Residency Program Social Media Accounts and Recruitment - A Qualitative Quality Improvement Project

Fick, Laurel; Palmisano, Katherine; Solik, Michelle

doi:10.15694/mep.2020.000203.1

Cited by 9 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 0 publications

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“…The ability of social media to benefit a program by conveying relationships and conversations within the department to recruit applicants has been reported 20 . Our results are consistent with previous qualitative reports that social media is effective in helping a program exhibit its personality and seem more approachable 17 . This may suggest that social media offers insight into a program that is less available on a formal residency website.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…However, its impact on applicants remains poorly understood. Through studies in internal medicine, anesthesiology, and plastic surgery, it has been suggested that social media can have an impact on applicants and even assist them in deciding where to apply and rank prospective programs 11 , 17 , 18 . Our results demonstrate that social media is increasingly being used by orthopaedic surgery applicants to learn more about programs and that this has had a positive impact in most of the outcomes we studied.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Orthopaedic Residency Applicants' Perspective on Program-Based Social Media

et al. 2022

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Background: Social media and online resources have been used in graduate medical education for years. In addition to an official residency program website, many orthopaedic surgery programs have an established social media presence to interact, educate, and engage with prospective applicants. The role of social media in orthopaedic surgery has significantly expanded in recent years. Despite its increasing use, the specific impact of social media on orthopaedic surgery residency applicants remains unknown. Methods: Applicants to the home institution's orthopaedic surgery residency program were sent an optional online survey during the 2020 to 2021 application cycle. No incentive was provided in exchange for participation. Results: Of 812 orthopaedic surgery applicants, 650 (80%) completed the survey. Program-based social media is widely accessed by applicants. Instagram is used by most applicants (61.9%), and nearly a third (28.7%) rely on it as their main resource when researching prospective residency programs. The majority (66.9%) agreed that social media can be successfully used to inform and interact with applicants. Most of the applicants (60.6%) also reported that social media had a positive impact on their perception of the associated program. Only 5.7% of respondents indicated that social media had a negative influence. The most effective uses of social media seem to be in allowing a program to display its culture and transparency. Conclusion: Social media plays a substantial role in the orthopaedic surgery residency application process, and its use continues to grow. Programs can use it to effectively engage with and inform prospective applicants. The impact of social media is positive on most of the applicants. Instagram is the preferred social media platform used by applicants, and nearly one-third rely on it as their main resource when researching programs. Investing time and resources into a social media presence seems to be a worthwhile pursuit for orthopaedic surgery programs as an important piece to a wellrounded recruitment effort of modern orthopaedic surgery applicants.Disclosure: The Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest forms are provided with the online version of the article (http://links.lww.com/JBJSOA/A383).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orthopaedic Residency Applicants' Perspective on Program-Based Social Media

et al. 2022

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“…5,10,12 Findings from the present study corroborate previous observations that social media can help a program show its personality and appear more approachable. 10,13 In addition, this study included other common social media platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat. Interestingly, these platforms had relatively fewer applicants accessing these sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Website and Social Media Presence of Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency Programs on Prospective Applicants

Pflibsen¹,

Deckey

Brinkman

et al. 2021

Ann Plast Surg

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Purpose: Integrated plastic surgery residency programs have increased their social media presence to educate and recruit prospective residents. This study aims to understand the impact of integrated plastic surgery residency program social media on the 2020 to 2021 applicants' evaluation of prospective programs, particularly during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Materials and Methods: An optional 20-item online survey was sent to integrated plastic surgery residency applicants applying to the authors' program. Results: Surveys were sent to 300 integrated plastic surgery residency applicants with an average of 168 responses (56% response rate). Social media resources included official residency program website (87.1%), Instagram (70.2%), and Doximity (46.8%). The most frequently used resource by applicants was the official residency program website (43.9%); Instagram was the second most frequently used (40.2%) followed by Doximity (8.3%). Most respondents agreed that social media was an effective means to inform applicants (66.1%), and it positively impacted their perception of the program (64.8%). The cited benefits were helping the program exhibit its culture and comradery among residents, faculty, and staff (78.4%). Among applicants, 73.6% noted that it had a significant impact on their perceptions of programs. Most respondents truncated their planned plastic surgery subinternships, completing 1 instead of 3 planned subinternships because of coronavirus disease 2019 limitations. Conclusions: During the 2020 to 2021 plastic surgery application cycle, applicants used social media accounts of plastic surgery residency programs to inform and educate themselves about prospective programs. This study suggests that investing resources into a social media residency accounts is a meaningful pursuit for integrated plastic surgery programs and is an important aspect in today's recruitment.

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“…Prior to the switch to virtual interviews, applicants had already been turning to social media to obtain information about programs ( 7 , 8 ). In an article published in September of 2020, Fick et al demonstrated that 41.6% of applicants surveyed were influenced by social media when deciding which programs to apply to ( 8 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%