Educational Impact of #IDJClub, a Twitter-Based Infectious Diseases Journal Club. (15th May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schwartz, Ilan S; McCarty, Todd; Woc-Colburn, Laila E; Titanji, Boghuma K; Cutrell, James B; Cortes-Penfield, Nicolas W
• Is Part Of: Clinical infectious diseases. Volume 74(2022)Supplement 3
• Page Start: S244
• Page End: S250
• Publication Date: 2022-05-15
• Subjects: social media -- medical education -- continuing medical education -- literature appraisal; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; 616.905
• DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac108
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1058-4838

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Journal clubs have been an enduring mainstay of medical education, and hosting these on social media platforms can expand accessibility and engagement. We describe the creation and impact of #IDJClub, an infectious diseases (ID) Twitter journal club. Methods: We launched #IDJClub in October 2019. Using the account @IDJClub, an ID physician leads a 1-hour open-access Twitter discussion of a recent publication. All participants use the hashtag #IDJClub. Sessions started monthly, but increased due to demand during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We used Symplur 's Healthcare Hashtag project to track engagement of #IDJClub per 60-minute discussion plus the following 30 minutes to capture ongoing conversations. We also conducted an online anonymous survey using Likert scales and open-ended questions to assess educational impact. Results: In its first 20 months, 31 journal clubs were held, with medians of 42 (interquartile range [IQR], 28.5–60) participants and 312 (IQR, 205–427.5) tweets per session. 134 participants completed the survey, of whom 39% were ID physicians, 19% pharmacists, 13% ID fellows, and 10% medical residents. Most agreed or strongly agreed that #IDJClub provided clinically useful knowledge (95%), increased personal confidence in independent literature appraisal (72%), and was more educational than traditional journal clubs (72%). The format addressed several barriers to traditional journal club participation such as lack of access, subject experts, and time. Conclusions: #IDJClub is an effective virtual journal club, providing an engaging, open-access tool for critical literature appraisal that overcomes several barriers to traditional journal club participations while fostering connectedness within the global ID community.