa Ranks, Facebook Likes, Twitter Followers, and Google+ Followers) for EMCC blogs and podcasts to derive three normalized (ordinal, logarithmic, and raw) formulas. The most statistically robust formula was assessed for 1) temporal stability using repeated measures and website age, and 2) correlation with impact by applying it to EMCC journals and measuring the correlation with known journal impact metrics. Results The logarithmic version of the SMi containing four metrics was the most statistically robust. It correlated significantly with website age (Spearman r=0.372; p<0.001) and repeated measures through seven months (r=0.929; p<0.001). When applied to EMCC journals, it correlated significantly with all impact metrics except number of articles published. The strongest correlations were seen with the Immediacy Index (r=0.609; p<0.001) and Article Influence Score (r=0.608; p<0.001). Conclusion The SMi’s temporal stability and correlation with journal impact factors suggests that it may be a stable indicator of impact for medical education websites. Further study is needed to determine whether impact correlates with quality and how learners and educators can best utilize this tool.

Quality indicators for blogs and podcasts used in medical education: modified Delphi consensus recommendations by an international cohort of health professions educators

Background Quality assurance concerns about social media platforms used for education have arisen within the medical education community. As more trainees and clinicians use resources such as blogs and podcasts for learning, we aimed to identify quality indicators for these resources. A previous study identified 151 potentially relevant quality indicators for these social media resources. Objective To identify quality markers for blogs and podcasts using an international cohort of health professions educators. Methods A self-selected group of 44 health professions educators at the 2014 International Conference on Residency Education participated in a Social Media Summit during which a modified Delphi consensus study was conducted to determine which of the 151 quality indicators met the a priori ≥90% inclusion threshold. Results Thirteen quality indicators classified into the domains of credibility (n=8), content (n=4) and design (n=1) met the inclusion threshold. Conclusions The quality indicators that were identified may serve as a foundation for further research on quality indicators of social media-based medical education resources and prompt discussion of their legitimacy as a form of educational scholarship.

The Altmetric Score: A New Measure for Article-Level Dissemination and Impact.

HOW SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS WORK/SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION The Altmetric Score: A New Measure for Article-Level Dissemination and Impact N. Seth Trueger, MD, MPH*; Brent Thoma, MD, MA; Cindy H. Hsu, MD, PhD; Daniel Sullivan, MDiv; Lindsay Peters, BA; Michelle Lin, MD *Corresponding Author. E-mail: ntrueger@gmail.com, Twitter: @MDaware. 0196-0644/

Global Emergency Medicine Journal Club: Social Media Responses to the November 2013 Annals of Emergency Medicine Journal Club

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Global emergency medicine Journal Club

The Annals November 2013 Journal Club issue marked one of the first collaborations with Academic Life in Emergency Medicine, a medical education blog, in an effort to promote a worldwide, transparent, online effort to perform critical appraisals of journal articles. The Global Emergency Medicine Journal Club was hosted on the blog for 1 week during November 18 to 24, 2013, with comments moderated on the blog and on Twitter. This summary article compiles the discussion and insights.

A Systematic Review and Qualitative Analysis to Determine Quality Indicators forHealth Professions Education Blogs and Podcasts.

The Annals November 2013 Journal Club issue marked one of the first collaborations with Academic Life in Emergency Medicine, a medical education blog, in an effort to promote a worldwide, transparent, online effort to perform critical appraisals of journal articles. The Global Emergency Medicine Journal Club was hosted on the blog for 1 week during November 18 to 24, 2013, with comments moderated on the blog and on Twitter. This summary article compiles the discussion and insights.

Ten Steps for Setting Up an Online Journal Club

BACKGROUND Historically, trainees in undergraduate and graduate health professions education have relied on secondary resources, such as textbooks and lectures, for core learning activities. Recently, blogs and podcasts have entered into mainstream usage, especially for residents and educators. These low-cost, widely available resources have many characteristics of disruptive innovations and, if they continue to improve in quality, have the potential to reinvigorate health professions education. One potential limitation of further growth in the use of these resources is the lack of information on their quality and effectiveness. OBJECTIVE To identify quality indicators for secondary resources that are described in the literature, which might be applicable to blogs and podcasts. METHODS Using a blended research methodology, we performed a systematic literature review using Google Scholar, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and ERIC to identify quality indicators for secondary resources. A qualitative analysis of these indicators resulted in the organization of this information into themes and subthemes. Expert focus groups were convened to triangulate these findings and ensure that no relevant quality indicators were missed. RESULTS The literature search identified 4530 abstracts, and quality indicators were extracted from 157 articles. The qualitative analysis produced 3 themes (credibility, content, and design), 13 subthemes, and 151 quality indicators. CONCLUSIONS The list of quality indicators resulting from our analysis can be used by stakeholders, including learners, educators, academic leaders, and blog/podcast producers. Further studies are being conducted, which will refine the list into a form that is more structured and stratified for use by these stakeholders.

Five strategies to effectively use online resources in emergency medicine

Journal clubs have an extensive history that dates back to the time of Sir William Osler. They provide a venue to discuss the latest medical literature among groups of peers and are an innovative method for translating knowledge into practice within individual institutions. With advances in social media, journal clubs are poised to take an evolutionary step by harnessing digital connectivity. Online journal clubs are uniting hundreds of medical practitioners from around the world under the banner of one cause: enhancing knowledge translation of the medical literature without the limitations of geography. This article describes 10 steps for creating online journal clubs based on the experiences of a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and medical educators.

Emergency Medicine in the Medical School Curriculum

EDUCATION/RESIDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE Five Strategies to Effectively Use Online Resources in Emergency Medicine Brent Thoma, MD, MA*; Nikita Joshi, MD; N. Seth Trueger, MD; Teresa M. Chan, MD; Michelle Lin, MD *Corresponding Author. E-mail: brent.thoma@usask.ca, Twitter: @Brent_Thoma. 0196-0644/