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Social Media and the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Application Process
Andrew Butler1, Chandler Berke1, Usman Zareef1
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, USA.
Cureus
|May 10, 2022
Summary
Orthopaedic residency applicants and program directors (PDs) increasingly use social media for recruitment. Applicants use platforms like Instagram, influencing their rank lists, while PDs leverage social media for program promotion, especially post-COVID-19.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Orthopaedic Surgery
- Digital Health
Background:
- Social media use in medical residency applications is growing.
- Applicant and program director (PD) views on social media in orthopaedic residency are underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate orthopaedic residency applicant and PD perspectives on social media usage.
- To assess the impact of social media on the orthopaedic residency application process.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional anonymous survey study in 2021.
- Surveys distributed to orthopaedic residency applicants and PDs.
- 113 applicants and 29 PDs included in the analysis.
Main Results:
- Applicants utilize Instagram (69.2%), program websites (58.9%), and Doximity (29.9%) to learn about programs.
- Social media influenced the rank lists of 34% of applicants, with non-training content being most impactful.
- Most PDs maintain program websites (97%) and active Instagram (41%) or Twitter (27%) accounts, with increased content generation during COVID-19.
Conclusions:
- Social media offers a cost-effective, wide-reaching platform for PDs to recruit residents and showcase programs.
- PDs should focus social media content on program culture and lifestyle, ensuring consistency and accuracy on external sites.
