The Use of Social Media to Deliver Surgical Education in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background

As clinical rotations were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with surgical specialty being the one most severely affected among all disciplines, social media had become increasingly used for surgical education. We aimed to identify and present the application of social media as an essential tool for surgical education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials and methods

A literature review was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE and EMBASE databases for potentially eligible articles published until April 2021. The review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Results

A total of 23 articles were identified and systematically reviewed that related to the application of social media use in surgical education during the COVID-19 pandemic. These may be grouped into 3 discrete categories (online learning, scientific research, networking) and 14 topics (online resources, virtual conferencing, preparing for exams, etc.).

Conclusions

Social media has played a multidimensional critical role in training surgical students and residents in the COVID-19 era, with special superiority that cannot be substituted by other online tools.

Keywords:

• surgery
• surgical education
• social media
• online learning
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Informed consent

No procedures were conducted by the authors on patients; there was no need of informed consent.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

This article did not involve human participants and/or animals.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 32071436; and the Medical Education Reform Project of Peking Union Medical College under Grant 2019ZLGC0111.