Psychiatry Residents Integrating Social Media (PRISM): Using Twitter in Graduate Medical Education

Abstract

Social media can promote knowledge-acquisition, skill building, and—via exposure to role models—clinically excellent patient care [1]. Today’s medical learners describe online media as their preferred platform for delivery of educational material [2]. In response, many medical specialties are exploring ways to incorporate social media tools into the education of their learners [3–6]. The emergency medicine website Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM) uses a variety of social media—blogs, Twitter, podcasts, and videos—to deliver educational content in an interactive format—including book and journal clubs—to providers and trainees [7]. Other medical specialties are also innovating in this space, including nephrology and family medicine. The Twitter-based Nephrology Journal Club @NephJC led by Joel Topf, MD and the Family Medicine Vital Signs blog from the University of Utah Family Medicine Residency Training Program (RTP) are two prominent examples of how social media can be harnessed to enhance graduate training and foster life-long learning in medicine [8]. Medical educators have especially embraced Twitter, a social media platform that enables teachers to connect— across boundaries of time, space, and hierarchy—with a worldwide community of educators, learners, and other healthcare stakeholders. Twitter also provides an efficient mechanism for medical educators to 1) stay current with the latest peer-reviewed articles in their field, curated by their colleagues; 2) access evidence-based medicine practitioners and scholars; and 3) advocate on behalf of the public [9]. Not surprisingly, Twitter has also become a resource for RTPs across medical specialties. In a recent survey, 58% of emergency medicine RTPs reported having a Twitter account [10]. One internal medicine RTP that launched a Twitter account for their trainees demonstrated increased use of Twitter for medical education purposes over a 6-month period, with the residents reporting that Twitter was useful for these purposes [4]. Another internal medicine RTP created a chief resident-led Twitter account, which the residents perceived as informative and beneficial to their training [11]. In its use of social media in graduate medical education (GME), psychiatry is lagging behind emergency medicine, internal medicine, and other specialties [12]. The relatively late adoption of social media professionally by psychiatrists may be due to heightened concerns around doctor-patient boundaries in psychiatry [13], which can be addressed through education and training of psychiatrists and psychiatry trainees in the professional use of social media [14]. Psychiatrists are now using social media tools in a variety of settings. A review of psychiatrists’ use of Twitter describes its utility in patient care and advocacy, education, and scientific investigation [15]. A collaboration of two US and UK psychiatry graduate training programs’ book groups via blogs and Twitter is just one example of how social media is being used successfully in psychiatry GME [16]. Twitter may also be helpful in the dissemination and recognition of a psychiatrist’s scholarship, as evidenced by an analysis of Twitter mentions and citations of American Journal of Psychiatry articles that revealed an association between Twitter mentions and later citations [17]. Although published reports of social media use in psychiatry RTPs are lacking, social media remains a ubiquitous presence in the lives of our trainees. In an attempt to bridge this gap between teachers and learners, we launched the Psychiatry Residents Integrating Social Media (PRISM) study, a project designed to promote the use of social media within RTPs. As part of this project, we created a Twitter account for Johns Hopkins psychia t ry res idents (@PhippsPsych) to disseminate educational resources considered helpful in training. * Anne L. Walsh [email protected]