This is how social networks have revolutionized medical education

Santo Domingo, RD/Europe Press. — A new study conducted by Dr. John W. Ayers of the Qualcomm Institute at the University of California, San Diego, in the United States, revealed that some doctors are taking advantage of the reach of social networks to share and discuss medical developments, which have revolutionized education about medicine, as published in the journal “JAMA”.

The research team obtained all posts containing #MedEd created on X (formerly Twitter), from January 2012 to December 2022. There were 4,397,691 original posts with the hashtag #MedEd on X during this time. The number of publications is increasing every year, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, last increasing from 692,095 in 2021 to 1,178,647 in 2022.

“To put our findings in context, social media is the largest disseminator of medical knowledge,” said Ayers, vice president of innovation in the division of infectious diseases and global public health at UC San Diego School of Medicine and a member of the institute. Qualcomm – Unlike traditional knowledge resources, found in medical schools or paid for, social media leverages the collective wisdom and insights of millions of physicians in a transparent way.

“However, for health professionals like me, social media is incredibly valuable for staying current with the latest medical developments,” says Aaron Goodman, MD, associate professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and co-author. of Study, who calls himself Papa Heme on X, shares content about oncology and hematology with his more than 127,000 followers, most of whom are physicians.

“New medical knowledge is often accurate, and informed people can have valid and different opinions about the same data,” added Davey Smith, MD, study co-author and chief of infectious diseases and global public health in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. UC San Diego School of Medicine and co-director of the university’s Altman Institute for Clinical and Translational Research – social media is a way to spread that information quickly and provides a platform to vigorously discuss the validity of this new knowledge.

“The potential for #MedEd to improve medical education is great, but the risks of underestimating #MedEd are likely even greater,” said Smith. “Our study suggests it’s time to invest more resources in #MedEd uniting tens of millions. of health professionals worldwide in continuing learning and education.”