The World Federation Society of Anaesthesiologists Online Learning Inventory (WOLI): The Current State of Open Access Online Learning Resources among WFSA Member Societies

Abstract: Background and Objectives: The digital revolution has reshaped medical education and networking, making websites essential for sharingknowledge and practices. In anesthesiology education, it is unclear what online educational material has been published as open-access by anesthesia societies globally. This gap could lead educators to create new content when quality resources already exist. Our study sought to inventory open-access educational resources on WFSA member societies’ websites, including differences in types of resources available by country income bracket. Methods:An extraction template was designed to identify open-access educational resources available on society websites. To ensure reliability, thistemplate was piloted by all reviewers by assessing a subset of websites together. Subsequently, each website was assessed by twoindependent reviewers. Discrepancies were resolved through discussion. For non-English language websites, Google Translate was used. Wedid not seek institutional review board review as our research only studied public online resources and did not involve human subjects orconfidential information. Results: Of 133 WFSA member societies assessed, 53% (n=71) had functioning society websites. Among these 71 sites, at least one of thecategorized open-access educational resources was identified on 96% (n=68). The most common resources available were written, non-interactive content, present on 85% (n=60) of sites. Guidelines were available on 65% (n=46) of sites, webinars on 24% (n=17), non-livecourses on 21% (n=15), and video recordings on 18% (n=13). Discussion forums were the least common and only available on 3% (n=2) ofsites.High-income countries were more likely to have open-access educational material, with their websites contributing over 50% of total contentacross all resource categories (Figure 1). Conversely, low-income countries made up the lowest proportion and only shared written, non-interactive resources, webinars, and guidelines (Figure 1). Discussion and Conclusion: Our survey of WFSA member societies’websites revealed notable disparities. Over half had an active onlinepresence, but the resource breadth was inconsistent and often low, particularly from societies of lower-income nations.Our findings suggest anesthesia education content is available online on member society websites; however, availability differs widelybetween societies and there is a tendency for these to be limited to non-interactive resources. The higher proportion of online guidelinessuggests a priority for societies to support members with evidence-based clinical guidance practices.One of the main limitations of our study was that we were unable to assess the presence of any resources behind existing firewalls; therefore,focused efforts on identifying existing accessible content. Instead of predominantly encouraging societies to develop new resources andguidelines themselves, which often is costly and time-consuming, we should consider advocating for sharing of content already available thatmay be relevant between similar settings. This could potentially be done effectively using an anesthesia online learning community (AOLC)which may bridge gaps and enhance global collaboration