** Poster Award Nominee

USE OF A BLOG WEB SITE FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION IN A RESIDENCY PROGRAM

V. Dimov ^1*, K. Uzunova-Dimova ², S. Randhawa ³, A. Kumar ¹, R. Christie ^{3, 1} Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, U.S.A, ² Private practice, Cleveland, OH 44140, U.S.A., ³ Case Western  Reserve University(St. Vincent/St Luke) Internal Medicine Residency Program, Cleveland, OH 44145, U.S.A.

Purpose
A blog is a web site which requires only basic computer skills to create and maintain. Such service can be used by residents to create and maintain a web site on their own which is can be tailored to their learning objectives. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that a blog created by several residents is perceived as very useful and used frequently by the rest of the members of an internal medicine residency program. 

Methods
The blog was created by two residents in an internal medicine program and hosted free of charge by Blogger.com, a service owned by Google, Inc. Content included morning report questions and answers, clinical cases and images, procedures photos and videos, links to journal articles and call schedules. An anonymous survey comprised of 15 questions using a 5-point Likert scale (5-1, strongly agree-strongly disagree) and 8 open-ended questions was designed. Residents had a 2 month period to evaluate the website before the survey.

Results
42 out of 44 residents completed the questionnaire, 100% rated the blog as useful, 78% thought that it changed the way they learn in a positive way. Thirty-six percent visited daily, 56% weekly. Eighty-three percent would like to participate in expanding the blog.

Conclusion
A blog web site created and maintained by medical residents was perceived as very useful by the rest of the group. The blog concept, which offers a free and easy-to-use service, may be a valuable tool in graduate medical education.