infection control & hospital epidemiology july 2017, vol. 38, no. 7 original article
Blogging in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology: Assessment of ‘Blogosphere’ Content
Gabriel Birgand, PharmD, PhD; Rachael Troughton, MSc; Luke S. P. Moore, MD, PhD; Esmita Charani, PharmD, MSc; Timothy M. Rawson, MD; Enrique Castro-Sánchez, RGN, PhD; Alison H. Holmes, MD
objective. To analyze influential infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship, infection control, or medical microbiology blogs and bloggers.
setting. World wide web. design. We conducted a systematic search for blogs in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines in September 2015.
methods. A snowball sampling approach was applied to identify blogs using various search engines. Blogs were eligible if they (1) focused on infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship, infection control, or medical microbiology; (2) were intended for health professionals; and (3) were written in English and (4) were updated regularly. Wemapped blog and blogger characteristics and used an innovative tool to assess the architecture and content of the included blogs. The motivations and perceptions of bloggers and readers were also assessed.
results. A total of 88 blogs were identified. Moreover, 28 blogs (32%) focused on infectious diseases, 46 (52%) focused on medical microbiology, and 14 (16%) focused on infection control or antimicrobial stewardship. Bloggers were mainly male with medical doctorates and/ or PhDs; 32 bloggers (36%) posted at least weekly; and 51 (58%) had a research purpose. The aims were considered clear for 23 blogs (26%), and the field covered was considered broad for 25 blogs (28%). Presentation was considered good for 22 blogs (25%), 51 blogs (58%) were easy to read, and 46 blogs (52%) included expert interpretation. Among the top 10 blogs, 3 focused on infectious diseases, 6 focused on medical microbiology, and 2 focused on infection control (2 were equally ranked). The bloggers we questioned were motivated to share their independent expertise and opinions. Readers appreciated the concise messages on scientific topics and practical updates.
conclusions. This study describes high-level blogs in the fields of infectious diseases, infection control, and medical microbiology. Our findings suggest ways in which bloggers should build/orientate blogs for readers, and we have highlighted current gaps in blog topics such as antimicrobial stewardship.
Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol 2017;38:832–839
Scientific knowledge in the field of infectious diseases is in constant evolution. Emerging and evolving organisms and methods of diagnosis, prevention, or treatment keep this field in astate of flux.1 During the last decade, healthcare professionals
(HCPs) worldwide have dealt with the challenges of H1N1 flu virus, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-coV), Ebola virus, and Zika virus, and they are increasingly encountering antimicrobial resistance, which is now considered a ‘crisis for humanity.’2 The Internet presents a universal gateway and an easily
accessible channel of information retrieval and communication on medical or scientific topics. With conventional websites, the flow of information is formal and unidirectional. The development of platforms such as ‘blogs’ has opened a great range
of possibilities for HCPs worldwide for sharing information and experiences.3 Healthcare personnel are proactive in the field, writing more
than half of all blogs related to health.4 The exponential growth in the number of blogs and other social networks (eg, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook) with potential relevance to health care makes them worthy of consideration and analysis by healthcare systems as a potentially cost-effective option for activities such as communicating with HCPs, educating HCPs, engaging HCPs with their peers worldwide, or even conducting disease surveillance.5–7 This collective intelligence network provides interactive
services on a certain topic such as infectious diseases, infection control, microbiology, or epidemiology. In these fields, blogs can
Affiliation: Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance, Imperial College London, London,
United Kingdom. PREVIOUS PRESENTATION. A poster summarizing the results of this study was presented at the SHEA 2016 conference, May 18–21, 2016, Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
© 2017 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved. 0899-823X/2017/3807-0010. DOI: 10.1017/ice.2017.69 Received January 2, 2017; accepted March 16, 2017; electronically published May 18, 2017
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136
