Web Resources in a Surgeon’s Everyday Professional Routine

Abstract

Introduction.Research is devoted to the modern initiative practices of using web resources, which surgeons use to build a career and advance in a professional environment or aim for self-training. A review of Russian-language sources showed that studies on the topic are almost absent. The work was based on the principles of pragmatic sociology and revealed structural and functional changes manifested in new ways to improve professional skills through the opportunities provided by digital technologies.Methodology and sources. The authors rely on systemic, structural-functional approaches and the methodology of the French school of pragmatic sociology to describe the changes that digital technologies bring to the social institution of medicine. Foreign sources show a high researchers' interest in this field. Foreign colleagues develop the topic of web resources used in the routine practice of a surgeon having regard to his / her specialization, goal setting, etc. The publication is based on a questionnaire survey of 252 surgeons and four indepth interviews.Results and discussion. Web resources and social media in the professional practice of doctors in general and individual specializations are at the initial stage of scientific and practical understanding of Russian sociology. Appealing to web resources to improve the professional level or prepare for surgery is part of the routine practice of surgeons. At the same time, surgeons lack technical and organizational support, the actual use of web resources is underestimated, and institutional web resources are less popular than specialized communities and individual social media channels. Conclusion. Russian surgeons act in a resource-constrained Internet technology environment in their working place, bound by the lack of technical capabilities for creating, storing, and distributing video archives, the lack of special tools, and, often, skills for editing and commenting on videos, operations, and maintaining social media. The professional representation of surgeons on web resources is their initiative, and videos of the surgical operation are uploaded spontaneously. The mastership of the surgeon and the quality of the surgical operation posted do not have institutionalized forms of regulation and evaluation by the professional community.