Paediatric Surgery on the Web
…an ever evolving event
Update 2019
The educational value and potential of internet-based resources are huge – though you still have to read, and /or listen and inwardly digest! Currently there are a number of resources which may be aimed at the aspiring or even established paediatric surgeon.
This article introduces one such home-grown example and then highlights progress and updates made to a couple of more established ventures.
ePIPS – Evidence-based Podcasts in Paediatric Surgery
Hemanshoo Thakkar a specialist registrar on the London rotation has created a series of podcasts which are currently available and mapped against the UK curriculum.
These podcasts are made by experts based in the UK and over the next few months podcasts will be released on a weekly basis. The discussions are evidence-based and so in the comment section of each podcast there is a reference tagged to the appropriate time and point in the discussion. Clicking on these comments should then take you straight to that point in the discussion.
The podcasts are freely available and can be accessed through the SoundCloud app and website. This is available both on iPhone and android devices. You can also download them onto your devices.
The first podcast is on oesophageal atresia and is double header between Hemanshoo and Joe Curry, a consultant paediatric surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital. So far there are another 4 subjects covered such as yours truly on biliary atresia and CPAM, and Bruce Okoye on Wilms’ tumours and neuroblastoma.
https://soundcloud.com/epips/epips-1-oesophageal-atresia-with-mr-joe-curry/s-h3E5Z
SoundCloud iOS app — get it here, free: https://app.adjust.io/c1ofg4
The podcasts are also available on the ePIPS twitter page @ePiPS2.
globalcastMD is a shiny, multimedia website set up by Dr Todd Ponsky, formerly of Akron, Ohio and now of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Under the heading “Stay Current: Pediatric Surgery” There are about 25-30 surgical subjects ranging from the abdominal wall defects to Wilms tumours. Todd and his research fellow Rae Hanke act as interlocutors with a variety of big-name surgeons on their favourite topics. For example Alberto Pena talks on cloacal exstrophy.
He also reviews recent Journal of Pediatric Surgery papers, perhaps using his own fellows to do the review and sometimes somewhat idiosyncratically. There are some high-quality videos of surgery, usually minimally invasive, again performed by the guys that really know what they are doing. Steve Rothenberg on thoracoscopic lung resection and Mark Wulkan on thoracoscopic repair of diaphragmatic hernia and Marc Levitt on a PSARP for example.
It is very American – just watch GYNO GAB with Kara and Lesley. She is very excitable! https://videolibrary.globalcastmd.com/gyno-gab-with-kara-lesley-full
The whole shebang can be accessed from here:
https://www.globalcastmd.com/about
The StayCurrent package is also available as a mobile app offering a digital education tool for those with a hectic lifestyle and not enough time to just sit back and relax with a good book.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/staycurrent-pediatric-surgery/id1254498901?mt=8
Discover Paediatric Surgery is more laidback affair and started in 2018. It is run by Andrew Grieve, a surgeon from Johannesburg, South Africa. The website is actually quite cool and stylish and the main thrust of the educational content are talks with experts provided in the form of podcasts. So far there are about 20 available, one being added each month.
The list of topics is not as extensive as its American fellow but it is certainly expanding. Chylothorax, PUJ, pyloric stenosis, portal hypertension have been featured from South African, UK and European contributors.
Andrew also looks into more mundane matters of more relevance to the junior end of the market with talks on intravenous fluids and analgesia.
Website:
http://www.discoverpaediatricsurgery.com/
Prof Mark Davenport
(ex) President of BAPS (2016-18)