ArticleArchives of plastic surgery2026
Plastic Surgery Residency Program Instagram Engagement with Prospective Applicants: A Cohort Analysis in the United States.
Article in Archives of plastic surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Social media platforms, particularly Instagram, have revolutionized residency recruitment by offering integrated plastic surgery programs innovative avenues to showcase their culture and engage directly with prospective applicants. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this digital shift, making virtual interactions essential for evaluating program fit. Methods: We identified 88 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited integrated plastic surgery programs for the academic year 2023 to 2024. Instagram posts from January 1, 2020, to October 26, 2024, were reviewed, focusing on "engagement posts" (e.g., meet-and-greets, question-and-answer [Q&A] sessions, open houses, workshops, conference meet-ups). Programs were stratified into cohorts based on Doximity rankings (Top 20, 21-40, 41-60, and 61-88), geographic region, and program size. Results: All programs maintained active Instagram profiles, collectively sharing 13,719 posts and averaging 32.4 posts per program annually. Among these, 369 (2.7%) were engagement posts, with meet-and-greets accounting for 71.3% of such content. Notably, Top 20 programs posted significantly more frequently (52.6 posts/year) than lower-ranked cohorts (21-40: 35.0, 41-60: 26.8, 61-88: 20.1; Conclusion: Higher-ranked and larger programs exhibit a more robust Instagram presence with greater emphasis on engagement opportunities, despite these posts comprising only a small fraction of overall content. These findings highlight the potential for optimized social media strategies to enhance digital outreach and improve residency recruitment in an evolving virtual landscape.
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Registered trials
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