An evaluation of social media utilization by general surgery programs in the COVID-19 era

Hua A Fang; Hunter Boudreau BS; Saad Khan; Nikhi P Singh; Soroush Rais-Bahrami; Timothy W King; Britney Corey; Herbert Chen

doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.04.014

An evaluation of social media utilization by general surgery programs in the COVID-19 era

Am J Surg. 2021 Nov;222(5):937-943. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.04.014. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Authors

Hua A Fang¹, Hunter Boudreau BS², Saad Khan², Nikhi P Singh², Soroush Rais-Bahrami³, Timothy W King⁴, Britney Corey⁵, Herbert Chen⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA. Electronic address: ahfang@uab.edu.
² School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
³ School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; Department of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁴ School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁵ School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁶ School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; Department of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.

Abstract

Background: Our study investigates how general surgery residency programs utilized social media to adapt to the challenges of COVID-19.

Methods: 319 participating general surgery residency programs provided by the Electronic Residency Application Service were analyzed in this study. Associated Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts were assessed to find virtual open houses and externships.

Results: Of the 319 program, 188 (59%) were found to have a social media presence. A total of 348 social media accounts were found, as some of the programs had separate residency and department accounts. Of all the social media accounts, 112 (32%) of the accounts were created after March 1, 2020. Virtual open houses opportunities were found to be advertised across all platforms.

Conclusion: Many general surgery programs responded to the physical limitations of COVID-19 pandemic by increasingly utilizing social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual opportunities should be considered as a novel approach for future outreach and recruitment.

Keywords: COVID-19; General surgery match; Residency training; Social media; Virtual education.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
General Surgery / education*
Humans
Internship and Residency / methods*
Internship and Residency / statistics & numerical data
School Admission Criteria*
Social Media / statistics & numerical data*