135 - Impact of #idjclub, a Synchronous Twitter Journal Club, as a Novel Infectious Disease Education Platform

Background: Journal clubs have been a mainstay of medical education since the days of Osler. Social media platforms allow virtual journal clubs to connect global participants. We describe the creation and impact of #IDJClub, an Infectious Diseases (ID) Twitter journal club.

Methods: We launched #IDJClub in October 2019. The format presents a recent ID publication for a 1-hour synchronous Twitter chat led by an ID physician from @IDJClub. Sessions started monthly, but increased in frequency due to interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-scripted tweets guide participants through the article description and analysis. We used Symplur’s Healthcare Hashtag project to track the number of impressions, tweets, participants, and the engagement rate (average tweets/participant) of #IDJClub per 60 minute discussion plus the following 30 minutes to capture ongoing conversations. We also conducted an online anonymous survey using Likert scales and open-ended questions to assess educational impact.

Results: As of June 11 2020, @IDJClub garnered 5,338 followers from around the world (Figure 1). In its first 9 months, 12 virtual journal clubs were conducted with a mean of 791,624 impressions, 328 tweets, and 48 participants per session, which steadily increased over time (Figure 2). A total of 134 participants completed the survey, of whom 40% were ID physicians, 19% pharmacists, 13% ID fellows, and 10% medical residents. Most respondents followed 1-2 (38%) or 3-4 (38%) of the discussions, with variable levels of active participation. Majorities agreed that #IDJClub provided clinically useful knowledge, increased personal confidence in review of literature, and compared favorably with in-person journal clubs (Figure 3). The format addressed several barriers such as lack of access to in-person journal clubs or subject experts at one’s own institution and lack of time to read new research or attend traditional journal clubs (Figure 4).Figure 1
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Conclusion: #IDJClub is an effective platform for virtual journal club, providing an engaging, open-access tool for critical appraisal of ID literature. This innovation in medical education overcomes several barriers to traditional journal clubs while fostering professional relationships within the global ID community.Figure 4