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Social media has become a staple of everyday life among over one billion people worldwide. A social networking presence has become a hallmark of vibrant and transparent communications. It has quickly become the preferred method of communication and information sharing. It offers the ability for various entities, especially residency programs, to create an attractive internet presence and “brand” the program. Social media, while having significant potential for communication and knowledge transfer, carries with it legal, ethical, personal, and professional risks. Implementation of a social networking presence must be deliberate, transparent, and optimize potential benefits while minimizing risks. This is especially true with residency programs. The power of social media as a communication, education, and recruiting tool is undeniable. Yet the pitfalls of misuse can be disastrous, including violations in patient confidentiality, violations of privacy, and recruiting misconduct. These guidelines were developed to provide emergency medicine residency programs leadership with guidance and best practices in the appropriate use and regulation of social media, but are applicable to all residency programs that wish to establish a social media presence.

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Purpose: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) restricted the duty hours for residents training in 2004. With less time to learn medicine, residents may not develop the clinical reasoning skills needed. Simulation can provide a remedy for this lack of time by allowing residents to practice skills and develop clinical reasoning in a simulated environment. Simulation Wars (SimWars), a clinical reasoning simulation has been shown to improve clinical reasoning skills. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of Simulation Wars on In-Training Examination (ITE) Scores and Global Rating Scale (GRS) Scores in Emergency Medicine (EM) residents. Methods: The Quasi-Experimental design was used in this retrospective study. The main comparison was between historical controls, the residents who did not participate in the Simulation Wars, and the intervention group comprised of residents who participated in the SimWars. Results: A total of 127 residents were participants in this study including 70 from the intervention and 57 from the historical control group. There were no significant differences found in GRS scores between both groups except for Communication and Professionalism (p<0.001). No overall improvement in ITE scores for the control group and for the intervention group was found. Furthermore, within the intervention group, while comparing those residents who participated in certain subcategories of SimWars and those who did not, there was a significant improvement in ITE scores in the subcategories of Thoracic Disorders, Abdominal/Gastrointestinal, Trauma Disorders and OBGyn. Conclusion: SimWars in the subcategories of Abdominal/Gastrointestinal, Thoracic, OBGyn and Trauma were found to be associated with improved ITE scores in those subcategories. Since Emergency Medicine utilizes extensive clinical reasoning skills, SimWars may provide better educational opportunities for EM residents.