SOARD Journal Club— A Dedicated Forum for the Critical Analysis of SOARD Publications
by Haris A. Khwaja, MD, DPhil., FRCS, and
Richard M. Peterson, MD, MPH, FACS, FASMBS
Haris A.Khwaja, MD, DPhil, FRCS, is from Phoenix Health Bariatric Surgery Supercenter, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, United Kingdom. Richard M. Peterson, MD, MPH, FACS, FASMBS, is from the Department of General and Minimally Invasive Surgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, San Antonio,Texas.
Bariatric Times. 2017;14(5):16.
Acknowledgment: This article was published in Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, Khwaja HA Peterson RM, ePub ahead of print on 2017 Jan 16, Copyright Elsevier (2017). Reprinted with permission.
Funding: No funding was provided.
Disclosures: The authors report no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this manuscript.
Background
The Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD) Journal Club is an online forum broadcast through the social media platform Facebook, with the objective to discuss published articles from SOARD. It was created as a directive of the SOARD Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Harvey Sugerman. It is a closed Facebook group that was created on May 10, 2016 by Dr. Richard Peterson, Social Media Editor for SOARD, and Mr. James Osterhout, Director of Information and Technology at the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) (https://www.facebook.com/groups/SOARDJC/). Facebook was used as the communication medium for the club based on the phenomenal global success of the first social media-based surgical educational platform, the International Bariatric Club, and subsequent platforms, such as the International Hernia Collaboration. Currently, Facebook is the ideal medium for this type of discourse as it promotes a truly international discussion. Most of the SOARD journal discussions have occurred over a 72-hour period with critical analysis and discussion of the selected article by emerging—as well as established—leaders in bariatric and metabolic surgery throughout the world. As of January 6, 2017, the SOARD Journal Club Facebook Page has 936 members.
Format of the Online Journal Club
An article is selected by the Social Media Editor for SOARD. Analysis of papers from SOARD is performed on a six-week basis and involves inviting the author/co-author to comment on the paper in conjunction with the Social Media Editor and an invited international guest moderator.
The articles selected will be available as open access for a period of three months from the publisher and the links are provided at the onset of the discussion. All members of the ASMBS will already have access to these articles as part of the membership package. The SOARD Journal Club membership is open to all practitioners in this field and is not limited to ASMBS members. The discussions and posts are only visible by current members and are not visible by the general public. This is to encourage a lively discussion within this group and bring the collective expertise forward (Table 1).
Future Directions
Given the popularity of the SOARD Journal Club, we aim to increase the frequency of journal club events as well as to discuss surgical videos submitted to SOARD. Future events will also include a summary of the article given through Facebook Live by the author to supplement the analysis of the article. We believe the scholarly nature of the club will develop a surgeon’s skills in the critical analysis of scientific articles and thus will have a significant potential to improve patient care.
References
1. Schneck AS, Lazzati A, Audureau E, et al. One or 2 steps for Laparoscopic conversion of failed adjustable gastric banding to sleeve gastrectomy in a nationwide French study in 3357 morbidly obese patients. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2016;12:840–848.
2. Froylich D, Corcelles R, Daigle CR, et al. The effect of pregnancy before and/or after bariatric surgery on weight loss. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2016;12:596–599.
3. Pradarelli JC, Varban OA, Dimick JB. Hospital variation in rates of acid reducing medications after sleeve gastrectomy. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2016;12:1382–1389.
4. Leeds SG, Burdick JS. Management of gastric leaks after sleeve gastrectomy with endoluminal (E-Vac) therapy. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2016;12:1278–1285.
5. Telem DA, Majid SF, Powers K, et al. Assessing national provision of care: variability in bariatric clinical care pathways. Surg Obes Relat Dis. Epub 2016 Aug 3.
Category: Commentary, Past Articles
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
