Zuckerman Matthew, Pardis Parnian, Horsley Tanya, Dhanireddy Bhargavi, YIlmaz Yusuf, Gottlieb Michael, Thoma Brent, Chan Teresa M
Department of Emergency Medicine/Division of Medical Toxicology University of Colorado, School of Medicine Aurora Colorado USA.
University of Toronto Toronto Ontario Canada.
AEM Educ Train. 2023 Jul 11;7(4):e10892. doi: 10.1002/aet2.10892. eCollection 2023 Aug.
The free open access medical education (#FOAMed, or FOAM) movement creates educational content intended to inform medical education and clinical practice and is distributed in an unrestricted fashion (e.g., open access website). The who, what, and in particular the how of FOAM has raised important questions about the sustainability of the movement.
We recruited a diverse research team that included educational researchers, FOAM contributors, a business academician, and medical trainees to design and conduct a qualitative study exploring the work of FOAM creators. We analyzed the transcripts of interviews with 11 participants from top FOAM websites in emergency medicine and critical care. The team met frequently to iteratively identify and discuss emergent themes (major and minor) until saturation of concepts was achieved.
Creators of FOAM could be categorized using three archetypes: the rebel, the professor, and the entrepreneur. The rebel was categorized as distinctly rejecting "traditional academic structures" yet was compelled to deliver educational content via alternative routes. The professor retained a traditional academic role, instead creating FOAM to supplement academic activities (teaching courses, disseminating scholarship, promotion). Entrepreneurs focused on creating a sustainable entity in an effort to supplement their income and reduce clinical obligations.
While all FOAM creators appear unified in their passion to create, promote, and distribute educational material with unfettered access to educators, their motivations for creating content could be differentiated. Given the grassroots nature of FOAM, creators share concerns related to financing, time commitments, and threats to sustainability of these businesses. The longevity of FOAM and what business models are best suited to support them are uncertain. Further exploration of the implications could investigate the best ways to engage with and support the different FOAM creator archetypes and develop models of sustainability.
免费开放获取医学教育（#FOAMed，或简称FOAM）运动旨在创作教育内容，为医学教育和临床实践提供信息，并以不受限制的方式进行传播（例如通过开放获取网站）。FOAM的参与者、内容以及尤其是其运作方式引发了有关该运动可持续性的重要问题。
我们组建了一个多元化的研究团队，成员包括教育研究人员、FOAM贡献者、一位商业学者和医学实习生，以设计并开展一项定性研究，探索FOAM创作者的工作。我们分析了对来自急诊医学和重症监护领域顶级FOAM网站的11名参与者的访谈记录。研究团队频繁会面，反复识别并讨论出现的主题（主要和次要主题），直至概念达到饱和状态。
FOAM创作者可分为三种原型：叛逆者、教授和企业家。叛逆者被归类为明确拒绝“传统学术结构”，但又不得不通过其他途径提供教育内容。教授保留了传统学术角色，而是通过创作FOAM来补充学术活动（教学课程、传播学术成果、晋升）。企业家专注于创建一个可持续的实体，以增加收入并减少临床工作负担。
虽然所有FOAM创作者在创作、推广和传播教育材料并让教育工作者能够不受限制获取这些材料方面的热情似乎是一致的，但他们创作内容的动机可能有所不同。鉴于FOAM的草根性质，创作者们都对这些业务的融资、时间投入以及可持续性面临的威胁感到担忧。FOAM的持久性以及哪种商业模式最适合支持它们尚不确定。对其影响的进一步探索可以研究与不同FOAM创作者原型进行互动和提供支持的最佳方式，并开发可持续性模式。
