Trends and Predictors of Retweets in Free Open Access Medical Education (#FOAMed) on Twitter (2013-2017)

Twitter as a Knowledge Translation Tool to Increase Awareness of the OpenHEARTSMAP Psychosocial Assessment and Management Tool in the Field of Pediatric Emergency Mental Health

Rationale

The increasing prevalence of pediatric mental health presentations in pediatric emergency departments (PED) requires improved integration of evidence-based management strategies. Social media, specifically Twitter, has shown potential to aid in closing the knowledge translation (KT) gap between these evidence-based management strategies and pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) providers.

Aims and objectives

The primary outcome of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Twitter as a KT dissemination tool in PEM. The exploratory outcomes were to assess how to effectively implement Twitter in KT, explore ways in which Twitter can maximize the global reach of OpenHEARTSMAP and whether Twitter can lead to increased adoption of OpenHEARTSMAP.

Methods

A one-week prospective promotion on Twitter was conducted to disseminate the OpenHEARTSMAP tool using 15 topic-related hashtags (arm 1, 15 Tweets) versus one post wherein 15 different Twitter users were mentioned in 15 different comments (arm 2, 1 Tweet). A one-week control period immediately prior to posting was employed for comparisons.

Results

During the Twitter week, visits per day to OpenHEARTSMAP increased by 175%; mean time spent on the website increased by 212%; and mean page actions per visit increased by 130%. The greatest increase in visits occurred on the first day of Tweeting. Arm 2 received the greatest engagements. Within arm 1, the category of pediatrics received the most engagements (hashtag #Peds was most popular). Arm 1 received 455 impressions compared to 2071 in arm 2. No new users registered an account on the OpenHEARTSMAP website, which is required to physically use the tool.

Conclusion

Twitter can be an effective KT tool to increase awareness of research, the first step of KT, in the domain of PEM mental health care. Strategies for success include building a robust Twitter following; posting during peak healthcare-related Twitter traffic times; employing hashtags coinciding with current events; and targeting posts by tagging users who need not necessarily be generally well-known opinion leaders.

Emergency room as primary point of access in the German healthcare system : Objective evaluation and interview of motivation for ER entrance of 235 ER patients in a German hospital

BACKGROUND

The importance of emergency rooms (ERs) as everyday healthcare suppliers is growing. Due to increasing patient flows, hospitals are forced to raise physicians' and caregivers' headcount continuously to meet the new demand of patients seeing the ER as primary point of contact in non-emergency situations. Patients from various cultural and educational backgrounds approach the ER for different reasons. Detailed understanding of these reasons and their roots is key to be able to offer guidance for patients as well as planning and staffing of hospitals in the future.

AIM

This study examines motivation for the entrance to the medical system via the ER in Germany via an anonymized patient survey. Evaluation in regard to socioeconomic and medical reasons is taken into account.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Over the course of 210 h in the ER, a total of 235 patients were interviewed in the surgical emergency room of Klinikum rechts der Isar in the year 2016. Focus was set on standard cases to allow for facilitated comparability. Heavily injured patients were excluded from the study.

RESULTS

The main reasons for patients entering the ER were immediate help (45.9%) and treatment by a specialist (35.4%). Furthermore, the location/good accessibility (47.9%) and prior positive experience with the emergency room (20.7%) were decisive reasons for choosing the hospital over the outpatient sector. Analysis of demands of patients in relation to their migration background and their religious confession showed no significant difference between groups.

CONCLUSION

Younger patients tend to more often access the ER instead of an outpatient clinic or doctor in private practice. As a survey suits the less urgent patients, our research describes this population in detail. The need for better information of patients regarding treatment options becomes apparent. The study's outcomes aim to teach physicians as well as operators how to influence resource management in the healthcare system by meaningful information of patients. Further research may evaluate long-term results of information measures.