Factors Associated With Engagement When Using Social Media to Teach Physicians Point-of-Care Ultrasound During Off-Hours: Observational Study.

backgroundAlthough social media is often viewed by residents and could be used to reinforce teaching points, there is little data on methods that improve engagement in learning medical topics while socially perusing this medium.

objectiveWe observed how the timing of posted questions, correctly answering questions, and providing supportive comments affected resident engagement with point-of-care ultrasound clips viewed electively on a private social media account.

methodsOf 60 medical residents, 35 followed an Instagram account that posted ultrasound video clips with questions during the academic year. Engagement was defined as the percentage of questions answered among the total number of clips viewed, calculated for each posted story (story engagement, E(s)) and each resident (resident engagement, E(r)). E(s) was tested for an association with (1) weekend vs weekday posts, (2) answering questions correctly vs incorrectly, and (3) supportive responses from faculty vs no feedback.

resultsOf 16 posts, 120 questions were answered from 428 clips viewed by 35 residents, resulting in an E(s) of 28% (range 15%-59%) across posts and a median E(r) of 19% (IQR 0%-39%) across residents; 71% (n=25) of residents engaged with at least 1 post. E(s) was higher during weekdays vs weekends (30% vs 21%; P=.007) and correlated to answering correctly vs incorrectly (r=0.6; P<.001). A supportive comment resulted in a lower percentage of answering the next post, compared to no feedback (30% vs 71%; P=.02).

conclusionsSocial media engagement was higher when questions were answered correctly but, surprisingly, lower when posts were made on weekends and immediately after receiving a supportive comment.