CMS Fellow Albert Chan, and colleagues from CMS Boston, Hong Kong and Australia had their Editorial accepted for publication in the December issue of Anaesthesia, the official journal of the Association of Anaesthetists.

The Editorial is titled, “Social media for rapid knowledge dissemination: early experience from the COVID-19 pandemic”. It discusses how during a health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering rapid and reliable information to healthcare providers addressing critical issues like infection control is of key importance. The authors note how traditional methods of disseminating information via scholarly publications, static websites and email are known to be slow. They believe that utilizing social media, Free Open Access Medical education (FOAM) networks and well-designed infographics in addition to the traditional methods could provide a speedier and more effective method of disseminating critical information to front line healthcare workers.

The authors provide the example of an infographic, designed by the clinical staff at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong, on the principles of airway management with a focus on infection control for staff and patient safety during COVID-19. The infographic was disseminated via social media and the hospital website. The distribution was rapid and well received by the international community with further spreading by others, including international Anesthesia organizations, via their social media platforms and websites.

The success of the rapid dissemination and international adoption of the infographic led the authors conclude that if used properly, social media has the potential to provide rapid and effective distribution of high quality information and is invaluable to the global response to crises such as COVID-19.

To view the Editorial, go to:
https://associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anae.15057