Newswise — The International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) announced today that its new moderated wiki site for anesthesia residents, OpenAnesthesia (www.openanesthesia.org), obtained over 10,000 unique visitors in the first month of operation. Dr. Edward Nemergut, Associate Professor at the University of Virginia's Department of Anesthesiology, the moderator of OpenAnesthesia, disclosed that there are already over 500 registered users on the website, which allows anesthesia residents to add, edit and interact with anesthesiology specialists and residents worldwide.
The IARS, in conjunction with Anesthesia & Analgesia, is the first major medical society to sponsor an online multimodal toolkit specifically designed to advance graduate medical education in anesthesia. OpenAnesthesia is an educational toolkit for medical students, residents, and practitioners, with different areas of the website tailored to different audiences. The structure of the site is intended to facilitate the discovery of content, the intelligent exchange of ideas, and to enhance each individual's appreciation of the primary medical literature. OpenAnesthesia was developed by Drs. Edward Nemergut and Robert Thiele, both at the University of Virginia, with the intention of promoting evidence-based medicine in the disciplines of anesthesiology, critical care, and pain management. The content on the site is freely available to all.
"I was pleasantly surprised by the apparent degree of enthusiasm for OpenAnesthesia.org. While I'm obviously enthusiastic about it, I never expected more than 10,000 hits during our first 30 days: that's pretty incredible." stated Dr. Nemergut. "Many new users have already started to add and modify content, which is really exciting because sharing knowledge is what OpenAnesthesia is all about."
In addition to nurturing residents' appreciation of the primary literature and fostering collaboration, OpenAnesthesia.org provides Program Directors with a tool to document core competency activities for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandated learning portfolios. The goal of OpenAnesthesia.org is identical to that of Anesthesia & Analgesia and the IARS itself, to improve patient care.
About the IARS
The International Anesthesia Research Society is a nonpolitical, not-for-profit medical society founded in 1922 to encourage, stimulate, and fund ongoing anesthesia-related research and projects that will enhance and advance the anesthesiology specialty. The IARS has a worldwide membership of 15,000 physicians, physician residents, and others with doctoral degrees, as well as health professionals in anesthesia-related practice. In addition to publishing the monthly scientific journal Anesthesia & Analgesia, the IARS sponsors an annual clinical and scientific meeting, funds anesthesia-related research, and sponsors SafeKids, a joint initiative with the FDA which studies the effects of anesthesia on children. Additional information about the society may be found at www.iars.org. The website for Anesthesia & Analgesia is www.anesthesia-analgesia.org.
About OpenAnesthesia
OpenAnesthesia is an online educational toolkit for medical students, residents, and practitioners, with different areas of the website tailored to different audiences. The structure of the site facilitates the discovery of content, the intelligent exchange of ideas, and an enhancement each individual's appreciation of the primary medical literature in the subspecialty of anesthesiology. OpenAnesthesia also provides program directors with a tool to document core competency activities for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandated learning portfolios. The ultimate goal of OpenAnesthesia.org is identical to that of the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia and the IARS itself: improving patient care. For more information, visit the website at www.openanesthesia.org.
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