A Digital Ethnography of Medical Students who Use Twitter for Professional Development

Abstract

BACKGROUND: While researchers have studied negative professional consequences of medical trainee social media use, little is known about how medical students informally use social media for education and career development. This knowledge may help future and current physicians succeed in the digital age. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore how and why medical students use Twitter for professional development. DESIGN: This was a digital ethnography. PARTICIPANTS: Medical student Bsuperusers^of Twitter participated in the study APPROACH: The postings (Btweets^) of 31 medical student superusers were observed for 8 months (May-December 2013), and structured field notes recorded. Through purposive sampling, individual key informant interviews were conducted to explore Twitter use and values until thematic saturation was reached (ten students). Three faculty key informant interviews were also conducted. Ego network and subnetwork analysis of student key informants was performed. Qualitative analysis included inductive coding of field notes and interviews, triangulation of data, and analytic memos in an iterative process. KEY RESULTS: Twitter served as a professional tool that supplemented the traditional medical school experience. Superusers approached their use of Twitter with purpose and were mindful of online professionalism as well as of being good Twitter citizens. Their tweets reflected a mix of personal and professional content. Student key informants had a high number of followers. The subnetwork of key informants was well-connected, showing evidence of a social network versus information network. Twitter provided value in two major domains: access and voice. Students gained access to information, to experts, to a variety of perspectives including patient and public perspectives, and to communities of support. They also gained a platform for advocacy, control of their digital footprint, and a sense of equalization within the medical hierarchy. CONCLUSIONS: Twitter can serve as a professional tool that supplements traditional education. Students' practices and guiding principles can serve as best practices for other students as well as faculty.

Social Media use within medical education: A systematic review to develop a pilot questionnaire on how social media can be best used at BSMS

“…On top of this, due to the ever-changing nature of social media, any relevant guidelines fast become outdated. Chretien et al (2015) conclude that the participants used Twitter with thoughtfulness and purpose. Their behavior was exemplary and any concerns about unprofessional behaviour were unfounded in this cohort.…”

“…Ideally, staff could produce their own videos or at least evaluate and share the most pertinent online material (Madanick, 2015 andRabee, 2015). Chretien et al (2015) suggest that students should be taught how to critically evaluate the information that they are accessing via social media. If not, they risk leading themselves and others astray (Rodríguez-González et al, 2015).…”

“…These virtual communities serve as sources of inspiration. Chretien et al (2015) recorded one student's wish to pursue a primary care specialty following the information and experiences she'd gained from one online community.…”

Responding to Unsolicited Medical Requests from Health Care Professionals on Pharmaceutical Industry-Owned Social Media Sites: Three Pilot Studies (Preprint)

“…Social media has also been explored in the field of medical education [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Social media can offer several benefits for "non-traditional" medical education including a means for delivering educational content [27][28][29], increasing engagement with participants [30][31][32], allowing access to supplemental information [33], and providing an interactive channel for conducting online global journal clubs with experts in the field [34].…”

Social media and professionalism

“…[5][6][7] Others consider social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, as a tool for professional development, as a means of accessing information, marketing practices and services, job opportunities, as well as sharing or adding your opinion on issues of interest to you and to other like-minded individuals online. 8,9 However, other social media research has been conducted that has implications for the profession and the patient-practitioner relationship. Much of this research has highlighted instances where healthcare professionals' social media activities and their content may be damaging the social contract that exists between society and health professionals, [10][11][12][13][14][15] such as having an online relationship with patients, 16 breaching regarding this rapidly changing dimension to contemporary professional practice?…”