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Social media offers feasible platform for CME
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Offering CME credit through a closed Facebook group resulted in significant engagement among members, suggesting that social media represents an effective platform for educating medical and surgical professionals, according to new research presented at the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons 2018 Annual Meeting and World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery.
Omar Ghanem, MD, of the department of surgery at Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph, Mo., and colleagues tested the feasibility of offering surgical CME credit through the International Hernia Collaboration (IHC), a closed Facebook group that gained more than 4,300 members at the time of the study since its inception in 2012. The researchers set up a pilot series of live lectures from four guest speakers over 4 months, which were followed by live Q&A sessions. The second and third lecture series were also followed by an online quiz for CME credit.
The live Q&A sessions each received an average of 1,146 views. In comparison, unrelated posts received under 500 views on average. Notably, engagement was significantly higher for the live Q&A sessions vs. unrelated posts in the group (P < .001), and an average of 20 users claimed CME credit for each educational series.
Ghanem recently told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease about the significance of these findings, how the idea for earning CME through social media came about, and how the use of this platform for medical and surgical education might be expanded.
Healio:
How did you get the idea to use Facebook for CME?
Ghanem: The movement of medical professionals embracing closed Facebook groups was popularized after December 2012 when the International Hernia Collaboration (IHC) Facebook group was first launched by Brian Jacob, MD, of the department of surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. After 5 years, it is now a community of over 5,700 vetted members from over 100 countries, surpassing the size of many traditional surgical societies.
The highly advanced Groups platform permits a professional-grade exchange of ideas using a combination of texting, photos, videos, and live broadcast feeds. Searchable, the compilation of years of user generated content becomes a vast, valuable database permitting ongoing learning every time a thread is reengaged. With this movement, and with most members spending hours on this group daily, IHC sought to “reward” those surgeons for the educational time spent on this platform. This led to the development of the IHC lecture series (a video lecture followed by a Facebook Live session) where major hernia topics are discussed. Members attending these lectures can claim AMA PRA Category 1 CME credits through Cine-med.
Healio: What other specialties are using Facebook in this way?
Ghanem: We believe the IHC has inspired many new closed Facebook groups to form but none are using CME yet. One example is that we helped form the eight new surgeon-only SAGES groups that will be used by the society for ongoing continuous learning for its members.
Healio: What are the main take-aways from your study, and what are their significance for medical professionals?
Ghanem: Our study aimed to prove that CME through closed Facebook groups is feasible; consider it a proof-of-concept study. Facebook groups permit the ability to achieve, or even surpass traditional surgical education efforts at a fraction of the cost and time, more transparently, and all from our mobile smartphones. Lectures no longer reach an audience of just 50, they reach thousands and are interactive. Today, the integration of technology and social media in surgical education is pivotal if not mandatory. Learning communities can grow and become more engaging through social media. There is a real opportunity in employing social media as a formal education platform.
Healio: How do you recommend expanding the use of Facebook groups for this purpose?
Ghanem: With the current surge of social media, there exists an abundance of resources and opportunities. The new one-on-one mentorship tool on the Facebook platform will help further revolutionize online education and skills enhancement. The IHC recently embraced this new tool, and already set up 41 pairs of surgeons who are now engaged in ongoing education. The value and impact of this program on surgical education will be appreciated in the very near future. One day, we will offer CME, or something similar, for this effort too. – by Adam Leitenberger
Reference:
Ghanem O, et al. Abstract S080. Presented at: Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons 2018 Annual Meeting and World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery; April 11-14; Seattle, WA.
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.