International Microsurgery Club: An Effective Online Collaboration System.

Area of Science:

• Microsurgery
• Online medical communities
• Surgical education

Background:

• Assessing the utility of the International Microsurgery Club (IMC) as a global online resource for microsurgeons.
• Evaluating IMC's effectiveness in facilitating timely discussions and advice on complex surgical cases.
• Examining IMC's role in fostering collaboration and information exchange within the microsurgery field.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the International Microsurgery Club (IMC) serves as an effective online platform for microsurgeons.
• To assess the timeliness and quality of advice and discussions on complicated cases.
• To evaluate the platform's capacity for collaboration and information sharing among global microsurgeons.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of posts in the IMC Facebook group (members 1-8,000).
• Categorization of posts into case discussion, question, and information sharing.
• Analysis of response rates, response times, engagement metrics (likes), treatment options, and author/responder demographics.

Main Results:

• An average response rate of 75.7% within 1 hour was observed across 531 analyzed cases.
• Response rates remained stable (72.5-78%) regardless of the time of day.
• Each case discussion involved an average of 11.8 microsurgeons, with 5.7 treatment options proposed per case.

Conclusions:

• The IMC is a valuable resource enabling microsurgeons to receive prompt advice globally, overcoming time and distance barriers.
• The platform effectively supports interactive group discussions on complex surgical cases.
• IMC enhances collaborative problem-solving and knowledge dissemination in microsurgery.