Developing a curriculum to promote professionalism for medical students using social media: pilot of a workshop and blog-based intervention
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: As the use of social media (SM) tools becomes increasingly widespread, medical trainees need guidance on applying principles of professionalism to their online behavior. OBJECTIVE: To develop a curriculum to improve knowledge and skills regarding professionalism of SM use by medical students. METHODS: This project was conducted in 3 phases: (1) a needs assessment was performed via a survey of medical students regarding SM use, rationale for and frequency of use, and concerns; (2) a workshop-format curriculum was designed and piloted for preclinical students to gain foundational knowledge of online professionalism; and (3) a complementary longitudinal SM-based curriculum was designed and piloted for clinical students to promote both medical humanism and professionalism. RESULTS: A total of 72 medical students completed the survey (response rate 30%). Among the survey respondents, 71/72 (99%) reported visiting social networking sites, with 55/72 (76%) reporting daily visits. Privacy of personal information (62/72, 86%) and mixing of personal/professional identities (49/72, 68%) were the students' most commonly endorsed concerns regarding SM use. The workshop-format curriculum was evaluated qualitatively via participant feedback. Of the 120 students who participated in the workshop, 91 completed the post workshop evaluation (response rate 76%), with 56 positive comments and 54 suggestions for improvement. The workshop was experienced by students as enjoyable, thought provoking, informative, and relevant. Suggestions for improvement included adjustments to timing, format, and content of the workshop. The SM-based curriculum was evaluated by a small-scale pilot of 11 students, randomized to the intervention group (participation in faculty-moderated blog) or the control group. Outcomes were assessed quantitatively and qualitatively via personal growth scales, participant feedback, and analysis of blog themes. There was a trend toward improvement in total personal growth scores among those students in the blog group from 3.65 (0.47) to 4.11 (0.31) (mean [SD]) with no change observed for the students in the control group (3.89 [0.11] before and after evaluation). Themes relevant to humanism and professionalism were observed in the blog discussion. CONCLUSIONS: Most medical students surveyed reported using SM and identified privacy and personal-professional boundaries as areas of concern. The workshop format and SM-based curricula were well-received by students whose formative feedback will inform the refinement and further development of efforts to promote professionalism among medical students.
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In 4 studies including medical students, educational interventions were positively accepted by students and showed a positive impact on the way they view themselves and their use of social media.
“In 4 studies that included medical students as participants [46,48,60,63], educational interventions were positively accepted by students and showed a positive impact on the way they view themselves and their use of SM.”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
The Results report that medical students received the workshop positively, and the Abstract Results report a trend toward improved personal-growth scores in the small blog-intervention group. But the Discussion (Limitations) says social-media use outside the workshop was not observed, so the paper cannot establish that the intervention changed students’ use of social media. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBenefits of social media on e-professionalism of health care professionals can be seen as improvements of established networks or possibilities for collaboration through social media sites.
“Benefits of SM on e-professionalism of HCPs can be seen as improvements of established networks or possibilities for collaboration through SM sites [33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 44-46, 53, 69, 72, 76, 78, 79, 92, 97, 106-108, 117].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
The Introduction (page unavailable) describes social media as facilitating collaboration and networking, and says medical students use it to form supportive peer networks. It does not establish that social media improves existing networks or show this benefit across health care professionals generally. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOne medical school has developed workshop and blog-based interventions to promote professionalism among medical students using social media.
“One medical school, for example, has developed workshop and blog-based interventions to promote professionalism among medical students using SM (33).”
From Identifying social media professionalism competencies in Vietnamese medical students: a modified Delphi method (2026) · cites this paper as [33]
Social media have enabled the creation of communities for support.
“Besides providing the opportunity for connecting with others and sharing experiences [38,39,46,53,69,72,78,106-108], SM have enabled the creation of communities for support.”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
Effectiveness of educational interventions about e-professionalism or impact of existing social media policies has been recognized in this review, since numerous studies explored educational interventions for promoting e-professionalism.
“Effectiveness of educational interventions about e-professionalism or impact of existing SM policies has been recognized in this review, since numerous studies explored educational interventions for promoting e-professionalism [46,48,52,54,55,60,63,81,89,103].”
From Dangers and Benefits of Social Media on E-Professionalism of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
Numerous studies emphasized the importance of structured education and the implementation of guidelines on the professional usage of social media among healthcare students and professionals.
“This finding is also supported by numerous studies [5, 8, 10, 21, 22, 33–38] which emphasized the importance of structured education and the implementation of guidelines on the professional usage of social media among healthcare students and professionals.”
From Future healthcare providers and professionalism on social media: a cross-sectional study (2022) · cites this paper as [34]
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- Authors
- Flickinger, T. E., O'Hagan, T., & Chisolm, M. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Virginia (US)
- Musgrove Park Hospital (GB)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Flickinger, Tabor E
- Venue
- JMIR Medical Education
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2015-12-01
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e17
- ISSN
- 2369-3762 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5041365
- OpenAlex
- W2190772807
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 3.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JMIR Medical Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- professionalism, social media, medical students, curriculum development, online professionalism, humanism in medicine, workshop intervention, privacy concerns, personal and professional boundaries, preclinical medical students, clinical students, personal growth, needs assessment, medical education, professional identity formation, personal branding, self-presentation, social networking sites
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