Doctor Alliance - COVID19 EC

Location: Ecuador

We are a group of doctors and medical students who believe that information is the best weapon we have to deal with the pandemic, but we are aware of the enormous challenge of staying up-to-date with the overwhelming volume of information available. This has led us to create the COVID19 EC website (https://uanalisis.uide.edu.ec). With the support of the International University of Ecuador, this resource aims to establish a medical literature review system regarding SARS-COV2 aimed at Ecuadorian health personnel.

We have designed eight search phrases combining non-MeSH terms, MeSH terms, publication date, entry date, supplemental terms, and keyword roots; to identify and collect all newly available articles on COVID-19 in the database of MEDLINE (PubMed). This information is analyzed and refined based on strict inclusion and exclusion criteria designed to identify clinical research with immediate applicability. The selected articles are read in their entirety and each one of them is subjected to critical analysis based on the application of checklists developed and validated by the British group CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills Program). This process allows the systematic and efficient identification of the best available evidence. Finally, studies with the highest quality are analyzed and their information is synthesized in short, practical, and objective reviews. Before publication, all documents are approved by medical specialists and Ph.D. researchers, who have been national and international references during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, all reviews include a level of evidence rating and a recommendation grade of the article they are based on, in accordance with the GRADE recommendations for the rating of the medical evidence derived from UpToDate and with official permission from this institution.

Our team is made up of more than 50 people worldwide. We include medical students in the last semesters (clinical sciences with training in critical reading), graduate doctors, resident doctors, teaching doctors, and specialists. In addition, we have the participation of a Ph.D. in research methodology, epidemiologists, and Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology.

This project makes available to health personnel an online non-profit medical update resource that manages to present excellent quality reviews with the highest scientific rigor. With this initiative we allow our users to stay ahead of COVID-19 with the least investment of time and with the best information available. From our work, we estimate that the knowledge acquired by investing 10 minutes of reading one of our reviews is equivalent to more than 20 hours of individual work (this includes filtering out useless information, selecting the best study on a topic and extracting useful information from the article), not to mention the added value that is the approval of the review by a specialist in each topic.

Finally, it is worth highlighting the impact that the website has had during our first 2 weeks of work. We have managed to produce more than 10 major literary reviews of COVID-19; 15 unique graphics, tables, and diagnostic and management algorithms; 3 volumes with a total of 35 reviews from the strict application of critical reading, and filtered more than 3000 articles about COVID-19. Likewise, the quality of the product presented has translated into 20,000 visits to the website in the last 7 days with 7,300 sessions and an audience in Ecuador, the United States, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Costa Rica. Our team has analyzed and compiled reviews of various relevant articles, from Bayesian models with 8 million participants to randomized controlled trials of treatment for COVID-19. Similarly, high impact journals are included in our reviews such as Nature, The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), The British Medical Journal ( BMJ), among others.

Support

Support is needed to improve the functionality of the website and increase the reach through advertising.

Other Needs: Access to information, Website Advertisement

See more: https://uanalisis.uide.edu.ec/

For more information contact covid19@unmgcy.org