Helen Whitley

Brainbook

Brainbook is an alternative neurosurgical encyclopaedia which focuses on the patient first and provides neurosurgical education to a global community. The aim is to act as a bridge to neurosurgical knowledge, engage the public and patient groups, medical students and allied healthcare professionals, as well as neurosurgeons globally. We do not just focus on basic neurosurgical techniques but run case discussions live on Twitter. We follow a real patient journey from beginning to end by drip feeding history and examination, CT and/or MRI. We use GoPro cameras mounted to the surgeon's head to get an immersive view of the operating theatre and the initial part of the operation, before showing microscope footage for example. We talk about peri-operative care from the perspectives of as many different allied healthcare professionals as possible. But the true power of Brainbook is that people from all over the world join in the discussion, ask questions and stimulate discussion. Everybody is welcome and learning points are teased from all participants. The project started as a pilot earlier this year and is run from the Royal London Hospital neurosurgical department, Barts Health NHS Trust. The initial funding and support was provided by Barts Charity. The website (www.realbrainbook.co.uk) contains blog posts, split into 3 separate sections:   1. For patients and the public 2. For medical students and allied healthcare professionals 3. For neurosurgeons.   Any of these groups can write posts aimed at any other groups. Neurosurgeons writing for neurosurgeons (regarding technical skills, literature etc.) or neurosurgeons for patients. This can be anything from what life is like as a neurosurgeon, to the things that they find most difficult about caring for critically unwell patients. Our goal is free, globally accessible, high quality neurosurgical knowledge for all.