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Hi, this may be a stupid question but what is the best way to get access to the latest and greatest research and current trends in clinical practice? ie keep up to date with new and revised methods of treatment, diagnosis, assessment etc.

It has been over 12 years since I was a student, and I have spent that entire time focused purely on clinical practice.... I have regularly attended conferences and continuing education lectures, but now I would really like to gain much more insight into what is happening in the fields of research, best practice, clinical trials, new theories etc...

I have looked at subscription to some of the major Journals, but with the costs involved I'm not sure this is the best way? Any constructive advice would be appreciated - and please be gentle as I wouldn't generally class myself as an "academic type" :D

 

Dear Berms,

Podiatry Arena is a good discussion forum, but you also need to get your hands on the original source material, which can be difficult due to the high individual subscription charges for traditional journals.

In contrast to traditional subscription-based journals, open access journals work on an author-pays rather than user-pays model, which means that all papers are available for download free of charge to anyone with an internet connection.

There are two open access foot and ankle journals:

Journal of Foot and Ankle Research - the official journal of the APodC and SCP, which launched last year

Foot and Ankle Journal - primarily case reports

PubMed Central archives full-text papers from both open access journals and some subscription-based journals which have decided to allow free content to papers after a certain number of months. It's fully searchable, so all you need to do is enter your search term and then click onto the full-text links.

Keeping up to date with Cochrane systematic reviews is also highly recommended. A list of relevant reviews is provided here at Podiatry Arena (link).

 

Thanks Hylton, thats great info.

 

Scan the abstracts and citations then cherry pick the papers of interest and then buy them pay per view as you go along. JAPMA papers for instance are only $12US many are $25 - $30 some are only $4 - $8, which overall is not that much say a couple of times a month. As Hylton says there are many ways to obtain free research publications asking other practitioners for a copy is often fruitful or contact the writer direct. I did that just a few days ago and got 3 free papers on a subject of interest.

How about doing a higher degree or diploma or cert, that will force you to review a wide variety of research.

And read Pod Arena of course and be grateful that there are those that are willing and able to give harsh criticism to unworthy contributions, which allows the less well informed types to make informed choice about what they leave in the trash.

Dave

 

Hi Berms,

I find that networking is the key. Put yourself out there at conferences, obtain contacts of practitioners/lecturers who may share any similar special interest in our field, and be bold enough to ask them for their contacts who are undertaking current research. It is amazing how willing these experts are to assist us, (if we show an enthusiastic interest, coupled with evidence of undertaking our own research) in advancing our evidenced based practice.

These websites are amongst my top ten DeeJay stylee web-based sources;

http://www.dermquest.com/ImageLibrary/CPS.html?ShowImageOfTheMonth=true

http://www.bad.org.uk/eTargetModules/Common/Login.aspx

http://www.podiatrytoday.com/


Just another contribution from someone who says "it's 'sorry' this and 'forgive me' that and 'I'm not worthy'";)

Cheers,
Bel