Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Re: The Influence of Online Forums on Radiation Oncology Residency Program Selection

2019; Elsevier BV; Volume: 105; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.ijrobp.2019.05.038

1879-355X

Laura Turner, K. Chris Cox, Gautam Prasad,

Diversity and Career in Medicine

The Student Doctor Network (SDN—www.studentdoctor.net) is an educational nonprofit online community created for students, by students, and is dedicated to building a diverse doctor workforce. For 20 years, we have been committed to serving our community of prehealth students, health professional students, and practicing doctors. Our volunteer staff of contributors, moderators, and administrators seeks to provide a wide range of free resources to help students in their educational journey. The recent publication “The Influence of Online Forums on Radiation Oncology Residency Program Selection” has come to our attention because it references SDN throughout.1Malouff T. Vallow L.A. Waddle M.R. et al.The influence of online forums on radiation oncology residency program selection.Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2019; 104: 1009-1011Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (5) Google Scholar In particular, the article references “the SDN Interview Spreadsheet” and performs a survey-based analysis of that spreadsheet. However, the use of Student Doctor Network and SDN are inappropriate in the context of this manuscript because SDN has no relationship with the referenced interview spreadsheet. The SDN forums are an online community, the largest of the kind, for physicians, health professionals, and students, including discussions of many specialties such as radiation oncology. As is customary for online communities, users often post links external to the site for further information or discussion. The referenced article gives a link to an external spreadsheet hosted not by SDN or the SDN Forums, but by Google Docs. SDN has no control or ownership of the referenced Google Docs spreadsheet. The spreadsheet was developed, designed, and maintained by radiation oncology residency applicants without the influence of SDN. SDN claims no affiliation with this external spreadsheet, nor does it claim any credit for what is posted therein. We also claim no affiliation with or credit for anything else linked external to the SDN forums. To our knowledge, neither SDN nor any member of the SDN volunteer staff were contacted regarding the design or writing of this article to clarify our role in the referenced spreadsheet. SDN remains available to the community to encourage and facilitate radiation oncology discussions and other topics in medicine. Making an account is free, easy, and anonymous. Personalized advice is also available with SDN-verified advisors who are academic faculty, private practitioners, and residents in radiation oncology. Through the many resources available on SDN, we look forward to continuing our mission of “Helping Students Become Doctors.”