Social Media as a Learning Resource for Medical Students

摘要

Social media are used by an overwhelming majority of today's "digitally native" medical students; a recent survey found that 98% of responding medical students reported using social media1 . The widespread adoption of social media is gradually influencing the undergraduate medical educational landscape in Ireland. Medical educators are recognising the potential pedagogical value of social media as a method to engage with medical students, facilitate learner collaboration and promote useful educational content. We believe the use of social media for the education of medical students is a positive initiative and wish to commend the many medical educators who are proactive members of an expanding online medical education community. However we wish to highlight several considerations for medical students using this relatively novel educational tool that we believe are of importance: Medical educational content available on social media platforms is not subject to peer review and is of variable quality. It is therefore incumbent upon learners to be judicious in selecting suitable sources of medical educational content on social media and to critically analyze content. Content should be provided transparently by an identifiable medical educator who has relevant expertise and supports their content with.