The dental informatics online community

Abstract

Dental Informatics (DI) is the application of computer and information science to improve dental practice, research, education, and program administration. To support the growth of this emerging discipline, we created the Dental Informatics Online Community (DIOC). The DIOC provides a dedicated professional home for DI researchers and serves as an open, common, and worldwide forum for all individuals interested in the field. It was created and is maintained by the Center for Dental Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, independent from any professional association, corporate interest or funding source. The DIOC's Website provides many useful features, such as a learning center, publication archive, member and project directories, and the Current Awareness Service (CAS). The CAS automatically notifies members about new information added to the Community. Notifications are individualized according to a member's profile and activities on the site. The DIOC is a research-oriented online community which provides resources in the dental informatics and dental technology field, as well as a way to establish social connections to share ideas, problems and research opportunities. Member and activity growth since the community's inception in 2005 have been steady, but future sustainability of the community depends on many factors.

Online strategies to facilitate health‐related knowledge transfer: a systematic search and review

“…The final sample of articles represented applications of online health‐related KT strategies in six countries, with the majority of articles originating from the United States. The KT strategies utilised were quite broad, with some studies using more than one type of approach.…”

“…Knowledge management strategies [e.g. online listservs and virtual journal clubs (VJC)] were the most commonly cited approach for translating health‐related knowledge to practice ( n = 16), followed next by discussion forums ( n = 12), virtual communities of practice (VCoP) ( n = 10), blogs ( n = 6), wikis ( n = 5), Facebook ( n = 3), conferencing technology ( n = 4) and Twitter ( n = 2).…”

“…Eighteen (40%) of the articles were classified as qualitative generally utilising interviews and focus groups with users to learn about the benefits, limitations, and preferences of a given population towards a specific KT strategy, and employing content analysis to analyse the results. Sixteen (35%) of the articles reviewed were classified as primarily descriptive . The majority of these articles described specific examples of online KT strategies that had been implemented; however, few provided analytical evidence regarding the strategies efficacy.…”

“…Nineteen (42%) of the articles reviewed focused on healthcare providers as the target audience of the KT strategy . The healthcare providers came from diverse backgrounds including clinicians or physicians, nurses, allied health, occupational therapists, midwives, chiropractors and emergency care workers.…”

“…The distribution of healthcare contexts and health topics covered was broad. Twelve (27%) of the articles focused on research related to a specific health field, including Chiropractic, Rehabilitation, and Dentistry . Professional development (e.g.…”