Twitter during COVID-19

在2019冠状病毒病大流行期间，申请泌尿科住院医师的医学生越来越多地将Twitter作为一种工具，为自己的成功做好准备——而且这种工具往往奏效, finds a published OUWB student-led study.

“COVID-19期间申请泌尿外科住院医师的医学生的Twitter参与:一项混合方法研究” recently was published in Urology.

Lead author was Brett Friedman, M4, who in February matched at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

In short, 研究发现，在2019冠状病毒病大流行期间，申请泌尿科住院医师的学生越来越多地使用Twitter，并且以专业方式使用Twitter账户是有益的.

“虽然推特可能不是在比赛中取得成功的必要条件，但可能会带来额外的时间负担, applicants view it as an opportunity for learning, networking, and personal branding,” the study concludes.

Revisiting Twitter

弗里德曼说，COVID-19迫使人们重新评估某些技术和基于技术的工具的价值, such as Twitter.

Essentially, he says, that’s the origin of the published study.

“我想有很多人和我一样，很久以前就注册了Twitter账户，当时它似乎会成为一件大事, and then kind of just left it there,” he says.

他说，疫情改变了这一点，因为全世界都被迫上网. 社交媒体平台越来越多地被用来提供额外的指导, networking, and knowledge sharing.

“I saw a lot of students migrate to Twitter,” says Friedman.

Friedman的研究旨在分析2021年周期内泌尿科住院医师申请人在Twitter上的特征，并确定对匹配结果的影响.

He recruited others to help, including Kwesi Asantey, M4, who recently matched at Medical College of Wisconsin. (Additional co-authors were: Irene Chen, M4, Wayne State University School of Medicine; Stacy Loeb, M.D., Department of Urology and Population Health, New York University; Simon Kim, M.D., Division of Urology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center; Rena Malik, M.D., Department of Urology, University of Maryland; Patrick Karabon, former OUWB biostatistician; Tracy Wunderlich-Barillas, Ph.D., director of Research Training, OUWB; and Thenappan Chandrasekar, M.D., Department of Urology, Thomas Jefferson University.)

Asantey says he is “huge on other forms of social media, but the Twitter world is something that I knew nothing about.”

“我也听说泌尿科有很大的影响力，通常很多信息都是通过推特分享的，而不是通过他们的网站等,” he says. “(这项研究)似乎是一个很好的机会，可以更多地了解如何使用Twitter.”

‘An extension of one’s resume’

弗里德曼说，这项研究始于他联系了一篇类似论文的主要作者，该论文研究了主治医生使用Twitter的情况, doctors, and residents, but not medical students.

Using a similar approach to the other study, 弗里德曼领导的研究人员从泌尿科申请者中寻求意见，以评估2021年应用周期内Twitter的使用情况.

A mixed methods approach was used, consisting of three components: Twitter metrics data; an online survey; and phone interviews.

Several stories began to emerge.

One of them, says Friedman, was the increase in Twitter use. Per the study, 24%的泌尿科申请者在宣布大流行之前创建了Twitter账户. By Match Day, the proportion increased to about 51%.

该研究还指出，推特的使用与泌尿科申请者匹配成功之间存在相关性.

“While the proportion of both matched, 在COVID-19大流行宣布后，拥有Twitter账户的无与伦比的学生增加了, 匹配的学生在比赛日使用Twitter的比例(59%)是未匹配的学生的近两倍,” the study states.

Other stories surfaced.

For example, 学生们报告说，他们越来越依赖Twitter等工具，以泌尿科为中心建立自己的个人品牌

“匹配的学生更有可能在简历中加入与泌尿学兴趣相关的个人信息, their class status, and tweets and/or retweets about urology residency,” says the study, 它还指出了将自我品牌塑造为“个人简历的延伸”的好处.”

弗里德曼说，学生们还报告说，他们意识到实习项目正在通过社交媒体更频繁地宣传活动和更新截止日期——通常在网站和/或其他来源更新信息之前很久.

同时，受访者确实报告了一些关于Twitter使用的担忧.

研究发现，大多数学生“很少觉得在推特和/或转发有关种族的推特很舒服, political, and diversity issues.另一个担忧是“持续监控Twitter”的感受或压力, to the detriment of other activities.”

Still, the concerns didn’t alter the fact that, according to the study, “Twitter无疑在泌尿外科住院医师的第一个虚拟应用周期中发挥了重要作用(并且)可能在未来的虚拟应用周期中继续发挥重要作用.”

By publishing the study, Friedman和Asantey希望泌尿外科领域的其他人看到使用Twitter的好处.

“我希望人们看到这项研究，并认识到推特上有很多泌尿科申请者的信息, and other students in the past have found it super useful,” says Asantey.

弗里德曼说，他希望这项研究的定性和定量方面能让人们做出最好的决定.

“We’re telling a story…not making a definitive statement like, ‘This is the way it has to be,’” says Friedman. “我们希望在读完这篇文章后，人们可以做出明智的决定，什么对他们来说是最好的.”