Twelve tips for developing and implementing a medical education Twitter chat

Abstract

Live discussions on the social media site Twitter or Twitter chats are gaining popularity as powerful tools for engaging a broad audience in an interactive discussion. Medical education, in particular, is experiencing an increase in the use of this modality to support informal learning, as a means to encourage collaboration and share best practices, and as a platform for large-scale mentorship. Despite this growth in popularity, there are limited data to guide medical educators on the fundamentals of organizing a Twitter chat. In this Twelve Tips article, we discuss strategies relevant to potential Twitter chat organizers. We have arranged the tips chronologically, beginning with a discussion of initial considerations when planning and formulating a chat topic and publicizing the chat to potentially interested people and groups, followed by practical considerations while hosting the chat, and finally strategies for evaluating and extending a Twitter chat’s impact.

Disclosure statement

The content is the responsibility of the authors alone and does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the United States Government, or the American Thoracic Society. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew J. Admon

Andrew Admon, MD, MPH, is a pulmonary and critical care medicine fellow and member of the American Thoracic Society’s (ATS) Members in Transition and Training (MITT) committee.

Viren Kaul

Viren Kaul, MD, is a fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine and an active member of the social media groups at the American Thoracic Society Section on Medical Education, the American College of Chest Physicians and the New York American College of Physicians.

Sushma K. Cribbs

Sushma Cribbs, MD, MSc, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, a Staff Physician at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center. Associate Program Director for the Emory Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship Program and Vice-Chair for the American Thoracic Society Members in Transition and Training committee.

Elizabeth Guzman

Elizabeth Guzman, BA, is the Manager of Educational Projects and Junior Professionals at the American Thoracic Society.

Odalys Jimenez

Odalys Jimenez, BS, is the Coordinator for Educational Programs at the American Thoracic Society.

Jeremy B. Richards

Jeremy Richards, M.D., M.A., is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is the Director of the Medical Education Research Laboratory at the Shapiro Center for Education at BIDMC, and the Chair of the Members in Transition and Training Committee in the American Thoracic Society.