Social Media To Be The Commonest Source Of Continuing Medical Education

Social Media is the commonest use of Internet. Everyone uses the internet to access their emails and Facebook accounts. A Google search engine is the gateway to all information for most of us. These platitudes of an everyday normal life also apply to physicians.

Communication technology has made things easy for doctors. Keeping up-to-date with medical advances has become an easy part of everyday life and not restricted to events like conferences or receiving prints of journal publications. Recent publications have highlighted the importance of social media in continuing medical education. In a recent large study, 70% of doctors were found to have accessed new medical content via social media every month.

Social media integrated medical content platforms like India Cardiology 2.0 and India Rheumatology 2.0 make it easier to read, share and discuss the latest studies and articles within the niche. Such platforms let readers (which in most cases are doctors) recommend and easily share the relevant study on their Facebook wall. Reader recommendations on the website are used to list the most visible studies. On such social media integrated medical content platforms, Readers can choose to stay updated via email (enewsletter) or via Facebook page or Twitter. So, for example, on liking India Cardiology 2.0 Facebook page the latest news and articles in Cardiology shall be visible to readers on their Facebook wall stream. Readers can also use common social media platforms including LinkedIn and Google plus to recommend the article to his/her own friend circle with pertinent comments.

Similarly, following @incardiology on Twitter will let a reader receive all new updates in his/her twitter stream/wall. Such platforms make finding and sharing relevant items so much simpler for medical professionals.

Social media and emails are well ingrained into our daily lives. Its time doctors make professional uses of such tools too.

5 Useful and Free Android Medical Apps

Use of Smartphones in healthcare is the latest intersection of Technology and Medicine. These inexpensive handheld computing devices allow users to download third party applications (apps) which can perform specialized tasks. Most Smartphones run on either the Apple iPhone’s iOS or the Android OS and there are literally tens of thousands of medical apps available for either of these operating systems.

Clinical care is information intensive and some of the most commonly used mobile applications by physicians are for medical reference. By providing the latest evidence based medicine updates at the point-of-care, Smartphones are proving to be a very important tool for improving quality of healthcare.Here's a list of Top 5 Free Medical Reference Apps For Android Smartphones which physicians can use everyday for clinical purposes.

1) Medscape : Medscape is a popular web resource for physicians and other health professionals. This is a must have application which provides offline access to clinical reference tools like Drug Reference, Disease & Condition Reference and Treatment Guide, Procedures Reference, Tables & Protocols Reference and Drug Interaction Checker.

2) Skyscape Medical Resources : Founded by a group of Indian innovators, Skyscape is a worldwide leading service for providing trusted medical information via mobile devices. The Skyscape portal provides a number of free as well as paid medical apps for almost all specialties.

3) Epocrates : Epocrates is a publisher of mobile device software applications, designed to provide information about drugs to doctors and other health care professionals. The Epocrates application is the most popular of its kind providing a huge amount of information about pharmaceuticals. Regular use of this app can definitely help reduce errors in drug prescriptions.

4) PubMed Mobile : An uber useful app by the National Library of Medicine, PubMed Mobile allows the user to search its database with over 21 million citations for articles and journals, save articles and searches, view abstracts, and export selected abstracts and citations for future use. NLM also provides a number of other mobile optimized tools and apps. Check the NLM Mobile Gallery here.

5) WebMD : WebMD is the leading health information portal of the United States. It was founded in 1996 by Jim Clark and Pavan Nigam as Healthscape, later Healtheon, and then acquired WebMD in 1999 to form Healtheon/WebMD. The free app provides access to information regarding health and health care, including a symptom checklist, pharmacy information and drugs information.

This article has been cross-posted on Technology For Doctors blog.

Related article

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Technology based learning in Medical sciences

Internet based training has been adopted in a number of disciplines but for some vested interests, not much progress has been made in the Medical field. Reasons given for this hesitation range from constructive real doubts (Will it teach them all the nuances they need to know?) to manipulative self doubts (what if the students don't need me anymore?).Not too many of the Teachers realize that these tools are to assist them in grooming future doctors, and not to replace them in the system. The last time any major breakthrough was achieved in education was when oral teaching was supplemented by printing of books. I can only imagine the astonishment and resistance the teachers of that era would have expressed on realizing that students could get information in their absence, too!! "Stop printing Books!", they said, " It will poison the minds of our students. And anyways, what can some ink on paper teach a student without having heard the same thing from a Guru"s mouth?". But very soon we had the same gurus jostling to publish their own books and integrate those into their own evolving didactic styles. Use of internet in education is probably the single most beneficial addition to education after Printing press.


A study led by a team of education researchers from Mayo Clinic and recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that Internet-based education generally is effective.The study was conducted by David Cook, M.D, and Denise Dupras, M.D., Ph.D., Patricia Erwin, and Victor Montori, M.D., all of Mayo Clinic; and Anthony Levinson, M.D., and Sarah Garside, M.D., Ph.D., from McMaster University.

"The research also showed that Internet-based instruction compared favorably to traditional instructional methods... confirm that, across a wide variety of learners, learning contexts, clinical topics, and learning outcomes, Internet-based instruction can be as effective as traditional methods." Dr. Cook notes that Internet-based instruction has unique advantages, including flexible scheduling, adaptability of instruction, and readily available content that is easily updated. "As health care workers balance challenging practice demands, the ever-expanding volume of medical knowledge requires us to find more effective, efficient ways to learn," says Dr. Cook. "Internet-based instruction will be an important part of the solution."

News report on Eureka alert


This is not the first report which says this, and this definitely wont be the last. Private players in India, like MEdRC Edutech have taken a bold lead in creating computer based medical e learning content and LMS, but with so much resistance in the higher places, it seems like a long war ahead for CBT pioneers in medicine.




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-Manhattan Research Survey Finds That Physicians Overwhelmingly Support Commercially-Funded CME

NEW YORK, NY – January 27, 2009 – A study by healthcare market research firm Manhattan Research found that only 9% of U.S. physicians oppose commercial support for continuing medical education (CME) funding. The results of this study are relevant to the ongoing discussion in the medical community about the role of commercial funding of CME. Healthcare market research firm Manhattan Research conducted a survey to gauge physician opinion on commercially-funded CME and the proposed ban. The online study was fielded in the third quarter of 2008 among a nationally representative sample of U.S. physicians, including primary care and specialist audiences.

In an effort to better understand the positions of those who actually use continuing medical education, Manhattan Research surveyed physicians on their opinions with regard to their use and the potential bias of industry-funded programs. The Manhattan Research study reports that only 8% of physicians who participated in CME believe that it is biased. In fact, if commercial support is halted, nearly half of the physicians surveyed would decrease their use of CME.

According to the study, almost all physicians utilize CME programs to maintain and grow their medical knowledge and to keep up-to-date on the latest advances in their specialty with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. Pharmaceutical companies are a funding source for CME programs, which has prompted some critics to question their influence over CME course content. In response, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the organization that accredits CME Providers, has augmented its standards and guidelines to ensure the independence of commercially supported CME activities. The American Medical Association’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) is also expected to issue a new report on commercially-supported CME later this year.

“While there’s been debate around the value of industry-supported CME, as our study reveals, it’s important to listen to the voice of the majority of physicians,” said Mark Bard, Manhattan Research President. “Rather than pulling the plug on a vital source of CME funding, the primary beneficiaries of CME - physicians and patients - would be best served by continued improvements to course availability, offerings, and content through increased collaboration among medical and academic organizations, the pharmaceutical industry, CME providers, and accreditation bodies.”

Interact Medical Animation for education

High quality CMEs will have to be commercially funded. Its up to the physicians to glean the essence and overlook the hard sell.

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- No green beards in path labs @ John Hopkins University

The pathology department at my medical college was very strict with us Resident doctors. All our activities were constantly noted by our seniors, and being reprimanded frequently for "unprofessional conduct" was the norm. Our seniors made sure we were always properly dressed and behaved.

But what i read on John Hopkins university, Dept. of Pathology website takes the cake. They have a detailed list of "acceptable" and "unacceptable" conduct. Sample a few,

1) Acceptable- Knee length culottes and dress shorts; Unacceptable- Mini skirts, blue jeans, baseball caps.

2) Acceptable- Fingernails that are of "professional length", whatever that means; Unacceptable- Applying cosmetics in the laboratory.

3) Acceptable- Short/ Tied back hair of natural color ; Unacceptable- Purple and Green beards and mustaches!!

4) Acceptable- Socks/ Hose/ Tights ; Unacceptable- Printed underwear showing through outer garments.

5) Acceptable- Jewelery in moderation ; Unacceptable- Badges promoting causes/products/slogans NOT endorsed by the Institution/department.

Its definitely a good read. Click here to access the pdf file of acceptable appearance standards at John Hopkins University.

E-learning in Medical education

The use of elearning in medical education: a review of the current situation -- Choules 83 (978): 212 -- Postgraduate Medical Journal

Computers are increasingly used in medical education. Electronic learning (elearning) is moving from textbooks in electronic format (that are increasingly enhanced by the use of multimedia adjuncts) to a truly interactive medium that can be delivered to meet the educational needs of students and postgraduate learners. Computer technology can present reliable, reusable content in a format that is convenient to the learner. It can be used to transcend geographical boundaries and time zones. It is a valuable tool to add to the medical teacher’s toolkit, but like all tools it must be used appropriately. This article endeavours to review the current "state of the art2 in use of elearning and its role in medical education alongside non-electronic methods—a combination that is currently referred to as "blended" learning.

Read the full article on BMJ health intelligence.

Edutools for medical education

Edheads - Virtual Hip Surgery - Total Hip Replacement Surgery - THR

Follow this link and perform virtual surgery.
A great tool with immense potential in medical education..
Virtual Hip Replacement :


Take on the role of the Surgeon throughout a hip replacement surgery!

Edutools for medical education

Edheads - Virtual Hip Surgery - Total Hip Replacement Surgery - THR

Follow this link and perform virtual surgery.
A great tool with immense potential in medical education..
Virtual Hip Replacement :


Take on the role of the Surgeon throughout a hip replacement surgery!