Electrocardiogram training for residents: A curriculum based on Facebook and Twitter

We studied whether social media applications can serve as effective educational tools for teaching electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation to medical residents.

39 emergency, family, and internal medicine residents participated in the 33-week "ECG of the Week" curriculum via Facebook and Twitter. ECG skill was assessed before and after the study with a 10-ECG quiz. Outcomes of interest included predictors of participant response rates and post-study quiz performance.

ECG quiz scores were 66% and 76% on the pre- and post-study assessments respectively. High-performing participants on the pre-study quiz were more likely to have above-average response rates to ECG challenges (36% vs. 0%, p=0.015). There was no significant difference between pre- and post-study quiz scores.

Our social media-based ECG curriculum elicited the most participation in residents who were already above-average in ECG reading ability. Future designs will need to better reach residents with below-average baseline ECG reading ability.