Online research article discussion board to increase knowledge translation during emergency medicine residency

Background: Many clinicians have difficulties reading current best practice journal articles on a regular basis. Discussion boards are one method of online asynchronous learning that facilitates active learning and participation. We hypothesized that an online repository of best practice articles with a discussion board would increase journal article reading by emergency medicine residents. Methods: Participants answered three questions weekly on a discussion board: What question does this study address? What does this study add to our knowledge? How might this change clinical practice? A survey regarding perceived barriers to participating was then distributed. Results: Most participants completed an article summary once or twice in total (23/32, 71.9%). Only three were involved most weeks (3/32, 9.4%) whereas 5/32 (15.6%) participated monthly. The most common barriers were lack of time (20/32, 62.5%), difficulty logging on (7/32, 21.9%), and forgetting (6/32, 18.8%). Conclusion: Although subjects were provided weekly with an article link, email, and feedback, journal article reading frequency did not increase.