Online Medical Resources for Otolaryngologists

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The digital era has helped to revolutionize how people learn, and the otolaryngology world is no exception. Online information has helped to educate patients, medical students, residents, and physicians at every stage of their careers. But with the flood of data available online, how can you discern what is based in quality science and what is not?

“This is the new age,” said Sonya Malekzadeh, MD, a professor of otolaryngology at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. “In my day, we looked at medical atlases. But today, you don’t want your residents looking at videos that haven’t been vetted.”

ENTtoday’s list of science-based resources for otolaryngologists includes websites, medical indexes, podcasts, and videos that are all available for education and awareness about the world of otolaryngology.

Websites/Indexes

OTOSource (otosource.org). Developed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) along with nearly 20 otolaryngology societies, this online curriculum will be officially launched at the Academy’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta in October 2018. OTOSource is “a repository of educational material that exists not only at the Academy level but across the specialty,” said Dr. Malekzadeh. In each topic, there is a module, a brief objective of the topic, references of landmark articles on PubMed, educational material available on the subject, videos, past lectures and more. Initial access is free to all, though some Societies may charge for access to specific material.

OTOSource “is really a nice unifying program across our specialty,” said Dr. Malekzadeh. “It’s still evolving and will be continually updated.”

COCLIA (Comprehensive Otolaryngologic Curriculum Learning through Interactive Approach) (cochlia.org). The latest edition of COCLIA, an online learning program for otolaryngology, launched in July and features a user-friendly platform where residents can interactively learn from material that goes beyond simply listening to lectures. The program covers more than 100 topics in otolaryngology, with new references and visuals in the latest edition, and takes two years to fully cover. “By the time residents graduate, they should have gone through it twice, with assigned questions to be addressed in weekly conferences,” said Dr. Malekzadeh. “It’s very good for studying for the in-service exam, which residents take for board certification.”

Educators appreciate COCLIA because “they aren’t creating lectures that people sleep through,” said Dr. Malekzadeh. “There’s more buy-in” from the residents.

AcademyU (academyu.entnet.org). Dr. Malekzadeh also cited AcademyU, a resource from the AAO-HNS, as a plethora of information that houses books, Q&As, products, lectures, and information from the AAO–HNS annual meeting.