Co-authors sought for web based ortho guide

Hi,

I don't mean to criticize all ER doctors but as an ortho res I've frequently frustrated by how often I'm called up by ER residents who dont seem to have a clue about even the simplest orthopedic management principles and who therefore tend to get an ortho resident (usually me!) down to the ER for every patient with any slightly-orthopedic related problem. I've therefore thought to create an internet based guidelines book for ER residents and it could function as an educational tool for medical students.
The purpose of this post is to see if any ortho resident colleagues out there would be interested to contribute/co-author such a project. There'd be no financial incentives for you to do so - but if did this properly it would perhaps result in you being harassed less often by your local ER.

This is still in the early planning stages so is very flexible. The purpose of having an online based system is to fill the void for ER residents who usually dont carry out orthopaedic pocket books and who'd find websites like Wheeless unnecessarily complicated. Let me know what you think.

I could get one of my local orthopaedic product reps to sponsor the site so that it'd have a funky domain name.

Its a good idea, I would offer the following advice:

Do it for yourself as much as you are doing it for the ER. Do it to learn about putting together collaborative projects, to search the literature on topics that you enjoy or feel need to learn more about, to get the experience of publishing, editing, and working with the non-clinicians involved.

Many of us deal with ER personnel who seem to have minimal ortho knowledge or interest. I would argue the vast majority are not like that for lack of available resources. No matter how well you spoon feed them, I don't think you can change their behavior.

Some just like telling you what to do. Some are lazy except for when it comes to making excuses. They'll have all kinds of concerns about their liability if you do not see people. Every annoying ER patient suddenly has compartment syndrome and needs to be seen by ortho at change of shift.

I'm not saying I disagree with your idea, I would just suggest that you consider a success to be a well put together project that you get a lot of knowledge and enjoyment out of. As it sounds like you already know, those two things are rarely ever associated with the emergency department for us.

Good luck.