Social media represents a significant source of health information for the public, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic where gatherings are limited. It is important for pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians to understand how their patients use these platforms in order to educate the public and provide sound medical advice on social media. Given the lack of current guidelines on medical education through social media, the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of various online social media platforms and describe how they can be utilized to enhance pediatric patient education. It is necessary to understand the different educational functions and limitations of the various social media platforms. This text provides a comprehensive overview of different social media platforms, their educational uses, limitations, and sample accounts. Relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic, social media can improve the efficiency of educational delivery and clinic workflow. Although social media is not meant to replace physician-patient relationships, it can be used as a surrogate for health information and improve— even start— physician-patient relationships. Despite the benefits of social media, pediatric physiatrists may be hesitant to utilize these platforms for several reasons. This text provides an overview of common barriers to social media usage by physicians and recommendations to overcome them. Given that the pandemic has led to increased social media usage, physicians should be aware of its implications on patient care and how they can be used to enhance the practice of pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation. As social media usage by both patients and physicians grows, more research is needed to create recommendations on how pediatric physiatrists can best utilize social media to educate the public in an enjoyable manner while maintaining a professional image.

BACKGROUND:   Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is more prevalent and often presents as more severe in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) compared with those without DM. Although some patients may be asymptomatic, symptoms ranging from exertional leg heaviness and fatigue to acute limb loss are possible. PAD has significant physical and psychiatric health consequences, thus management with medical therapy and lifestyle changes are indicated. However, peripheral vascular intervention (PVI) is an increasingly popular method used in patients failing conservative management. The association of PVI with health status in diabetic patients has yet to be determined.   METHODS: We analyzed the clinical response to PVI in DM (n=203, 52%) compared with non-DM patients (n=183, 48%), using the Peripheral Arterial Questionnaire (PAQ) for patients during baseline and a maximum 6 months after PVI. 502 patients participated with an exclusion of 116 patients from our analysis due to progression of acute limb ischemia and incomplete data collection. Our finalized study population comprised 386 consecutive patients with symptomatic PAD who had also received PVI treatment during the aforementioned time frame. Our patient population received PVI treatment in the year 2012 at the St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, MI. We used the PAQ summary score, which summarizes the patients’ level of physical and social function, patient symptoms, and overall quality of life before and after the procedure. This represented the PAD-related Quality of Health (QOH). Our score range is between 0 (lowest health quality) and 100 (highest health quality).     RESULTS: Compared with non-DM patients, those with DM were more likely to have a history of prior PVI, an increased prevalence of PAD risk factors, and significantly lower QOH scores at baseline (32.7 +/- 20 vs 37.5 +/- 20.6, p=0.02). After adjustment for baseline confounding, neither the baseline, the change, nor the final summary scores were significantly different between groups. This suggests similar symptomatic and functional improvement in non-DM and DM patients post-PVI.    CONCLUSIONS: Following PVI, PAD-specific health status showed a similar improvement in patients with and without DM, illustrating that use of this strategy among patients with multiple comorbidities or diffuse PAD as useful.    Key Words: peripheral arterial disease, peripheral vascular intervention, diabetes mellitus, quality of life    Figure or Table:  Table 5. Comparison of the Summary Score of 6 PAQ Domains Using Median Scores from Mann Whitney U Test of DM and Non-DM Patients in Detroit, MI, USA   PAQ domain DM Non-DM P-Value Physical limitation 16.6 (75.4) 25.0 (79.8) 0.06 Symptoms 23.6 (75.4) 27.7 (79.8) 0.24 Symptom stability 25.0 (75.4) 25.0 (79.8) 0.28 Social limitation 16.6 (75.4) 25.0 (79.8) 0.07 Treatment satisfaction 0.0 (75.4) 0.0 (79.8) 0.42 Quality of life 16.6 (75.4) 25.0 (79.8) 0.06 Summary score 18.7 (75.4) 26.0 (79.8) 0.049

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This manuscript evaluates the utility of Musculoskeletal Oncology (MSK Oncology) fellowship program websites and identifies areas for improvement. This study identified 20 MSK Oncology programs using two public databases, allocated 45 criteria domains into 6 categories, and evaluated each program independently. MSK Oncology programs had limited information (34%) on their websites, particularly under the “People” category. It is recommended that programs include more information about current fellows and their training background, faculty publications, and alumni descriptions. MSK Oncology program websites should contain necessary information for prospective applicants, particularly considering the increased virtual world during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Websites should be more comprehensive for applicants in their process of choosing their preferred programs and submitting their rank order lists.