Using a Facebook Virtual Examination Room to Enhance ROP Training in Armenia
Abu Sikder1, Preeya Mehta2, Tamara Galoyan3
1Innovation Studio, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Insights
A Facebook Virtual Examination Room (VER) effectively supplemented retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) training for ophthalmologists, enhancing engagement across cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional domains. This social media approach offers a cost-effective solution for global medical education.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Medical Education
- Public Health
Background:
- Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a major cause of childhood blindness, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).
- Limited specialized healthcare professionals and training opportunities for ROP management exist in LMICs.
- Social media platforms offer potential for overcoming geographic and logistical barriers in medical education.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of a Facebook Virtual Examination Room (VER) as an adjunct to an ROP training program.
- To assess engagement in cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional domains through VER participation.
- To explore the utility of social media for ROP case discussions among ophthalmologists.
Main Methods:
- A concurrent mixed methods approach was used to analyze data from the Facebook VER.
- Quantitative analysis included descriptive statistics on group utilization, participant activity, and clinical metrics.
- Qualitative analysis involved thematic analysis of comments and discussions within the VER.
Main Results:
- Ten participants (7 trainees, 3 preceptors) engaged with 153 cases, generating 218 threads and 414 comments.
- Treatment discussions were most frequent (87 cases), with high agreement (67%-97%) on clinical management aspects.
- Key qualitative themes included clinical management, dilemma resolution, knowledge growth, and gratitude.
Conclusions:
- A closed Facebook group can serve as a valuable adjunct for ROP training, fostering engagement across multiple domains.
- VER facilitates international training partnerships with significant financial and logistical advantages.
- The VER's focus should complement, not replace, the primary ROP training curriculum.
Purpose:
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of worldwide childhood blindness with increasing incidence in low and middle income countries (LMICs) due to advances in neonatal care. There are insufficient numbers of healthcare professionals specialized in ROP management and few local training opportunities in LMICs. Social media platforms provide a promising solution to enable interactive medical education across geographic and logistic barriers. As an adjunct to an ROP training program for ophthalmologists in Armenia, we implemented a Facebook Virtual Examination Room (VER) for case discussion with a global community of collaborators and preceptors. To evaluate training through VER, we operationalized engagement as a multilayer meta-construct that includes cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional domains.
Methods:
A concurrent mixed methods approach was taken to collect and analyze data from comments and activities within VER. Quantitative data was analyzed for descriptive statistics on group utilization, participant activity, and clinical metrics. Qualitative data was analyzed by conducting thematic analysis involving initial and pattern coding.
Results:
Ten participants (7 trainees and 3 preceptors) interacted in the Facebook group across 153 unique cases, with 218 threads, 414 comments, and 216 likes. Of the 120 unique cases eligible for consensus evaluation, treatment was mentioned most frequently (87), followed by location (68), staging (65), and plus disease (31), with agreement ranging from 67% to 97%. Based on the qualitative analysis, the most common themes of discussion were clinical management, dilemma resolution, knowledge growth, and gratitude.
Conclusion:
A closed Facebook group for case-based discussions can be a useful adjunct to an existing ROP training program by engaging learners across social-emotional, behavioral, and cognitive domains. For international training partnerships, the financial and logistical advantages can be significant, though focus should remain on the primary curriculum and training modality.
