Background: The growth of the social media platform Twitter has prompted many to consider its potential as an educational tool. Little is known about how surgery training programs are utilizing this resource and whether this platform can provide educational content effectively. We sought to determine national utilization of Twitter by departments of surgery in the United States and evaluate if educationally driven content heightened engagement with the Twitter followers.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of social media presence for all Accreditation Council for Graduation Medical Education accredited general surgery training programs between October 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016. Each tweet was characterized as either promotional or educational. Metrics related to account engagement, including impressions (number of times a tweet is seen) and retweets (number of times a tweet is shared), were compared. These results were compared against a single departmental account focused primarily on educational content.

Results: Thirty-two departmental Twitter accounts were identified from the 272 programs approached associated with accredited general surgery training programs. Training programs posted a median of 1.0 unique tweets (interquartile range: 0.6-2.3) per week. Tweets were primarily promotional (81% of posts) and generated marginal engagement with followers (3.4 likes/tweet; 1.5 retweets/tweet). In contrast, a single, resident-run departmental account at our institution (University of Michigan) focused on educational content generated consistent, educational content (19.6 unique tweets/week, 48% of which were educational), which resulted in increased engagement with followers (11.4 likes/tweet; 5.9 retweets/tweet) compared to other accounts.

Conclusion: Though Twitter is being widely adopted widely by departments of surgery, it is primarily utilized for promotional content. Use of educational content may improve engagement from followers.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2017.10.039DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

educational content
20
training programs
16
social media
12
departments surgery
12
surgery training
12
engagement followers
12
educational
9
accredited general
8
general surgery
8
number times
8

Similar Publications

The aim of the study was to find whether certain meaningful moments in the learning process are noticeable through features of voice and how acoustic voice analyses can be utilized in learning research. The material consisted of recordings of nine university students as they were completing tasks concerning direct electric circuits as part of their course of teacher education in physics. Prosodic features of voice-fundamental frequency (F0), sound pressure level (SPL), acoustic voice quality measured by LTAS, and pausing-were investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: With the increasing availability and use of digital tools such as virtual reality in medical education, there is a need to evaluate their impact on clinical performance and decision-making among healthcare professionals. The Trauma SimVR study is investigating the efficacy of virtual reality training in the context of traumatic in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Methods And Analysis: This study protocol (clinicaltrials.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To evaluate and compare the readability of information on different treatment options for breast cancer from WeChat public accounts, propose targeted improvement strategies based on the evaluation of the results of the various treatment options, and provide a reference for producers of WeChat public accounts from which to write highly readable information regarding breast cancer treatment options.

Methods: With "breast cancer" as keywords in April 2021, searches were implemented on Sogou WeChat website (https://weixin.sogou.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Effects of Low-Severity Fire on the Composition and Stability of Soil Organic Carbon in Permafrost Peatlands (Northeast China).

Environ Sci Technol

January 2025

State Key Laboratory of Black Soils Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shengbei Street 4888, Changchun 130102, China.

Climate change and human activity are increasing the frequency of wildfires in peatlands and threatening permafrost peatland carbon pools. In Northeast China, low-severity prescribed fires are conducted annually on permafrost peatlands to reduce the risk of wildfires. These fires typically do not burn surface peat but lead to the loss of surface vegetation and introduction of pyrogenic carbon.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: MRI offers quantification of proton density fat fraction (PDFF) and tissue characteristics with T1 mapping. The influence of age, sex, and the potential confounding effects of fat on T1 values in skeletal muscle in healthy adults are insufficiently known.

Purpose: To determine the accuracy and repeatability of a saturation-recovery chemical-shift encoded multiparametric approach (SR-CSE) for quantification of T1 and muscle fat content, and establish normative values (age, sex) from a healthy cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!