JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Although social media is often viewed by residents and could be used to reinforce teaching points, there is little data on methods that improve engagement in learning medical topics through this medium.

Objective:

We observed how the timing of posted questions, answering questions correctly, and giving supportive comments affected the engagement of residents learning point-of-care ultrasound on social media.

Methods:

Of 60 medical residents, 35 followed an Instagram account that posted ultrasound video clips with questions during the academic year. Engagement, E, was the percentage of questions answered of the total number of clips viewed for each post and each resident. E was tested for an association with (1) weekend vs. weekday posts, (2) answering questions correctly vs. incorrectly, and (3) supportive responses from faculty vs. no feedback.

Results:

Of 16 posts, 120 questions were answered from 428 clips viewed by 32 residents, for an E =28% [range: 15-59%] for posts and a median (IQR) E=19% (0-39%) for residents with 71% (n=25) engaging on at least one post. E was higher during weekdays vs. weekends, 30% vs. 21% (p=0.007), and correlated to answering correctly vs. incorrectly (r=0.6, p<0.001). A supportive comment resulted in a lower percentage of answering the next post, compared to no feedback (30% vs. 71%, p=0.02).

Conclusions:

Resident engagement in social media was higher with having questions answered correctly, but, surprisingly, was lower when posting during weekends and immediately after receipt of a supportive comment.