The world wide web is full of healthcare information. There are many healthcare blogs and websites dedicated to health information and news. Many scientific journals also publish their journals online (a subscription may be required). Although it seems like there is plenty of health information on the web most of the knowledge generated by the healthcare community is not well distributed and is often buried in obscurity. For example, recently I attended the American Society of Health System Pharmacist (ASHP) meeting. There were over 20,000 attendees several hundred posters were presented covering subjects such as reversing anticoagulation, optimizing pain management, patient counseling, reducing healthcare cost, medication adherence, preventing adverse events, and much more. Pharmacists were showcasing their knowledge, tackling difficult healthcare questions, and offering solutions. As I viewed posters and listened to presenters I had only one thought―what happens to all this knowledge and work after the meeting?
Most posters are published as abstracts in the society's journal but full poster are probably never seen again after the meeting. Even when published as an abstract only a small number of people will see the abstract. A very small number of studies may be published later in other journals. The same phenomenon occurs in thousands of scientific meetings each year. Plenty of work, resources, time, and intellectual capital are committed to generating scientific information that is barely visible to the healthcare community after it is presented. Why is all this work buried? It is not efficient for the hard work and ideas of so many professionals to receive such little visibility. A platform where the healthcare community can share their work, projects, posters, presentations, and ideas can help move healthcare forward. Everyone should have access to this knowledge.
The traditional method of disseminating scientific information through peer reviewed articles is too slow, restrictive, and inefficient for quickly disseminating solutions and observations generated by healthcare professionals or for sharing works that will not be published by major journals. All healthcare professionals, including students and residents, should be empowered to share their knowledge.
There are many websites where healthcare professionals can share their ideas, collaborate, and network. Many of them are practice focused and do not support posting of complete articles. Healthcare professionals, including residents and students, can publish posters, presentations, papers, and projects as articles on RxEconsult healthcare network. Articles published on RxEconsult are indexed by search engines and are available to the entire internet audience. They significantly increase visibility and opportunity to collaborate with others because they are promoted through several channels, promoting the author in the process. Moreover, by sharing knowledge professionals help others who are looking for solutions to everyday health problems. If all professionals share their knowledge they can have an impact on healthcare.
Several professionals and students are already sharing their knowledge on RxEconsult and are enjoying increased visibility while contributing to the body of healthcare knowledge on the web. What are you waiting for? Turn that poster, slide deck, presentation, project, term paper, or thesis into an article and start sharing your knowledge.
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