Collaborative writing applications in healthcare: effects on professional practice and healthcare outcomes.

Background: Collaborative writing applications (CWAs), such as wikis and Google Documents, hold the potential to improve the use of evidence in both public health and healthcare. Although a growing body of literature indicates that CWAs could have positive effects on healthcare, such as improved collaboration, behavioural change, learning, knowledge management, and adaptation of knowledge to local context, this has never been assessed systematically. Moreover, several questions regarding safety, reliability, and legal aspects exist.

Sustained impact of short-term international medical mission trips: resident perspectives.

Purpose: To assess perspectives of residents: (1) who participated in short-term international medical mission trips (STIMMTs) as medical students regarding impact of the experiences on their professional development; and (2) who did not participate in STIMMTs regarding barriers to participation.

Methods: Three hundred seventy-nine residents from 16 programs at two Florida institutions completed surveys requesting Participant and Trip Details and Impact of Participation (including items rating learning, cultural competency, and social responsibility).

Results: One hundred thirty-one residents participated in at least one STIMMT.