Twelve Tips for Tweeting as a Residency Program

Abstract

Physicians have dramatically increased social media use in recent years. Twitter has been heralded as a means to connect a broader learning community, engage with colleagues, initiate mentorship and sponsorship, and to amplify trainees. A residency program-linked Twitter account affords unique opportunities to champion residents while promoting the program and its affiliated faculty and institutions. However, while the scholarship of Twitter usage is expanding, the current literature specific to residency programs is limited. We draw from our experience tweeting as an internal medicine program to share more broadly applicable advice. With these practical tips, creating, maintaining, and sustaining a residency program twitter account can be feasible, fulfilling, and successful.

The pharmacy residency program guide to Twitter

“…Medical residency programs have utilized Twitter to great effect and have described methods of implementing successful Twitter accounts in medical residency recruitment 19,20 . A variety of specialties, including internal medicine, psychiatry, emergency medicine, and anesthesia have found success in recruiting and educating their residents and have recommended that all medical residency programs establish a presence on social media 21 .…”

Maximizing Career Advancement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recommendations for Postgraduate Training Programs

“…29,30 Programs can harness social media to communicate information and opportunities to learners. 31 For residents with established mentors, programs can prompt the mentors to continue regular mentorship meetings and modify the scope of projects canceled or delayed by pandemic-related restrictions on research operations. To overcome time constraints on residents and mentors alike, group/panel mentorship can be offered to individual residents or groups of residents whose planned research projects were terminated due to COVID-19 and for those pursuing subspecialty fellowships.…”

“…29,30 Programs can harness social media to communicate information and opportunities to learners. 31…”

If You Build It, Will They Come? The Social Media Footprint of Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowships

“…For a fellowship program director new to social media, what steps could one take to more effectively use social media as a recruitment tool? Programs could certainly extrapolate from advice given to residency programs for improving social media engagement on Twitter ( 5 ) or using social media accounts deliberately for virtual recruitment ( 6 ). However, little guidance exists for fellowship programs about how to deliberately cultivate their social media digital footprints.…”