Cumulative Micro-Mentorship: How Social Media Is Facilitating the Advancement of Female Physicians

Screened out: Ethically managing sunscreen misinformation by social media influencers

Rampant social media use allows individuals and organizations to broadcast their views to scoping audiences with minimal requirements for vetting or validating shared information. We discuss the impact of disinformation transmitted via social media and use the recent example of false information broadcast concerning sunscreens recently reported in the Wall Street Journal. We also highlight the ethical consequences of social media influencers who disseminate unchecked information and the need for health care professionals to be involved to enhance accountability, goodwill, and truthfulness.

Innovative Social Media Summit: Providing a Path for Physicians on Social Media

PROBLEM

Physicians' voices are valued in society and should be present in mainstream social media where they can provide valuable public health messaging and patient education as well as increase opportunities for medical education, mentoring, and collaboration. However, lack of formal education on effective use of social media prevents many physicians from using it.

APPROACH

The authors developed a physician-led social media training program to address the need for formal instruction on social media use. The program was presented to medical students, trainees, and faculty at an academic medical institution in August and September 2020. The virtual format included 5 hour-long sessions with presentations by peer experts in social media. Peer physicians with experience using social media presented on a range of topics, including introductions to platforms, how to reach and grow audiences, and use of social media to advance patient education, medical education, and advocacy.

OUTCOMES

There were 425 cumulative registrations for the 5 sessions of the Social Media Summit. The number of registrants increased for each session, suggesting that interest increased over time. Qualitative and quantitative participant feedback was collected via a brief, voluntary survey. All of the participants who completed the survey (n = 24) reported they were "very satisfied" (58.3%) or "somewhat satisfied" (41.7%) with the Summit.

NEXT STEPS

Physician involvement in social media presents opportunities for public health knowledge, medical education, scientific collaboration, and career advancement. Physicians who have been successful in using social media for these purposes are excellent peer educators and can fill the medical education void in social media training. Future plans include building sustainability of the program, collecting additional quantitative and qualitative feedback to guide improvement, and encouraging reproducibility.

Social Media: Flattening Hierarchies for Women and Black, Indigenous, People Of Color (BIPOC) to Enter the Room Where It Happens

Social media platforms are widely used to connect people across multiple settings, including country of origin, profession, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, seniority, and training. Groups that have been marginalized or historically excluded from decision-making encounters may lack formal mentors/sponsors because of a lack of representation of women and Black, Indigenous, People Of Color (BIPOC) in senior leadership positions. This can serve as a barrier to professional advancement at all stages of career development. Identifying and connecting with these potential mentors/sponsors outside of one's institutional space can be challenging. For this reason, leveraging social media to develop these professional relationships through flattened hierarchies can allow for professional networking beyond traditional mechanisms. Here we aim to describe how individuals can connect through social media to advance their careers and scientific and clinical expertise, advocate for communities, and provide high-quality communication to the public.

Mentoring in palliative medicine in the time of covid-19: a systematic scoping review : Mentoring programs during COVID-19

INTRODUCTION

The redeployment of mentors and restrictions on in-person face-to-face mentoring meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic has compromised mentoring efforts in Palliative Medicine (PM). Seeking to address these gaps, we evaluate the notion of a combined novice, peer-, near-peer and e-mentoring (CNEP) and interprofessional team-based mentoring (IPT) program.

METHODS

A Systematic Evidence Based Approach (SEBA) guided systematic scoping review was carried out to study accounts of CNEP and IPT from articles published between 1st January 2000 and 28th February 2021. To enhance trustworthiness, concurrent thematic and content analysis of articles identified from structured database search using terms relating to interprofessional, virtual and peer or near-peer mentoring in medical education were employed to bring together the key elements within included articles.

RESULTS

Fifteen thousand one hundred twenty one abstracts were reviewed, 557 full text articles were evaluated, and 92 articles were included. Four themes and categories were identified and combined using the SEBA's Jigsaw and Funnelling Process to reveal 4 domains - characteristics, mentoring stages, assessment methods, and host organizations. These domains suggest that CNEP's structured virtual and near-peer mentoring process complement IPT's accessible and non-hierarchical approach under the oversight of the host organizations to create a robust mentoring program.

CONCLUSION

This systematic scoping review forwards an evidence-based framework to guide a CNEP-IPT program. At the same time, more research into the training and assessment methods of mentors, near peers and mentees, the dynamics of mentoring interactions and the longitudinal support of the mentoring relationships and programs should be carried out.

Gender Equity in Radiation Oncology: Culture Change is a Marathon, not a Sprint

The specialty of radiation oncology's gender diversity is lagging other medical specialties. The lack of gender diversity in radiation oncology has been demonstrated at all stages of career, from medical schools to department chairs. Multiple articles have demonstrated literature-based benefits of inclusion of a diverse group of female colleagues. This editorial is intended to note areas of progress and highlight resources available to support gender equity in the field of radiation oncology.

Leading by Design: Lessons for the Future From 25 Years of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women

The Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women is designed to promote the careers of senior female leaders in academic health care in a way that ultimately seeks to transform culture and promote gender equity far beyond the careers of its participants. In an era of increased awareness of gender inequity within academic medicine, the longevity of the ELAM program raises several important questions. First, why is such a program still needed? Second, what exactly does it do, and what has been its influence on its participants and beyond? And third, what lessons can ELAM's example provide to help guide the medical profession as it strives to promote gender equity in the field? In this Invited Commentary, the authors seek to answer these questions from the perspective of a recent program participant and the current program director. The authors review the evidence that identifies how women, even today, face accumulating disadvantage over the course of their academic careers, stemming from repeated encounters with powerful unconscious biases and stereotypes, societal expectations for a gendered division of domestic labor, and still-present overt discrimination and sexual harassment. They describe ELAM's approach, which builds the knowledge and skills of the women who participate in the program, while also intentionally raising their visibility within their home institutions so that they have opportunities to share with institutional leaders what they have learned in ways that not only promote their own careers but also support gender equity in the broader environment. The authors conclude by offering thoughts on how ELAM's model may be leveraged in the future, ideally in partnership with the numerous professional societies, funding agencies, and other organizations that are committed to accelerating the rate of progress toward gender equity at all levels of academic medicine.