Opinion: Is Twitter a New Way to Learn?

This edition of JIS reports on the value of harnessing social media for general surgical training and education [1]. The project’s focus on Twitter is pragmatic because survey studies indicate that Twitter is the preferred application for physicians and physician educators to obtain medical/surgical knowledge and information [2]. In their report, the authors find that a preexisting Twitter account for surgeons and trainees could be used successfully to survey global opinions about surgical training. They report on a 10 question survey collected over a 10 day period with key responses indicating the value of mentorship, digital training tools, and professionalism (e.g., teaching compassion and emotional intelligence) as part of surgical training. Strikingly, the survey revealed that most respondents do not believe surgical training programs within and across countries are standardized or consistent. Limitations of the project include lack of information about the usefulness of Twitter Poll, skewing of high use respondents, and absence of follow - up survey questions that validate previous responses.

In a larger context, this report adds to the emerging curiosity about Twitter for med/surg education. The rationale for using Twitter as a med/surg educational platform is that it potentially integrates knowledge into a frequented phone application that supports a variety of socially – oriented exchanges via pictures, videos, graphics, messages and other memes. Twitter enforces a discipline of short messaging, thus appealing to busy trainees and faculty. It also allows dissemination of pictures, videos and polls. One study found that pictures posted about key surgical articles generated more “hits” than if articles were simply cited in script [3]. Examples of Twitter for med/surg education include a radiology handle that disseminates various x-ray images to challenge participant’s diagnostic skills [4]. An emergency medicine Twitter handle reports and discusses unusual patient cases [5]. Recently, Geriatrics Twitter Poll was harnessed for improving Geriatrics knowledge among third year medical students. Students who accessed the Geriatrics Twitter Poll improved their Geriatrics knowledge 2 fold over those who did not use Twitter [6]. Other uses include professional societies that create temporary Twitter accounts to make announcements at their annual scientific meetings while attendees Tweet comments about scientific presentations.

Twitter serves as a platform for disseminating medical/surgical knowledge through citation of research studies that can be instantaneously accessed by the user. It can be used for polling opinions or to test learner knowledge. Participants can offer their opinion, thus serving as a virtual “round table discussion.” While mostly valuable, not all elements of Twitter or other social media are conducive to medical/surgical education. For example, participants can misstate information either willfully or unintentionally. Educationally – focused Twitter accounts can be infiltrated with diatribes, advertisements, and non sequitur messages. In short, a lot of garbage information can taint the Twitter account. To this end, someone needs to curate an open Twitter account or create an invitation only Twitter handle which still needs active surveillance for extraneous content. As an educational device, we don’t know if Twitter use actually changes medical practice or enhances retention of medical knowledge. Thus, additional research needs to examine the impact of social media on medical/surgical skills and knowledge.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.