How Social Media Is Changing the Practice of Regional Anesthesiology

Purpose of reviewThis review summarizes the current applications of social media in regional anesthesiology, describes ways that specific platforms may promote growth, and briefly discusses limitations and future directions.Recent findingsAlthough Facebook users outnumber Twitter users, the latter has been better studied in regional anesthesiology and may have the advantages of speed and expansion of reach. Highly tweeted publications are more likely to be cited in the medical literature, and twitter-enhanced journal clubs facilitate communication regarding important articles with international colleagues. In both the USA and internationally, Twitter has been shown to enhance the anesthesiology conference experience, changing communication amongst attendees and non-attendees. YouTube and podcasts are quickly finding a niche in regional anesthesiology for just-in-time training and continuing professional development.SummarySocial media use is rapidly growing in regional anesthesiology, and benefits include global interaction and knowledge translation within the specialty and with the general public.

[1]  Sean Ekins,et al.  Ten Simple Rules of Live Tweeting at Scientific Conferences , 2014, PLoS Comput. Biol..

[2]  S. D. De Groote,et al.  Measuring use patterns of online journals and databases. , 2003, Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA.

[3]  Anand K. Gramopadhye,et al.  Healthcare information on YouTube: A systematic review , 2015, Health Informatics J..

[4]  Bridget Leising Brown.  The Four Tech Tools You Should Be Using in Your Classroom But Aren't , 2012, ELERN.

[5]  Paul M. Parizel,et al.  Radiologists’ Usage of Social Media: Results of the RANSOM Survey , 2016, Journal of Digital Imaging.

[6]  D. Farley,et al.  Influence of Social Media on the Dissemination of a Traditional Surgical Research Article. , 2017, Journal of surgical education.

[7]  R. Urman,et al.  Ultrasound and its evolution in perioperative regional anesthesia and analgesia. , 2014, Best practice & research. Clinical anaesthesiology.

[8]  A. Lynch,et al.  Twitter Predicts Citation Rates of Ecological Research , 2016, PloS one.

[9]  R. Blancoa,et al.  Ultrasound description of Pecs II ( modified Pecs I ) : A novel approach to breast surgery , 2012 .

[10]  Gunther Eysenbach,et al.  Can Tweets Predict Citations? Metrics of Social Impact Based on Twitter and Correlation with Traditional Metrics of Scientific Impact , 2011, Journal of medical Internet research.

[11]  Clyde Matava,et al.  A Critical Analysis of Anesthesiology Podcasts: Identifying Determinants of Success , 2016, JMIR medical education.

[12]  C. McCartney,et al.  Upgrading a Social Media Strategy to Increase Twitter Engagement During the Spring Annual Meeting of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine , 2017, Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

[13]  S. Wexner,et al.  Social media in colorectal surgery , 2017, Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland.

[14]  M. Karmakar,et al.  Ultrasound-Guided Costoclavicular Brachial Plexus Block: Sonoanatomy, Technique, and Block Dynamics , 2016, Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

[15]  Amanda J Lee,et al.  Increased Use of Twitter at a Medical Conference: A Report and a Review of the Educational Opportunities , 2012, Journal of medical Internet research.

[16]  J. Taekman,et al.  Twitter-Augmented Journal Club: Educational Engagement and Experience So Far. , 2016, A & A case reports.

[17]  R. Gupta,et al.  Mobile Technology in the Perioperative Arena: Rapid Evolution and Future Disruption , 2017, Anesthesia and analgesia.

[18]  Cassidy R. Sugimoto,et al.  Do Altmetrics Work? Twitter and Ten Other Social Web Services , 2013, PloS one.

[19]  R. Pierce,et al.  Vodcasts and Active-Learning Exercises in a “Flipped Classroom” Model of a Renal Pharmacotherapy Module , 2012, American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.

[20]  C. Duffy,et al.  Social media and anaesthesia journals. , 2015, British journal of anaesthesia.

[21]  D. Lahner,et al.  Medical information on the Internet: Quality assessment of lumbar puncture and neuroaxial block techniques on YouTube , 2012, Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery.