Age-related differences in social media use in the neurosurgical community: A multi-institutional study

Abstract

Objectives: Social media is evolving and growing at an exponential rate today. From a healthcare perspective, these platforms can be used to enhance professional networking, education, organizational promotion, patient care, patient education, and public health programs without the limitations of geographic and time-related access barriers. Given the possible importance of social media in medicine, and the conflicting reports in literature about its use in healthcare, it is important to identify its utility within the neurosurgical community. We set out to measure the use of social media platforms among neurosurgery faculty, fellows, and residents. Patients and Methods: An online survey using the SurveyMonkey platform was sent to the program directors of 102 accredited neurosurgery programs across the United States. Program directors then distributed these surveys to the residents, fellows, and attendings at their respective institutions once each month between October 2017 and December 2017. Neurosurgeons participated anonymously, voluntarily, and received no compensation for their participation. Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY). Results: 137 attendings, 96 residents, and 8 fellows responded to the survey (81% male). Most (70%) stated that they used social media for professional purposes. Sixty percent of all respondents believed that social media can be beneficial in terms of professional development. Younger neurosurgeons in training were more likely to read journal articles found via social media and were more likely to believe social media could be beneficial than older neurosurgeons at later stages in their career. Conclusions: Results point toward differences in social media use based on age or level of training. Further studies should include a larger sample cohort over a longer time period to determine whether these trends will change over time.

Perception of social media behaviour among medical students, residents and medical specialists

“…Social media use was found to be highest among students, potentially explained by differences in social media use based on age, as previously suggested [ 29 ]. The most popular social media differed between students and residents (Facebook), on the one hand, and medical specialists (LinkedIn) on the other.…”

A Quantitative Analysis of Social Media to Determine Trends in Brain Tumor Care and Treatment

“…Social media is an increasingly common way to learn, discuss, and share information [1,[3][4]8]. Previous studies have analyzed social media utilization in brain aneurysms, vagal nerve stimulators placement, and pediatric hydrocephalus, but, to our knowledge, there has not been an evaluation of social media utilization for brain tumors, particularly glioblastoma [1,[9][10][11][12][13][14]. Our data demonstrate that there is a robust community of individuals using the internet as a communication tool.…”

Bibliometric and Altmetric Analysis of Retracted Articles on COVID-19

“…As the generation changes, social media begins to attract those of many age groups especially young adults. 31 Studies show that social media can be a reliable source for professional development with students making the majority of this support. 32 As the younger generation is influenced by social media, this reliance carries on to future professions thus building a larger impact especially in the healthcare field.…”