The use of social media to supplement resident medical education – the SMART-ME initiative

Figures & data

Fig. 1.  Snapshot of @TEACHBayview Twitter page.

Table 1 Hashtags used by @TEACHBayview

#AMReport – Highlights relevant articles or teaching pearls from morning report.
#NoonConference – Provides access to articles cited by the noon conference faculty presenter.
#ChiefsRounds – Highlights learning points from teaching rounds led by senior faculty. Prior to Twitter, only one ward team at a time were aware of the educational discussions.
#DocOfTheDayPearl – Disseminates primary care-related teaching points identified by a senior resident who is rotating as the urgent-care outpatient provider for the resident clinic.
#LibraryRounds – Identifies evidence-based literature topics researched by an informationist who rounds daily with one Medicine Wards team.
#AlumniNews – Highlights resident alumni publications.

Fig. 2.  Social media use by the residents for medical education. * indicates p<0.05.

Fig. 3.  Frequency of Twitter use by residents for medical education.

Table 2 Open ended resident responses regarding likes and dislikes about the Twitter feed

Positive remarks	Negative remarks; areas for improvement
‘I have just started using Twitter – was resistant, but have found it a great tool. Keeps me updated’. ‘No changes’ ‘Love it though took some time to catch on’ ‘I like that it's an easy way to read a pertinent article’. ‘Great way to update myself on things discussed at morning report and noon conference when I'm not able to go! And also a resource for article links and other useful additive material’. ‘It has freed my email from clusters ‘read this paper’ or ‘update from morning report’ – it allows me to learn at my own time’. ‘I like being able to easily find the articles and things we were discussing’. ‘Easy access to papers discussed during morning report/lunch talks’. ‘I like the links to useful info and articles’. ‘Bite size information’.	‘The reason that I don't go onto Twitter is that I feel like it's just another time distraction like Facebook. Even though it's for educational purposes, I know that I'd waste time looking at other Twitter feeds’. ‘Love it but would be great to have chats around images or cases!’ ‘Maybe ways teams can collaborate for patient care’. ‘I do not use twitter often enough for this to be useful’. ‘I was using my twitter, and was a good learning portal. But then my account got hacked, which deterred me from continual use’. ‘I also wish a mystery case was featured periodically’. ‘I wish there was more stuff posted more often!’ ‘I still have not joined – no comment’.