930: IMPROVING MULTIDISCIPLINARY INVOLVEMENT AT THE CRITICAL CARE CONGRESS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

Learning Objectives: The Society of Critical Care Medicine promotes a collaborative multidisciplinary practice, with a team consisting of professionals in different fields. Participation in social media activities, such as live-tweeting a meeting provides a unique opportunity for members of all professions to participate, and may allow for inclusion of a more diverse group in discussions. We assessed participation using social media metrics by physicians and non-physicians in conversations at the annual Critical Care Congress (CCC). Methods: Symplur Analytics were used to compare the characteristics of those who tweeted using the 2015 and 2016 CCC hashtag (#CCC44 and #CCC45, respectively). Characteristics of the top 50 participants during the conference were compared. Allied health professionals (AHP) were defined as non-physician healthcare providers. Results: There was an increase in tweets and participants from 2015 (4,374 tweets, 625 participants) to 2016 (14,358 tweets, 1,693 participants). In 2015, 27 of the top 50 tweeters were physicians, 7 were AHP (2 nurses, 2 advanced practitioners, and 1 pharmacist), 10 were organizations, and 6 were other non-healthcare individuals. In 2016, 22 of the top 50 tweeters were physicians, 17 were AHP (2 nurses, 5 advanced practitioners, 5 pharmacists, 2 dietitians, and 3 other providers), 8 were organizations, and 3 were other non-healthcare individuals. There were significantly more AHP participating in social media during 2016 CCC compared to 2015 (34% vs 14% of the top 50 accounts; p=0.047). The number of followers of AHP accounts were significantly fewer than the number of followers of the physician accounts (800 ± 626 followers vs 1,608 ± 2,282 followers; p=0.02), but there was no significant difference in number of tweets (7,403 ± 8,993 vs 16,764 ± 36,230 tweets; p=0.1) or duration of time on Twitter (4.8 ± 2.3 vs 5.1 ± 2.1 yrs; p=0.6). Conclusions: Social media is another way to engage all heath care professionals in academic conversations that occur during CCC. More effort should be made to increase inclusion in this important venue for multidisciplinary conversation.