Sermo Bridging the Divide Between Medical Research and Practicing Physicians
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sermo (http://www.sermo.com), the largest physician-only online community, today formally announced the launch of its Discuss on Sermo initiative – a new environment closing the loop between medical researchers and practicing physicians. By linking physician-only discussions on Sermo to current medical research, ‘Discuss on Sermo’ is quickly becoming the world’s largest journal club. This new initiative provides a real-time feedback loop not previously possible to help speed the translation of important research into medical practice.Â
“Unlike traditional discussion forums or journal clubs, the Sermo model aggregates discussions and provides quantitative survey data,� said Alex Frost, VP of Research at Sermo. “In this way, ‘Discuss on Sermo’ captures a new type of community consensus data that can help all physicians interpret the significance of current research and better understand the practical steps they can take to apply it to their practice.�
To facilitate physician-driven discussions of current news and research, Sermo is partnering with publishers to bring added features to their content.
Through ‘Discuss on Sermo’, publishing partners can now:
- Facilitate discussions through special ‘Discuss on Sermo’ buttons on any article, increasing the lifetime and utility of news and research.
- Access anonymized physician discussion data for republication as a “collective letter to the editor�.
- Increase access to their content by bringing it to more than 60,000 physician members of Sermo.
- Publish results of article discussions back to source journals and access sub-communities appropriate to their content.
Through ‘Discuss on Sermo’, physicians can now:
- Gain free access to news and research from publishing partners, such as Nature Publishing Group and the American Medical Association.
- Communicate their collective feedback to medical researchers to help inform the direction of new studies.
- Exchange thoughts and ideas about journal articles with physician colleagues — allowing them to validate, refine or spawn new interpretations.
- Discuss select news sources such as FDA alerts.
- Work with other physicians to determine what medical content/research is most significant to their specialty and how best to apply findings to their daily practice.
Some early examples of ‘Discuss on Sermo’ include:
- A recent review published in JAMA indicating excess mortality associated with the use of ESAs (drugs that stimulate red blood cell production) was widely covered in the mainstream media. However, more than 75% (214 of 280) of physicians who discussed the study on Sermo were not convinced the data supported this claim.
- A physician discussion about an FDA announcement involving potential adverse events associated with commonly prescribed sleep aids. More than 70% (131 of 181) of physicians who participated said FDA’s announcement would not change the way they prescribe these drugs. The majority of these respondents further indicated that the announcement would create new burdens and liabilities in their practices.
To learn more about the ’Discuss on Sermo’ initiative, visit http://www.sermo.com/about/partnering_opportunities.
About Sermo
Launched in September 2006, Sermo is already the largest online physician community in the US, with more than 60,000 physician members. On Sermo, physicians exchange knowledge with each other and gain potentially life-saving insights directly from colleagues. Sermo harnesses the power of collective wisdom and enables physicians to discuss new clinical findings, report unusual events, and work together to improve patient care. Through its unique business model, Sermo is free to physicians and has no advertising or promotion. For more information about Sermo, visit http://www.sermo.com.
