Improving Neurosurgery Education Using Social Media Case-Based Discussions: A Pilot Study

Nicola Newall; Brandon G Smith; Oliver Burton; Aswin Chari; Angelos G Kolias; Peter J Hutchinson; Alexander Alamri; Chris Uff; Brainbook

doi:10.1016/j.wnsx.2021.100103

Improving Neurosurgery Education Using Social Media Case-Based Discussions: A Pilot Study

World Neurosurg X. 2021 Mar 31:11:100103. doi: 10.1016/j.wnsx.2021.100103. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Authors

Nicola Newall^{1

2}, Brandon G Smith^{3

4

2}, Oliver Burton^{5

2}, Aswin Chari^{6

7

2}, Angelos G Kolias^{3

4

2}, Peter J Hutchinson^{3

4

2}, Alexander Alamri^{8

9

2}, Chris Uff^{8

9

2}; Brainbook

Collaborators

Brainbook:
Gideon Adegboyega, Meedie Ali, Sacha Chiuta, Gwenllian Evans, Patrick Hurley, Orla Mantle, Chidera Ota, Duranka Perera, Camilla Siig, Staša Tumpa

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
² Brainbook, London, United Kingdom.
³ Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Addenbrooke's Hospital & University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁴ NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁵ Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Warwick, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Neurosurgery, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
⁷ Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Neurosurgery, The Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom.
⁹ Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Background: The increasing shift toward a more generalized medical undergraduate curriculum has led to limited exposure to subspecialties, including neurosurgery. The lack of standardized teaching may result in insufficient coverage of core learning outcomes. Social media (SoMe) in medical education are becoming an increasingly accepted and popular way for students to meet learning objectives outside formal medical school teaching. We delivered a series of case-based discussions (CbDs) over SoMe to attempt to meet core learning needs in neurosurgery and determine whether SoMe-based CbDs were an acceptable method of education.

Methods: Twitter was used as a medium to host 9 CbDs pertaining to common neurosurgical conditions in practice. A sequence of informative and interactive tweets were formulated before live CbDs and tweeted in progressive order. Demographic data and participant feedback were collected.

Results: A total of 277 participants were recorded across 9 CbDs, with 654,584 impressions generated. Feedback responses were received from 135 participants (48.7%). Participants indicated an increase of 77% in their level of knowledge after participating. Of participants, 57% (n = 77) had previous CbD experience as part of traditional medical education, with 62% (n = 84) receiving a form of medical education previously through SoMe. All participants believed that the CbDs objectives were met and would attend future sessions. Of participants, 99% (n = 134) indicated that their expectations were met.

Conclusions: SoMe has been shown to be a favorable and feasible medium to host live, text-based interactive CbDs. SoMe is a useful tool for teaching undergraduate neurosurgery and is easily translatable to all domains of medicine and surgery.

Keywords: Brainbook; CES, Cauda equina syndrome; CM, Cervical myelopathy; COVID-19, Coronavirus disease 2019; CbD, Case-based discussion; EDH, Extradural hematoma; GBM, Glioblastoma; HCP, Hydrocephalus; LMICs, Low- and middle-income countries; Medical education; Neurosurgery; Public engagement; SAH, Subarachnoid hemorrhage; SDH, Subdural hematoma; Science dissemination; SoMe, Social media; Social media; TBI, Traumatic brain injury; TBI-CM, Traumatic brain injury–clinical management; TBI-P, Traumatic brain injury–pathophysiology.