• Deepak Sharma, Federico Bilotta, Laurel E Moore, John F Bebawy, Alana M Flexman, Lauryn Rochlen, Reza Gorji, and Rafi Avitsian.
• *Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA †Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Rome, "La Sapienza," Rome, Italy ‡Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI §Departments of Anesthesiology and Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL ∥Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada ¶Department of Anesthesiology, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY #Department of Anesthesiology, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH.
• J Neurosurg Anesthesiol. 2014 Jan 1; 26 (1): 4-10.

BackgroundWeb-based delivery of educational material by scientific societies appears to have increased recently. However, the utilization of such efforts by the members of professional societies is unknown. We report the experience with delivery of educational resources on the Web site of the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (SNACC), and utilization of those resources by members.MethodsThree web-based educational initiatives were developed over 1 year to be disseminated through the SNACC Web site (http://www.snacc.org) for society members: (1) The SNACC Bibliography; (2) "Chat with the Author"; and (3) Clinical Case Discussions. Content experts and authors of important new research publications were invited to contribute. Member utilization data were abstracted with the help of the webmaster.ResultsFor the bibliography, there were 1175 page requests during the 6-month period after its launch by 122/664 (19%) distinct SNACC members. The bibliography was utilized by 107/553 (19%) of the active members and 15/91 (16.5%) of the trainee members. The "Chats with the Authors" were viewed by 56 (9%) members and the Clinical Case Discussions by 51 (8%) members.ConclusionsEducational resources can be developed in a timely manner utilizing member contributions without additional financial implications. However, the member utilization of these resources was lower than expected. These are first estimates of utilization of web-based educational resources by members of a scientific society. Further evaluation of such utilization by members of other societies as well as measures of the effectiveness and impact of such activities is needed.

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