Systematic online academic resources (SOAR) review: Sickle cell disorders

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medicine
• Hematology

Background:

• Free Open-Access Medical Education (FOAM) is widely used in emergency medicine.
• FOAM resources often lack traditional peer review, necessitating quality assessment by readers.
• Assessing the quality of FOAM on sickle cell disease (SCD) is crucial for reliable medical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically assess the quality of FOAM resources related to sickle cell disease (SCD).
• To identify high-quality FOAM resources for SCD education.
• To provide guidance for trainees, educators, and FOAM authors on SCD content.

Main Methods:

• A systematic online academic resource (SOAR) review methodology was employed.
• Keywords for SCD were searched across FOAM Search and top FOAM websites.
• The revised Medical Education Translational Resources Impact and Quality (rMETRIQ) tool was used for full-text quality assessment of 53 resources.

Main Results:

• Out of 520 initially identified resources, 53 underwent quality assessment.
• Only 8 resources (15.1%) achieved a high-quality score (rMETRIQ ≥ 16).
• Common topics included acute chest syndrome, pain crisis, and general SCD review; 21% of resources scored below 7 (potentially poor quality).

Conclusions:

• A systematic approach successfully identified and appraised FOAM resources on SCD.
• A curated list of eight high-quality FOAM resources is now available.
• This list can inform recommendations for trainees and educators, and guide FOAM authors.