Kate Murphy and Mellora Sharman from VetCT, Mayank Seth and Rachel Miller from Stansted Veterinary Specialists and Andy Kent from Blaise Referrals have all signed up to get the new VetSurgeon.org email digest of questions posted on the site and will help when they can.
To get things started, any VetSurgeon.org member who posts a question about small animal medicine AND subscribes to the daily or weekly email digest (by logging in and clicking the red box on the homepage) before close of play on 15th August 2023 will go in the hat to win a bottle of Moet champagne.
VetSurgeon.org editor Arlo Guthrie said: "There are many reasons why this new Q&A community is better for professional clinical discussions than other forms of social media, but perhaps the most important is that when you ask a question, you’re not just helping yourself.
"Your question and any answers you receive go into an easily searchable knowledgebase of experience and opinion for the benefit of everyone in the veterinary profession.
"Beyond that, we don't use an algorithm to prioritise posts you are likely to react to, so we avoid the sort of echo chamber bias found on Facebook.
"Other social media also gives undeserved equivalence to all opinions, whereas we highlight those expressed by people with advanced qualifications and experience.
"Finally, VetSurgeon.org is now about one thing and one thing only, which is vets helping each other.
"That makes us much more focused.
"All in all, it means that VetSurgeon.org is where you'll get an authoritative answer."
General practitioners are also strongly encouraged to login and subscribe to the VetSurgeon.org Digest of questions, either daily or weekly.
Arlo added: "You'll get a daily or weekly list of veterinary questions asked by your peers.
"Some you'll want to know the answer to too.
"Some you may be able to help with.
"Answers are welcome not just from Specialists and referral practitioners, but also from general practitioners, industry members and academics."
PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vets.
A fantastic resource and access to knowledgeable people for the veterinary profession.
Thanks Sarah Keir - glad you like it. I'm really excited about it (as is my co-conspirator Alasdair Hotston Moore). For me, it offers all the benefits of social media for clinical info sharing and problem solving, but without all the negative aspects of Facebook: the fish and chip paper - here today, gone tomorrow - nature of all posts, the equivalence given to everyone's opinion, the bias, the rudeness which happens from time to time etc etc.If you feel so inclined, please DO share this news story with colleagues, as far and wide as possible. The more people subscribe to the daily/weekly digest, the more people we have to help each other!
This is great news. What I like is that we know the background of these contributors and we can also keep the answers in our searchable archives.