Schweitzer Justin, Hannan Alexander, Coren Joshua
Kennedy Health Alliance, Marlton, NJ 08053-1782, USA.
J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2012 Oct;112(10):673-9.
Social networking Web sites such as Facebook have grown rapidly in popularity. It is unknown how such sites affect the ways in which medical trainees investigate and interact with graduate medical education (GME) programs.
To evaluate the use of social networking Web sites as a means for osteopathic medical students, interns, residents, and fellows to interact with GME programs and report the degree to which that interaction impacts a medical trainee's choice of GME program.
An anonymous, 10-item electronic survey on social networking Web sites was e-mailed to osteopathic medical student, intern, resident, and fellow members of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. The weighted least squares test and the Fisher exact test were used for data analysis.
A total of 9606 surveys were distributed, and 992 (10%) were completed. Nine hundred twenty-eight (93%) of the respondents used social networking Web sites, with the most popular services being Facebook (891 [90%]; P=.03), the Student Doctor Network (278 [28%]), and LinkedIn (89 [9%]; P=.03). Three hundred fifty-three respondents (36%; P=.52) were connected with a professional organization and 673 (68%; P=.73) used social networking Web sites for job searching related to GME programs or postresidency employment. Within the population of 497 third-, fourth-, and fifth-year osteopathic medical students, 136 (27%) reported gleaning information about programs through social networking Web sites (P=.01). Within the total population, 100 of 992 (10%) reported that this information influenced their decisions (P=.07). Of note, 144 (14%) of the total 992 respondents reported that the programs they applied to did not have any presence on social networking Web sites (P=.05).
Our results indicate that social networking Web sites have a present and growing influence on how osteopathic medical students, interns, residents, and fellows learn about and select a GME program.
诸如脸书之类的社交网站人气迅速增长。目前尚不清楚此类网站如何影响医学实习生调查研究生医学教育（GME）项目以及与之互动的方式。
评估社交网站作为整骨医学学生、实习生、住院医师和研究员与GME项目互动手段的使用情况，并报告这种互动对医学实习生选择GME项目的影响程度。
向美国整骨医学家庭医师学院的整骨医学学生、实习生、住院医师和研究员成员发送了一份关于社交网站的10项匿名电子调查问卷。数据分析采用加权最小二乘法检验和费舍尔精确检验。
共发放9606份调查问卷，992份（10%）被完成。928名（93%）受访者使用社交网站，最受欢迎的服务是脸书（891名[90%]；P = 0.03）、学生医生网络（278名[28%]）和领英（89名[9%]；P = 0.03）。353名受访者（36%；P = 0.52）与专业组织有联系，673名（68%；P = 0.73）使用社交网站寻找与GME项目或住院医师培训后就业相关的工作。在497名三、四、五年级整骨医学学生中，136名（27%）报告通过社交网站收集项目信息（P = 0.01）。在总人群中，992名中有100名（10%）报告该信息影响了他们的决定（P = 0.07）。值得注意的是，992名受访者中有144名（14%）报告他们申请的项目在社交网站上没有任何展示（P = 0.05）。
我们的结果表明，社交网站对整骨医学学生、实习生、住院医师和研究员了解和选择GME项目的方式目前具有且正在增加影响力。
