Website Committee Update

Joshua M. Pahys, MD
Website Committee Chair

The Website Committee has been working through previous initiatives. We continue to monitor the presentation and flow of the website and its impact on our readership through regular analysis using Google Analytics. The committee has drafted a manuscript that will be submitted to Spine Deformity documenting the effect of recent changes to the website. We have worked closely with the Patient Education Committee to publish new videos that will be posted online focusing on adult spinal deformity. Several Website Committee members produced a successful webinar on “Using Social Media in Your Practice.” This was also submitted for a Lunchtime Symposium at the upcoming 2019 Annual Meeting in an effort to further educate members on how best to safely navigate the rapidly evolving and sometimes daunting world of social media.

In conjunction with the Development Committee, the Genealogy Project was launched at the 2018 Annual Meeting. This site allows SRS members to search the lineage of the “Founding Fellowships” that were the institutions of the founding members of the SRS. This is the initial development phase of a comprehensive SRS "Family Tree" that would outline the ancestry of the early SRS members and the surgeons they have trained, to the current spinal deformity fellowships and graduates of today. All SRS members are encouraged to go online and make sure their profiles are up to date.

Finally, the Website Committee has chosen to focus on improving the searchability and content of the SRS website as it relates to patients and families. Analysis of SRS website traffic reveals that this is the largest group to visit our site, but that the public is quick to “click away.” Therefore, a subcommittee was implemented to create patient and family questionnaires that will be given to patients in their practices to obtain feedback after visiting our website. Our goal is to make www.srs.org a trusted source of information on spinal deformity for our patients and families, in addition to fellow professionals. We will soon be soliciting for new patient stories from our members. Stay tuned!

 

Chair: Joshua M. Pahys Committee: Todd Milbrandt, Past Chair; Peter D. Angevine; Lloyd A. Hey; Mark C. Lee, Patient Education; Burt Yaszay, Education; David M. Bennett (C); Jaysson T. Brooks (C); Edmund Choi (C); Christina K. Hardesty (C); Andrea Piazzolla (C); Monchai Ruangchainikom (C); Robert P C Huang; Harold J.P. Van Bosse; Samuel K. Cho, CME; Teresa Bas, ERC; Michelle S. Caird; George H. Thompson, Historian; Joseph P. Davey; Mark D. Locke