WeChat Groups Research Articles

WeChat: a new clinical teaching tool for problem-based learning.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional student-centered approach which utilizes carefully constructed real-world, ill-defined problems as a context for students to extend their prior experiences and knowledge through discussion and self-directed and collaborative learning that fosters the development of problem-solving and reasoning skills.1 Compared with traditional lecture-dominant teaching and learning approaches, PBL prompts students to actively engage not only in knowledge construction and develop competencies across multiple contexts,2,3 but also in self-directed learning and general work-related skills.4 PBL has a large contribution to medical education, but it has limitations. It is considered less effective than traditional learning methods because it is time-consuming.5 Other obstacles to the popularity of PBL include a predominating uncertainty about the breadth and depth of learning without a syllabus, concerns about overlooking things, and the high self-motivation required.6 So implementations of PBL is highly desirable. It is well known that Facebook and Twitter are introduced into medical education in colleges and universities in the western countries,7 achieving great success. Recently, Chinese medical educators are actively exploring new teaching methods to adapt to the social development. New media, WeChat,8 have been widely utilized in medical schools and exert a positive influence. WeChat is the most popular platform visited daily by university students in China. It is currently recognized as the best social networking site used by people of all ages and professions in China. WeChat is connecting more than a half billion Chinese people now. Apart from free chat, WeChat’s large-scale network platform hosts a vast amount of user-generated data, including text, voice call, video, and images. Group chat is perfect for professional online discussion. Its characteristics of convenience, promptness, and good cross-platform support enrich and simplify the communication model to offer WeChat application users communication that is more prompt.9 WeChat, owing to its immediate communication and source sharing, break the spatial and temporal limitations and change the teaching mode of the traditional classroom, making communication more convenient. The teaching mode of WeChat combined with PBL Ethics Review is used for a ongoing prospective study comparing WeChat-PBL and PBL. It is not necessary to the present descriptive study. The teacher divides all students into several WeChat groups with 3-4 students per group. After obtaining written agreement from patients, the teacher collects their clinical data, including basic information, chief complaint, symptoms, signs, and laboratory examinations. These data are presented in words. Imaging data and surgery materials are presented in images and video, respectively. The teacher delivers the materials and questions to the WeChat groups before class. The students research this material individually and then discuss the questions with each other in their small WeChat group. They can communicate and exchange ideas with their WeChat group colleagues to solve the problems. One representative of each group shows their discussion and conclusions in a slide show to the classroom. The teacher makes comments about their work. Students can further discuss their experiences after class to enhance the teaching effects.

Enterprise WeChat Groups: Their Effect on Work-Life Conflict and Life-Work Enhancement

Social media technologies have made it increasingly feasible for employees to be connected to work. WeChat, a newly emerging social media platform, is widely used in daily life, yet there is still little understanding of the consequences of the use of WeChat groups in enterprise. Based on boundary theory, we suggested that the use of WeChat groups in enterprise have both pros and cons for employees. We gathered data from an online survey of 202 employees. Results show that posting work-related content in enterprise WeChat groups had a beneficial impact on work for employees but also caused work-life conflict (WLC). However, posting life-related content in enterprise WeChat groups contributes to employees' life-work enhancement (LWE). Contributions and future study directions of these findings are discussed.

Ketamine - A Multifaceted Drug

There is a petition for tight control of ketamine from the Chinese government to classify ketamine as a Schedule I drug, which is defined as a drug with no currently accepted medical use but a high potential for abuse. However, ketamine has unique properties that can benefit different patient populations. Scholars from the Translational Perioperative and Pain Medicine and the International Chinese Academy of Anesthesiology WeChat groups had an interactive discussion on ketamine, including its current medical applications, future research priorities, and benefits versus risks. The discussion is summarized in this manuscript with some minor edits.