Geller JS, Massel DH, Rizzo MG, Schwartz E, Milner JE, Donnally III CJ. Social media growth of orthopaedic surgery residency programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. World J Orthop 2022; 13(8): 693-702 [PMID: 36159620 DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v13.i8.693]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ean Schwartz, BSc, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 1600 NW 10th Ave No. 1140, Miami, FL 33136, United States. ecs79@med.miami.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Clinical and Translational Research
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Orthop. Aug 18, 2022; 13(8): 693-702 Published online Aug 18, 2022. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v13.i8.693
Social media growth of orthopaedic surgery residency programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Joseph S Geller, Dustin H Massel, Michael G Rizzo, Ean Schwartz, Jacob Eric Milner, Chester J Donnally III
Joseph S Geller, Dustin H Massel, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, United States
Michael G Rizzo, Department of Orthopedics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, United States
Ean Schwartz, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, United States
Jacob Eric Milner, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33136, United States
Chester J Donnally III, Texas Spine Consultants, Texas Spine Consultants, Addison, TX 75001, United States
Author contributions: Geller JS, Massel DH, Rizzo MG, Schwartz EC, Milner JE, and Donnally CJ contributed to the design and implementation of the research, to the analysis of the results, and to the writing of the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: As the data utilized to conduct this study is publicly available, this study was exempt from the need for institutional review board approval.
Informed consent statement: As the data utilized to conduct this study is publicly available, this study was exempt from the need for informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report no relevant conflict of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ean Schwartz, BSc, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 1600 NW 10th Ave No. 1140, Miami, FL 33136, United States. ecs79@med.miami.edu
Received: November 23, 2021 Peer-review started: November 23, 2021 First decision: February 15, 2022 Revised: February 18, 2022 Accepted: July 22, 2022 Article in press: July 22, 2022 Published online: August 18, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
As a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, orthopaedic surgery residency programs across the country experienced rapid and drastic changes to their application process. In response, residency programs shifted to virtual events and began harnessing social media to communicate with applicants.
Research motivation
Social media has become an integral part of business, education, and networking. However, there is scarce literature that explores the use of social media amongst orthopaedic surgery residency programs, specifically in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Research objectives
The aim of the study analyze and discuss the various changes in social media usage by orthopaedic surgery residency programs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research methods
Orthopaedic surgery programs were reviewed for social media presence on Instagram and Twitter. Instagram accounts were tallied for followers, number of posts, and date of creation. Twitter posts were characterized via type of post and sentiment using natural language processing.
Research results
In response to the pandemic, orthopaedic surgery residency programs greatly increased their presences on Instagram and Twitter. Both platforms were used in a similar manner to engage with applicants, however, it remains unknown what the impact this had on prospective applicants.
Research conclusions
Our study demonstrates a substantial growth of Instagram and Twitter presence by orthopaedic surgery residency programs associated with the COVID pandemic. This data suggest that orthopaedic surgery residency programs have utilized social media as a new way to communicate with applicants and showcase their programs in light of the challenges presented by the pandemic. The authors anticipate the current trend in social media will plateau as the visiting student precautions are returned to normal before stabilizing as a present but less pervasive means of communication.
Research perspectives
Further studies are needed to evaluate the true impact that increased social media use by orthopaedic surgery residency programs has on the application process.
