Residency Insight -- A PRESENT Podiatry eZine

Ryan Fitzgerald, DPM
PRESENT RI Associate Editor
Hess Orthopedics &
Sports Medicine,
Harrisonburg, Virginia

Open Source: Open Season on Learning

The fact that you are reading this eZine suggests that you are computer savvy—at least somewhat—and as time passes, we as a society tend to become increasingly connected and “wired” into the virtual world around us. I frequently correspond with colleagues across the country and across the globe via email on my blackberry! The technology that makes this level of communication possible has also provided numerous new and exciting educational opportunities for the clinicians to further develop their arsenal for the management of disease processes. Among these, open source journals are a significant—if perhaps under utilized—resource that can provide you with significant high quality academic material at no cost!

What are open source journals, you say?

Simply put, open source or open access journals are those journals that require no subscription to and are available for free to the user. Commonly, these journals are available online, and often allow you to register your email address to be sent notifications when new electronic issues of the journal are available. There are numerous open source journals available—so many, in fact, that there has been a database complied to collect and categorize them. While by no means complete, the Directory of Open Access Journals can provide a starting point for exploration into the world of open source journals.

Open Source Journals in Podiatry

Within the realm of foot and ankle surgery, there have been numerous advances in open access journal publication. Interested in reading about Transient Regional Migratory Osteoporosis in the Ankle and Foot or learning about The Vilex® Hemi-Implant? Check out this month’s issue of the Foot and Ankle Online Journal! Perhaps you’ve got a challenging patient with lower extremity ulcerations and you want to try something new? You can check out the newly published Wound Healing Spectrum: A Timeline for the Utilization of Advanced Technology, one of this month’s featured articles in the new Journal of Diabetic Foot Complications. Both of these open access online journals provide significant, up to date information on the topics of interest to you!

Have you had the opportunity to be involved in a challenging case or have you recently performed some research you’d like to share with our growing community? If so, open access journals provide an excellent opportunity to publish your work. The submission process is often electronic, and there is rarely any publication delay (as is commonly the case with print journals).

Our ability to communicate is perhaps one of our greatest resources, and advances in technology such as open access publications like those described above and eZines, such as this Residency Insight, can provide you, the clinician, with a numerous opportunities for life-long learning. In last week's RI, Dr. Steinberg charged the residents to make the most of their residency training opportunities –as he said “there are no encores!” Online educational resources are but one of many ways that you can utilize your experience, both during training and beyond; I encourage you to take a few moments to check out these excellent new journals. I promise you’ll learn something!

PRESENT Journal Club

Be on the lookout for the newest eZine from podiatry.com. Focused on the critical evaluation of today's podiatric medical literature, PRESENT Journal Club will broadcast its second issue tomorrow evening.

In the inaugural issue, Andrew Meyr, DPM and PRESENT Podiatry Journal Club Editor, offers critical analysis and outcome measures from The Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery and Anesthesia and Analgesia. This new eZine series will be delivered to your inbox every other Thrusday night.

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