title: The Internet as a communication tool for orthopedic spine fellowships in the United States.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Orthopedic residents seeking additional training in spine surgery commonly use the Internet to manage their fellowship applications. Although studies have assessed the accessibility and content of Web sites in other medical specialties, none have looked at orthopedic spine fellowship Web sites (SFWs).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accessibility of information from commonly used databases and assess the content of SFWs.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a Web site accessibility and content evaluation study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive list of available orthopedic spine fellowship programs was compiled by accessing program lists from the SF Match, North American Spine Society, Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA), and Orthopaedicsone.com (Ortho1). These databases were assessed for accessibility of information including viable links to SFWs and responsive program contacts. A Google search was used to identify SFWs not readily available on these national databases. SFWs were evaluated based on online education and recruitment content.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Evaluators found 45 SFWs of 63 active programs (71%). Available SFWs were often not readily accessible from national program lists, and no program afforded a direct link to their SFW from SF Match. Approximately half of all programs responded via e-mail. Although many programs described surgical experience (91%) and research requirements (87%) during the fellowship, less than half mentioned didactic instruction (46%), journal clubs (41%), and national meetings or courses attended (28%). Evaluators found an average 45% of fellow recruitment content. Comparison of SFWs by program characteristics revealed three significant differences. Programs with greater than one fellowship position had greater online education content than programs with a single fellow (p=.022). Spine fellowships affiliated with an orthopedic residency program maintained greater education (p=.006) and recruitment (p=.046) content on their SFWs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most orthopedic spine surgery programs underuse the Internet for fellow education and recruitment. The inaccessibility of information and paucity of content on SFWs allow for future opportunity to optimize these resources.
authors.affiliation: The Perelman School of Medicine, The University of Pennsylvania, 295 John Morgan Building, 3620 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Silvestre
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 5 E 98th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Javier Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Guzman
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place Box 1136, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Branko
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Skovrlj
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 5 E 98th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Overley
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 5 E 98th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 5 E 98th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Sheeraz A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 5 E 98th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10029, USA. Electronic address: Andrew.Hecht@MountSinai.Org.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Hecht
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007396:Internship and Residency; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000193:education*; D014481:United States
keywords: Accessibility; Education; Orthopaedic residency; Recruitment; San Francisco match; Spine fellowship; Websites