For a while now, there has been a lot of discussion among folks in the free open access medical education (FOAMed) community related to the acknowledgment and recognition in the academic realm. Recently, one major academic institution that has now set the stage for the recognition of FOAMed as a scholarly activity for the purposes of promotion and tenure: The Mayo Clinic. This unprecedented move should surely serve as a stepping stone for other academic institutions to follow suit. Let’s talk about when the FDA Met #FOAMed
So imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago when I came across this traffic source via the administrative functions for the blog:
I thought at first it was a mistake and that my eyes were playing tricks on me. I mean, after all, this occurred during the first few days of Ramadan, and my energy levels do tend to wane throughout the day.
So I did what any sane person would do: I clicked the link.
The link indeed led to the actual US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website. It was a detailed drug safety communication related to cardiotoxicity secondary to loperamide abuse, an occurrence that has become increasingly recognized and reported in the literature here in the States.
I had written about this topic nearly a year ago on the blog after having to manage a patient in the emergency department who presented with Torsdes de Pointes secondary to this very phenomenon. Prior to this experience, I knew nothing about it, so again, writing the post was simply a means of educating myself…and anyone else who stumbled upon the post.
I kept reading through the safety communication…and then I got to the references section. My heart dropped when I saw that the third reference listed was the very same blog post that I authored, fully cited in true form.
Needless to say, I am still in the “mind blown” state.
I am not quite sure how the FDA happened to find the post, nor am I fully aware of the exact reason as to why the individuals who pieced together the safety communication decided to include my post in their list of references. Perhaps because it is what it is – FOAMed – and any individual of the general public who accessed the communication can easily find more information covered in the post.
We now arrive at the state of things. For all intents and purposes, it is safe to say that FOAMed has officially gone mainstream. Can this keep up? I think (and hope) so, as quality content continues to be produced by us creators.
This may be a bold statement, but given the circumstances, I think it ought to be said. If FOAMed is good enough to be recognized by the FDA, then it certainly ought to be good enough to be recognized by any other entity – yes, that includes academic institutions.
Mic drop.
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