Objective:

To explore how social media platforms promote lifelong learning and deliver just-in-time teaching to neurologists.

Background:

Social media provides an opportunity to deliver continuing education and promote lifelong learning. However, there needs to be more understanding of whether social media serves as educational entertainment or can be meaningfully harnessed for continuing education and practice.

Design/Methods:

A qualitative study was designed incorporating focus groups or one-on-one interviews of social media users between August and October 2022. Semi-structured interviews occurred by video conference or telephone, lasted 30 minutes, were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and de-identified. Two study members conducted coding and thematic analysis.

Results:

A total of 21 (n=8 faculty, n=13 residents/fellows) semi-structured interviews were conducted, with participants trained or resided in the US (n=13) or international (n=8). Across all platforms, reasons for professional use were 1) networking, 2) knowledge, and 3) teaching aid. Social media facilitated access to content experts, up-to-date research, scientific articles, and succinct and quick information gathering. Participants highlighted that social media helped them keep current on general knowledge and identify gaps. While the review of scientific literature was a motivator, the lack of an organized structure presented challenges. Content distrust was a significant barrier for participants who felt compelled to fact-check and trust information from expert sources they knew personally or professionally. Additional barriers were the algorithm and randomness of content provided and time - where participants highlighted the mixed ratio of time spent to benefit. Two critical differences were identified between faculty and trainees: both expressed content distrust, but faculty focused on content verification through experts and lack of explicit curriculum; residents pursued general knowledge while faculty focused on knowledge gaps.

Conclusions:

Social media can facilitate access to up-to-date research, content experts, and succinct information; however, content distrust, algorithmic randomness, and time constraints are barriers to its use.