Disrupting Fellow Education Through Group Texting

The role of WhatsApp® in medical education; a scoping review and instructional design model

“…The most common study setting for the WhatsApp® group usage was locally in either a university setting [20, 23, 25, 31, 34–38] or a hospital department [17, 18, 21, 24, 30, 32, 33]. Six studies had a national setting [19, 22, 26–29].…”

“…Twelve articles reported data on the technical/logistical aspects of WhatsApp®, mostly drawn from user surveys [10, 17, 22, 23, 25, 26, 31, 33–36, 38]. The most cited benefit of WhatsApp® was its ability to create new learning opportunities, when geographical or time constraints meant that “meeting face-to-face is not possible” (p569) [25], described as “anytime, anywhere learning” [34, 38].…”

“…The most cited benefit of WhatsApp® was its ability to create new learning opportunities, when geographical or time constraints meant that “meeting face-to-face is not possible” (p569) [25], described as “anytime, anywhere learning” [34, 38]. Access to learning material outside working hours was an advantage [17, 38] but also a factor contributing to WhatsApp®‘s intrusiveness [24, 31, 33, 35] with “message flooding” [23] and “WhatsApp® overload” [25].…”

“…Unknown duration of discussionsWA discussion analysisFeedback about WA pros and cons reportedApplicability to “countries with limited resources”Kirkpatrick level 1 outcomesTHEORY ARTICULATED: Peer-to-peer learningMazzuoccolo et al [29] ArgentinaWhatsApp: a real-time tool to reduce the knowledge gap and share the best clinical practices in psoriasisTelemedicine Journal and e-Health2019DermatologyPostgraduateProspective observational studySingle arm studyQuantitative N = 80WA discussion group for 1 year to link dermatologistsSurvey and WA discussion analysis197 dermatology questions posted, all answered in discussionImpact of WA discussions on participants’ clinical practice and learning reportedKirkpatrick level 1 outcomesTHEORY ARTICULATED: NoneBukhari et al [30] CanadaEnhancing internal medicine trainees’ nephrology competency: Queen’s Nephrology e-learning using WhatsApp studyInternal Medicine2017NephrologyPostgraduateProspective observational study.Pre−/post-intervention single armQuantitative N = 27WA discussion on nephrology topics for 16 weeksSurvey of self-reported confidence in medical knowledgeSelf-reported increase in confidence in diagnosing and managing nephrology conditionsEarly termination due to trainee non-participationKirkpatrick level 1 outcomes.THEORY ARTICULATED: NoneRaiman et al [31] United KingdomWhatsApp messenger as a tool to supplement medical education for medical students on clinical attachmentBMC Medical Education2017Internal MedicineUndergraduateProspective descriptive studySingle armQualitative and quantitative N = 19Blended learning using WA discussions with face-to-face problem-based learningWA discussion analysis, Structured interviewsWA content analysis:a) organizationalb) educationalc) socialEmergent themes on WA usage:a) ease of useb) fosters understandingc) sharing resources electronicallyd) accessing recorded discussionse) generating other learning opportunitiesf) intrusivenessg) lack of face-to-face interactionKirkpatrick level 1 outcomesTHEORY ARTICULATED: mLearningKhanna et al [32] Uncertain“WhatsApp”ening in orthopaedic care: a concise report from a 300-bedded tertiary care teaching centreEuropean Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology2015OrthopaedicsPostgraduateProspective observational studyPre−/post-intervention single armQuantitative N = 8WA group to share information about new orthopaedic patient admissions. Unknown duration of discussionsPre−/post-intervention knowledge assessmentKnowledge about orthopaedic diagnoses significantly improvedNo improvement in knowledge about orthopaedic managementFeedback about WA pros and cons reportedKirkpatrick level 2 outcomesTHEORY ARTICULATED: NONEKochar et al [33] USADisrupting fellow education through group texting. WhatsApp in fellow education?Journal of the American College of Cardiology2018CardiologyPostgraduateProspective observational studySingle armQuantitative N = 56Cardiology WA discussion group for 5 monthsSurvey, WA discussion analysis“> 500 images and ...…”

Virtual Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many novel tools have been used in the education of trainees. For example, the group chat application, WhatsApp (Facebook, Menlo Park, California), was and continues to be used by many trainees for both sharing of medical knowledge and collaboration (7). Social media, such as Twitter, continues to be an important outlet for many physicians to both learn and disseminate information on a global scale (8).…”