International Microsurgery Club: An Effective Online Collaboration System

BACKGROUND: To determine if International Microsurgery Club (IMC) is an effective online resource for microsurgeons worldwide, in providing an avenue for timely group discussions and advice regarding complicated cases, and an avenue for collaboration and information sharing. METHODS: All posts on the IMC Facebook group from member 1 to 8,000 were analyzed according to inclusion criteria and categorized into three categories-case discussion, question, and information sharing. Posts were retrospectively analyzed for number of responses, time of responses, number of "likes," number of treatment options, time of day, and demographics of authors and responders. RESULTS: A retrospective analysis of 531 cases showed an average response rate of 75.7% within 1 hour and as membership grew. The response rate stabilized averaging between 72.5 and 78% across all times of the day. An average of 11.8 microsurgeons was involved per case discussion, and 5.7 treatment options were provided per case. CONCLUSION: IMC is shown to be an effective resource to allow microsurgeons to access timely advice from other microsurgeons without time and distance limitation, and to have interactive group discussions on complicated cases.