Hello all you eGPlearners out there.
I recently came across an article about a possible new resource for all clinicians out there.
On the support page at eGPlearning I have talked about various online support groups and forums that exist to help GPs and primary care workers such as Tiko’s GP group, Resilient GP and GPSurvival. . Many of these offer pastoral support but are limited on the clinical support given the minefield of issues this can present about data integrity (as many are on Facebook), consent and safety of advice. It is one thing to take advice on clinical issues from peers in practice/ specialist, to take similar advice from someone on an internet forum (even if ratified as a doctor) is potentially questionable.
However the largest doctors network in the UK – doctors.net have launched their own app based on offering clinical decision support with peer to peer recommendations. Click here to see the article.
What is interesting about this system is the emergency room aspect of being offered clinical support online when needed. It is interesting to note this may not be much different from how we work in practice so an option for those who feel isolated on the diversity that we see in primary care and needing rapid information.
Dr Tim Ringrose CEO of doctors.net said the app also allows doctors to upload images to assist their clinical questions or simply create their own thread or poll and browse the most recent forum activity, and commented an average response time of four minutes.
It will be interesting to see the uptake by members, particularly how passing on the information will be ratified, used and indemnified, but definitely a service to look at for those wanting advice. The app is on Android (100 downloads so far) and iOS
This is in comparison to an alternate app that does similar called Medshr. Both allow the discussion of cases. I am on both platforms. I would argue medshr has the better interface while doctors.net has the larger UK based user base. I have yet to post a clinical query but can understand that need for such a resource.
As always for my eGPlearners out there I would caution looking at social media guidance which would clearly apply, particularly those by GMC, BMA or RCGP.