This month marks our second ALiEM-Annals Resident’s Perspective discussion. Similar to the ALiEM-Annals Global EM Journal Club series and the first Resident’s Perspective piece on Multiple Mini Interviews, we will be discussing the most recent Annals of Emergency Medicine Resident’s Perspective piece on the Integration of Social Media in Emergency Medicine Residency Curriculum. We hope you will participate in an online discussion based on the paper summary and questions below from now through August 1, 2014. Respond by commenting below or tweeting using the hashtag #ALiEMRP.
Google Hangout with the Authors
On July 31, 2014, we will be hosting a 30 minute live Google Hangout on Air with Drs. Kevin Scott (@K_ScottMD) and Mira Mamtani (@MiraMamtaniPenn), the authors of the Annals of Emergency Medicine Resident’s Perspective paper on the how social media is being used in the EM educational curriculum. Also joining will be Drs. Stella Yiu (@Stella_Yiu), Michael Gisondi (@MikeGisondi), and Seth Trueger (@MDAware). Be sure to tune in! Later this year, a summary of this blog- and Twitter-based discussion will hopefully be published back into the journal.
- 00:00 Bryan Hayes makes introductions
- 01:06 Kevin Scott discusses the impetus for writing this paper.
- 05:40 Mira Mamtani discusses (1) how to engage faculty in the use of social media technologies in residency education and (2) how this fits in with ACGME standards
- 09:45 Stella Yiu talks about the flipped classroom and tips for success
- 12:39 Seth Trueger talks about the role of social media in academia as well as about quality assurance
- 15:05 Michael Gisondi talks about innovative practices at his institution and how to overcome barriers in bringing in “more senior” faculty.
- 21:23 Wrap up final points and comments by the panelists
Annals of EM Resident Perspective Article
Scott KR, Hsu CH, Johnson NJ, Mamtani M, Conlon LW, DeRoos FJ. Integration of Social Media in Emergency Medicine Residency Curriculum. Ann Emerg Med. 2014 Jun 21. [early release] PMID: 24957931. Free PDF download (2.1 MB)
Introduction
This article is excellent overview of the current landscape of social media use and perspectives specifically in the graduate medical education world of EM. The authors, based in the University of Pennsylvania, share not only an introduction to social media and examples of best practices in medical education, but more importantly discuss the several barriers to more mainstream adoption of digital technologies.
Modalities and concepts discussed included:
- Blogs
- Podcasts
- Videocasts
- Google Hangout
- Flipped classrooms
Barriers discussed included:
- Generational gaps may lead to a lack of familiarity with social media
- Social media, such as Twitter, may cause a distraction and disrupt other aspects of residency education
- Core knowledge is currently less represented in social media content
- Residents may over-rely on social media education without critically appraising the literature
- Quality assurance is a constant concern amongst educators because social media resources, such as blogs, typically lack peer review before publication
- Learners may be overwhelmed by information overload using social media
- There is no validated study showing an objective improvement in resident knowledge and learning with social media
- As with everything in social media, privacy and professionalism issues are an underlying concern
FOAM Discussion to Date
The role of social media in the future of medical education is one of the most discussed topics among educators and students in the FOAM community. A comprehensive review of content produced since 2013, accomplished using FOAMSearch and Google queries, revealed 10 blog posts, 4 podcasts, and 2 open access journal articles discussing the role of social media in emergency medicine education. These resources, listed below, are a great overview of the many perspectives already shaping the role of social media in medical education. For those new to the idea of FOAM and social media in academia, be sure to check out Chris Nickson’s overview of FOAM at Life in the Fast Lane.
Featured Discussion Questions
The ALiEM team poses the following questions to explore current practices with social media and medical education, and perceptions about the benefits and drawbacks of this educational modality. If you have additional questions, feel free to pose them!
- Q1. Educators: What are the biggest barriers for educators and how to overcome them?
- Q2. Learners: How do we engage learners once the tech-innovation is employed? If you build it, they won’t necessarily come!
- Q3. Programs: What are other examples of actual or potential innovations in GME that wasn’t described in the paper?
Please participate in the discussion by answering either on the ALiEM blog comments below or by tweeting us using the hashtag #ALiEMRP. Please denote the question you are responding to by starting your reply with Q1, Q2, or Q3.
NEW! Contest for Best Blog Comment and Tweet
Thanks to Dr. Henry Woo and his colleagues in the Twitter-based International Urology Journal Club series (#urojc) hosted by @IUroJC, we are also implementing a contest for the Best Blog Quote and Best Tweet. What, emergency physicians – competitive? No… The winners will be announced in our Annals of EM publication curating this discussion.
Disclaimer: We reserve the right to use any and all tweets to #ALiEMRP and comments below in a commentary piece for an Annals of Emergency Medicine publication as a curated conclusion piece for this Resident’s Perspective publication. Your comments will be attributed, and we thank-you in advance for your contributions.