A Qualitative Exploration of the use Social Media for Learning by Emergency Medicine Doctors

BackgroundThe use of social media for learning amongst emergency medicine doctors has been increasing in recent years. However, the role of social media as a learning modality in emergency medicine is not fully understood. This study aims to understand why and how emergency medicine doctors use social media for learning. Through this understanding this study aims to promote thought into design of future resources of learning on social media. MethodsEmergency Medicine doctors of all grades were recruited, from a single tertiary University Hospital in the United Kingdom. These participants were interviewed by semi structured interview following the principles of a Critical Incident Technique. Recordings were professionally transcribed. Transcriptions were then thematically analysed and coded to understand participants perspectives. Ethics was granted by Cardiff University, Wales. Results20 emergency medicine doctors from Foundation Year 1 through to consultants were interviewed. Twitter (X) was the most popular platform; infographics were the most popular resource and 80% spent less than 3 hours per week on SM for learning. Key themes from the thematic analysis as to why emergency medicine doctors used social media for their learning included wanting to keep up to date ease of access, discussion around topics, bench marking current practice, community, and recommendations. Only 10% used social media as part of their continued professional development and 65% stated social media had influenced their clinical practice. ConclusionsThis unique qualitative explorative piece of work explores the use of social media for learning by emergency medicine doctors and how it is changing clinical practice. With the rapid growth and uptake in social media use for educational purposes. It is vital that all educators fully understand how it is being currently used as well as views of learners on this form of learning. This will allow us to further grow and develop this exciting area and maximise the educational impact on its users. What is already known about the subject?O_LIThe use of social media for learning is popular amongst emergency medicine doctors C_LIO_LIThe term FOAMed was first created following an Emergency Medicine Conference in 2012. C_LIO_LIThere are increasing amounts of FOAMed resources produced each year related to emergency medicine. C_LI What this study adds?- X (Twitter) is a popular social media platform used by doctors - Information learnt from social media is being applied to clinical practice - Social media is being used for many reasons including to keep up to date, discussion around topics and bench marking of current practice with others - Learning through social media is being increasingly recognised as a form of Continued Professional Development (CPD) yet commonly not reported by learners as such.