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Nematollahi S, Tackett S, Grieb S, Laracy JC, Belcher A, Marr KA, Shoham S, Avery RK, Melia MT. Teaching Everyone Everywhere All at Once: Leveraging Social Media to Implement a Multisite Fungal Diagnostics Curriculum. Open Forum Infect Dis 2023; 10:ofad594. [PMID: 38088978 PMCID: PMC10715681 DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofad594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Environmental fungi are threats to personal and public health. Fungal in vitro diagnostics help diagnose invasive fungal infections (IFIs), but clinicians remain underinformed about their use and interpretation. Given the increasing use of social media to share infectious diseases-related content, we designed and implemented a multisite Twitter-based curriculum focused on IFIs and related diagnostics. Methods Questions were posted through a dedicated Twitter account twice weekly over 8 weeks. We surveyed clinicians at 3 US academic centers before and after completion of the curriculum and interviewed a subset of participants. We undertook quantitative and qualitative evaluations and reviewed Twitter analytics. Results We surveyed 450 participants. One hundred twenty-one participants (27%) completed the knowledge assessment precurriculum, 68 (15%) postcurriculum, and 53 (12%) pre- and postcurriculum. We found a significant increase (72% vs 80%, P = .005) in the percentage of correct answers in the pre- versus postcurriculum knowledge assessments. Perceived benefits included a well-executed curriculum that facilitated engagement with appropriately detailed tweetorials from a dedicated Twitter account. Perceived barriers included lack of awareness of tweetorial posts and timing, competing priorities, and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The Twitter account accrued 1400 followers from 65 countries during the 8-week period. Tweets with multiple-choice questions had a median of 14 904 impressions (interquartile range [IQR], 12 818-16 963), 798 engagements (IQR, 626-1041), and an engagement rate of 6.1% (IQR, 4.2%-6.6%). Conclusions Educators can leverage social media to share content with a large audience and improve knowledge while being mindful of the barriers associated with implementing a curriculum on social media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saman Nematollahi
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Sean Tackett
- Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Data Management Core, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Suzanne Grieb
- Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Data Management Core, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Child and Community Health Research, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Justin C Laracy
- Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
| | - Anne Belcher
- Johns Hopkins University School of Education, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Kieren A Marr
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Pearl Diagnostics, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Shmuel Shoham
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Robin K Avery
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Michael T Melia
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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