Social media use during residency training

Abstract

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Social media plays a major role in the revolution of medical learning. Many training centers have incorporated it into their teaching curriculum. The aim of this research is to evaluate the current utilization of social media by residents and its effect on their learn- ing process during their residency training.We performed a quantitative cross-sectional survey based study. A 20-questions survey was constructed and distributed to residents from all specialties and training levels registered under the national specialty board in training period 2014/2015. 132 (69%) of the resident use social media as a platform for asking medical questions and half of them use it to consult experts in the field and to discuss cases. The most popular media for learning was YouTube 104 (55%) and free chat 49%. (71%) did not receive any course or guidance on how to use social media for educational purposes and 83.2% believe that a course or a formal lecture is needed.In line of these results medical educators should pay attention to these sites and incorporate appropriate strategies to guide residents on effective use of social media.