#SurgEdVidz: Using Social Media to Create a Supplemental Video-Based Surgery Didactic Curriculum

Abstract

Background: A general surgery resident may have competing clinical responsibilities that limit the ability to participate in educational didactics. Social media is an alternative delivery method for educational content that can be viewed at a resident's convenience. We sought to assess the feasibility of using social media to provide educational content for surgical residents. Materials and methods: We created a novel, supplemental surgical curriculum consisting of two-minute videos based on the This Week in SCORE modules. Videos were posted to Twitter weekly, indexed with the #SurgEdVidz hashtag and uploaded to YouTube to create a catalog of videos. Twitter and YouTube analytics were used to calculate public viewership and impact. Results: A total of 43 videos were disseminated between January 30, 2019 and January 31, 2020. An average of 6.9 h (SD: 1.4; range: 5.0-10.0) was required to generate each video, including 1.5 h (SD: 0.6; range: 0-2.0) for content review and 5.4 h (SD: 1.1; range: 4.0-8.0) for video production. Between the two platforms, videos generated a total of 51,313 views with an average of 1193 views (SD: 715; range: 412-4096) per video. Account followers are geographically distributed across 28 states, 28 countries, and six continents. Conclusions: Social media can serve as an effective tool for the distribution of surgical educational content. Twitter, in conjunction with YouTube, allows for rapid dissemination of didactic content packaged into brief videos that is flexible in viewership with low time commitment. Social media offers visibility and engagement beyond the classroom without geographical or temporal borders.