Background
A visual abstract is a graphic summary of a research article’s question, methods, and major findings. Although they have a number of uses, visual abstracts are chiefly used to promote research articles on social media.
Objective
This study aimed to determine if the use of visual abstracts increases the visibility of nephrology research shared on Twitter.
Methods
A prospective case-control crossover study was conducted using 40 research articles published in the American Journal of Nephrology (AJN). Each article was shared by the AJN Twitter account in 3 formats: (1) the article citation, (2) the citation with a key figure from the article, and (3) the citation with a visual abstract. Tweets were spaced 2 weeks apart to allow washout of the previous tweet, and the order of the tweets was randomized. Dissemination was measured via retweets, views, number of link clicks, and Altmetric scores.
Results
Tweets that contained a visual abstract had more than twice as many views as citation-only tweets (1351, SD 1053 vs 639, SD 343) and nearly twice as many views as key figure tweets (1351, SD 1053 vs 732, SD 464). Visual abstract tweets had 5 times the engagements of citation-only tweets and more than 3.5 times the engagements of key figure tweets. Visual abstract tweets were also associated with greater increases in Altmetric scores as compared to citation-only tweets (2.20 vs 1.05).
Conclusions
The use of visual abstracts increased visibility of research articles on Twitter, resulting in a greater number of views, engagements, and retweets. Visual abstracts were also associated with increased Altmetric scores as compared to citation-only tweets. These findings support the broader use of visual abstracts in the scientific community. Journals should consider visual abstracts as valuable tools for research dissemination.
Objectives:We aimed to assess the feasibility of a text messaging intervention by determining the proportion of emergency department (ED) patients who responded to prompted home blood pressure (BP) self-monitoring and had persistent hypertension. We also explored the effect of the intervention on systolic blood pressure (sBP) over time.Methods: We conducted a randomized, controlled trial of ED patients with expected discharge to home with elevated BP. Participants were identified by automated alerts from the electronic health record. Those who consented received a BP cuff to take home and enrolled in the 3-week screening phase. Text responders with persistent hypertension were randomized to control or weekly prompted BP self-monitoring and healthy behavior text messages.Results: Among the 104 patients enrolled in the ED, 73 reported at least one home BP over the 3-week run-in (screening) period. A total of 55 of 73 reported a home BP of ≥140/90 and were randomized to SMS intervention (n = 28) or control (n = 27). The intervention group had significant sBP reduction over time with a mean drop of 9.1 mm Hg (95% confidence interval = 1.1 to 17.6).
Conclusions:The identification of ED patients with persistent hypertension using home BP self-monitoring and text messaging was feasible. The intervention was associated with a decrease in sBP likely to be clinically meaningful. Future studies are needed to further refine this approach and determine its efficacy.
BackgroundAlthough women make up a substantial portion of the workforce in emergency medicine, they remain under-represented in academia.MethodsThis study investigates trends in the representation of female speakers at the American College of Emergency Physicians scientific assembly—the largest academic emergency medicine conference in the world. Publication profiles, speaking duration and gender composition of speakers were collected and compared over a 3-year period.ResultsThe authors described increased representation of female speakers at the conference from 2016 to 2018, as well as an upward trend in women’s actual speaking time.ConclusionThis upward trend in women’s representation may translate to more opportunities for female engagement in academic emergency medicine. Despite the increasing representation of women, male speakers outnumbered female speakers all 3 years, demonstrating that a speaker gender gap persists in academic emergency medicine.
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