Social Media Use Among Neurosurgery Trainees: A Survey of North American Training Programs

Social media have revolutionized access to educational content. Given the extensive presence of social media, these platforms have the potential to influence neurosurgical training and education of residents and fellows. We explored the attitudes of neurosurgical trainees (postgraduate years 1-9) toward social media and their perceived influence on training and education.

This study was a survey of trainees at North American neurosurgery residency programs. A 22-item survey, including 2 free-text questions, was distributed through the Congress of Neurological Surgeons listserv. The survey consisted of questions regarding demographics, social media platform use, and trainee views on social media; their perceived impact on education and job performance was gauged using a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive analysis was performed.

The survey was disseminated to 1160 neurosurgery trainees, with a response rate of 15.3%. Of 178 respondents, 132 (74.2%) were men; 142 (79.8%) were 25-34 years old. All respondents used social media. The most commonly used platforms were Facebook (87.1%), followed by YouTube (84.3%), Instagram (81.5%), and Twitter (74.7%). The most common reasons for social media use were personal social (89.8%), networking (65.5%), and academic resources (65.0%); 113 respondents (63.5%) reported spending <25% of their time on social media for academics. The Neurosurgical Atlas (63.3%), Congress of Neurological Surgeons (11.2%), and American Association of Neurological Surgeons (10.1%) social media accounts were the most commonly used academic platforms.

Social media use was ubiquitous among trainees. Although most used social media for personal social communication, most also used it for academic purposes.