Social Media Use among Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Residency Programs in the United States.

Abstract

Social media have grown exponentially in the United States over the past 15 years. Despite its widespread use in plastic surgery, the role of social media within plastic surgery training programs has yet to be well defined.1,2 Therefore, the purpose of our study was to determine the prevalence, purpose, and ethical principles guiding social media use in plastic surgery training programs within the United States. A survey questionnaire was designed using Research Electronic Data Capture software (REDCap; developer, Vanderbilt University). The survey included questions about participant and program demographics and detailed questions regarding social media use. The survey was emailed to 135 program directors and division chiefs, as well as 88 program coordinators. The program coordinators were asked to distribute the survey to residents at their respective programs. Completed responses were recorded and analyzed. Forty-five faculty responded, resulting in a 33 percent response rate for the faculty group. An additional 30 responses were received from the trainee group. Sixty-seven percent of the faculty responses were from program directors and 33 percent were from division chiefs. Eighty percent of the trainee responses were from integrated residents and the remaining 20 percent were from independent residents. Seventy-six percent of programs reported having an official social media account, similar to results obtained by Azoury et al.3 Instagram appeared to be the most popular platform in our study, with 85 percent of programs using it (Fig. 1). The most common reasons for social media use were branding (77 percent), education (74 percent), and residency recruitment (66 percent). Our study found that the majority of social media accounts were managed by residents (65 percent) (Fig. 2).Fig. 1.: Social media platforms used by plastic surgery training programs compared to those used by plastic surgery trainees for personal use.Fig. 2.: The composition of personnel directly managing professional plastic surgery program social media accounts.Sixty-nine percent of faculty reported social media increased the reach of the program to potential applicants. This is likely due to increasing number of applicants using online resources to find information about training programs before submitting applications.4,5 Only 22 percent of programs reported using social media as a screening tool during the residency interview process. Of those programs that did, 70 percent reported it affected whether an applicant received an interview. Almost all plastic surgery trainees had at least one personal social media account (97 percent). Preferred platforms are shown in Figure 1. Only 19 percent of trainees currently had a separate professional account. However, 52 percent of trainees planned to have a professional social media account after completing training. Sixty-nine percent of faculty reported having guidelines for social media use at their university. Fifty-one percent reported not having formal training for residents and faculty. Breach of patient privacy was reported by 11 percent of programs and 31 percent had professionalism concerns. Only 58 percent of programs had reprimands in place for inappropriate use. Overall, our data suggest that social media use is common among plastic surgery training programs. The most popular social media platform appears to be Instagram. While many universities have guidelines to govern institutional social media use, the majority do not provide residents with formal training in this arena. Further studies should focus on the development of proper training modules for social media use by residency training programs and possibly governing societies. DISCLOSURE None of the authors has a financial interest in any of the products or devices mentioned in this article. Abhishek Jain, B.A.College of Medicine Daniel Crane, M.D.Sami Tarabishy, M.D.Division of Plastic Surgery Isis Scomacao, M.D.Fernando A. Herrera, M.D.College of Medicine and Division of Plastic SurgeryMedical University of South CarolinaCharleston, S.C.