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Teaching Everyone Everywhere All at Once: Leveraging Social Media to Implement a Multisite Fungal Diagnostics

Saman Nematollahi1, Sean Tackett2,3, Suzanne Grieb3,4

  • 1Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Open Forum Infectious Diseases
|December 13, 2023
PubMed
Abstract

Insights

A Twitter-based curriculum improved clinician knowledge of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) and diagnostics. This social media approach effectively shared educational content, despite some implementation barriers.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Education
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Medical Diagnostics

Background:

  • Environmental fungi pose significant health risks.
  • Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) require accurate diagnosis through in vitro diagnostics.
  • Clinicians often lack sufficient knowledge regarding IFI diagnostics and interpretation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To design and implement a social media-based educational curriculum on IFIs and diagnostics.
  • To assess the effectiveness of a Twitter-based curriculum in improving clinician knowledge.
  • To identify perceived benefits and barriers of using social media for medical education.

Main Methods:

  • A multisite Twitter-based curriculum was delivered over 8 weeks.
  • Clinicians were surveyed pre- and post-curriculum, with a subset interviewed.
  • Quantitative data included knowledge assessments and Twitter analytics; qualitative data from interviews.

Main Results:

  • A significant increase in correct answers was observed in post-curriculum knowledge assessments (72% vs 80%, P = .005).
  • Perceived benefits included engaging content and a dedicated Twitter account; barriers included awareness and competing priorities.
  • The Twitter account gained 1400 followers from 65 countries, with high engagement rates on educational posts.

Conclusions:

  • Social media platforms like Twitter can be effective tools for disseminating medical knowledge to a broad audience.
  • Implementing social media curricula requires addressing potential barriers such as awareness and timing.
  • This approach offers a scalable method for enhancing clinician education on critical health topics like IFIs.
Keywords:
fungal diagnosticsinfectious diseasesmedical educationsocial mediavirtual learning

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