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The CanadiEM Junior Editor Program: Now Accepting Applications.. again!

In Featured by Rob CareyLeave a Comment

We are currently celebrating emergency medicine at CAEP in Calgary and have been very excited about the number of people speaking to us about contributing to the website. To capitalize on this interest we are opening our annual recruitment to expand our team of Junior Editors! If you are a resident or medical student who is interested in getting involved with CanadiEM, please read on!

While Free Open Access Medical education (FOAMed) has established itself as a key tool for the dissemination of medical knowledge, especially in Emergency Medicine1, most of the authors are senior residents or staff physicians. While most trainees are using it for educational purposes2,3, they are rarely taught how to produce this type of content. We designed the Junior Editor program for our blog with the goal of fostering the skills necessary to begin contributing to FOAMed in medical students and junior residents.

How did it start?

Initially, 10 candidates joined the Junior Editor program, were given online training sessions, and collaboratively created an orientation document. Junior Editors then put these skills into practice by volunteering for editorial tasks. Posts were reviewed by a Senior Editor before publishing and feedback was given to the Junior Editor on how to make their edits and uploads even better.

When the Junior Editors were brought on board they were each provided training on the use of the WordPress blogging platform for uploading posts and the optimization of blog posts for search engines. They were then added to the CanadiEM Slack platform where they could volunteer to upload posts and do any other work that was required to operate the blog. Some of them received training in additional skills such as the use of social media for promotion, the editing and uploading of podcasts, and the creation of infographics.

After an additional call for applications last year, the Junior Editor program now yields >40 editors with varying levels of activity.

The Call

We are about ready for round three! If you would like to learn about FOAM and contribute to the growth and evolution of CanadiEM, we want to hear from you! To apply, please send your CV and an outline (<500 words) of why you would like to join our editorial team to Brent Thoma by June 15th, 2018 AND let us know a bit more about you and your skills/interests by completing this quick survey. Also, if you happen to be at CAEP in Calgary right now, please stop by our booth in the exhibition hall and say hello!

Why do it?

  1. Experience: Ongoing activity of many of the Junior Editors suggests that they feel that they are gaining valuable experience and learning skills that will help them in the future. In particular, we suspect that their editing and writing skills are likely to have improved, to say nothing of having a skill set that is increasingly in demand by residency programs and researchers who may wish to publish and promote their own content.
  2. Community: Being a part of the CanadiEM team not only allows you the opportunity to promote your ideas to a supportive group and also allows you to engage with leaders in medical education throughout Canada!

We look forward to hearing from you!

References

1.
Cadogan M, Thoma B, Chan T, Lin M. Free Open Access Meducation (FOAM): the rise of emergency medicine and critical care blogs and podcasts (2002-2013). Emerg Med J. 2014;31(e1):e76-7. [PubMed]
2.
Guraya S. The Usage of Social Networking Sites by Medical Students for Educational Purposes: A Meta-analysis and Systematic Review. N Am J Med Sci. 2016;8(7):268-278. [PubMed]
3.
Matava C, Rosen D, Siu E, Bould D. eLearning among Canadian anesthesia residents: a survey of podcast use and content needs. BMC Med Educ. 2013;13:59. [PubMed]

Rob Carey

Rob is an emergency resident with the University of Saskatchewan. His interests include medical education, global health and simulation.
Michael is a PGY1 in Paediatrics at Western University. Michael studied at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and founder of The Presenting Complaint blog. He has an interest in #MedEd and #FOAM.
Dr. Brent Thoma is a medical educator, blogging geek, and trauma/emergency physician who works at the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine. He founded BoringEM and is the CEO of CanadiEM.