Methma Udawatta1, Edwin Ng2, H Westley Phillips2, Jia-Shu Chen2, Bayard Wilson2, Giyarpuram N Prashant2, Daniel T Nagasawa2, Isaac Yang3. 1. Departments of Neurosurgery, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States; Departments of David Geffen School of Medicine of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States. 2. Departments of Neurosurgery, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States. 3. Departments of Neurosurgery, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States; Departments of Radiation Oncology, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States; Departments of Head and Neck Surgery, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States; Departments of Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States; Departments of Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States; Departments of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States; Departments of David Geffen School of Medicine of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States. Electronic address: iyang@mednet.ucla.edu.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Social media is evolving and growing at an exponential rate today. From a healthcare perspective, these platforms can be used to enhance professional networking, education, organizational promotion, patient care, patient education, and public health programs without the limitations of geographic and time-related access barriers. Given the possible importance of social media in medicine, and the conflicting reports in literature about its use in healthcare, it is important to identify its utility within the neurosurgical community. We set out to measure the use of social media platforms among neurosurgery faculty, fellows, and residents. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An online survey using the SurveyMonkey platform was sent to the program directors of 102 accredited neurosurgery programs across the United States. Program directors then distributed these surveys to the residents, fellows, and attendings at their respective institutions once each month between October 2017 and December 2017. Neurosurgeons participated anonymously, voluntarily, and received no compensation for their participation. Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY). RESULTS: 137 attendings, 96 residents, and 8 fellows responded to the survey (81% male). Most (70%) stated that they used social media for professional purposes. Sixty percent of all respondents believed that social media can be beneficial in terms of professional development. Younger neurosurgeons in training were more likely to read journal articles found via social media and were more likely to believe social media could be beneficial than older neurosurgeons at later stages in their career. CONCLUSIONS: Results point toward differences in social media use based on age or level of training. Further studies should include a larger sample cohort over a longer time period to determine whether these trends will change over time.
OBJECTIVES: Social media is evolving and growing at an exponential rate today. From a healthcare perspective, these platforms can be used to enhance professional networking, education, organizational promotion, patient care, patient education, and public health programs without the limitations of geographic and time-related access barriers. Given the possible importance of social media in medicine, and the conflicting reports in literature about its use in healthcare, it is important to identify its utility within the neurosurgical community. We set out to measure the use of social media platforms among neurosurgery faculty, fellows, and residents. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An online survey using the SurveyMonkey platform was sent to the program directors of 102 accredited neurosurgery programs across the United States. Program directors then distributed these surveys to the residents, fellows, and attendings at their respective institutions once each month between October 2017 and December 2017. Neurosurgeons participated anonymously, voluntarily, and received no compensation for their participation. Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY). RESULTS: 137 attendings, 96 residents, and 8 fellows responded to the survey (81% male). Most (70%) stated that they used social media for professional purposes. Sixty percent of all respondents believed that social media can be beneficial in terms of professional development. Younger neurosurgeons in training were more likely to read journal articles found via social media and were more likely to believe social media could be beneficial than older neurosurgeons at later stages in their career. CONCLUSIONS: Results point toward differences in social media use based on age or level of training. Further studies should include a larger sample cohort over a longer time period to determine whether these trends will change over time.
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