Social media in medical education

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Abstract

Context: Although the traditional methods of medical education have proven to be of utmost value, exploring the new aspects of today's millennial generation is essential to move forward and gain knowledge. Aims: To provide insight into students' perspectives about the availability, accessibility, and utility of social media in medical education. To understand the impact of social media on medical education postpandemic. Methods and Material: After obtaining clearance from the institutional ethical committee, a semi-structured questionnaire with open and closed-ended questions related to social media and medical education was created and circulated randomly to medical students, interns, and medical graduates through various online groups. The study was conducted for a month in December 2020, and the responses obtained were analyzed. Statistical analysis used: Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Software 25.0 (IBM). Results: A total of 415 responses were recorded. A total of 99.3% of the students owned a smartphone, and 15.9% mainly utilized it for educational purposes. A total of 89.4% of the students didn't solely rely on the information from the internet. A total of 80% of the students only plan to use social media as supplementary aids. A total of 57.6% of the students found video content most informative, and 49.2% found social media interactive. A total of 80.5% of the students have agreed that social media has enabled studying during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: The study suggests that students perceive judicious use of social media as an advantageous addition to the present learning patterns of medical education. The deleterious effects of it can be reduced by productive usage. The recent pandemic encouraged students to use social media for learning.