Dunn Tyler, Patel Shyam, Milam Adam J, Brinkman Joseph, Gorlin Andrew, Harbell Monica W
Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, United States.
Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, United States.
JMIR Med Educ. 2023 Jun 29;9:e39831. doi: 10.2196/39831.
Social media may be an effective tool in residency recruitment, given its ability to engage a broad audience; however, there are limited data regarding the influence of social media on applicants' evaluation of anesthesiology residency programs.
This study evaluates the influence of social media on applicants' perceptions of anesthesiology residency programs during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow programs to evaluate the importance of a social media presence for residency recruitment. The study also sought to understand if there were differences in the use of social media by applicant demographic characteristics (eg, race, ethnicity, gender, and age). We hypothesized that given the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on visiting rotations and the interview process, the social media presence of anesthesiology residency programs would have a positive impact on the recruitment process and be an effective form of communication about program characteristics.
All anesthesiology residency applicants who applied to Mayo Clinic Arizona were emailed a survey in October 2020 along with statements regarding the anonymity and optional nature of the survey. The 20-item Qualtrics survey included questions regarding subinternship rotation completion, social media resource use and impact (eg, "residency-based social media accounts positively impacted my opinion of the program"), and applicant demographic characteristics. Descriptive statistics were examined, and perceptions of social media were stratified by gender, race, and ethnicity; a factor analysis was performed, and the resulting scale was regressed on race, ethnicity, age, and gender.
The survey was emailed to 1091 individuals who applied to the Mayo Clinic Arizona anesthesiology residency program; there were 640 unique responses recorded (response rate=58.6%). Nearly 65% of applicants reported an inability to complete 2 or more planned subinternships due to COVID-19 restrictions (n=361, 55.9%), with 25% of applicants reporting inability to do any visiting student rotations (n=167). Official program websites (91.5%), Doximity (47.6%), Instagram (38.5%), and Twitter (19.4%) were reported as the most used resources by applicants. The majority of applicants (n=385, 67.3%) agreed that social media was an effective means to inform applicants, and 57.5% (n=328) of them indicated that social media positively impacted their perception of the program. An 8-item scale with good reliability was created, representing the importance of social media (Cronbach α=.838). There was a positive and statistically significant relationship such that male applicants (standardized β=.151; P=.002) and older applicants (β=.159; P<.001) had less trust and reliance in social media for information regarding anesthesiology residency programs. The applicants' race and ethnicity were not associated with the social media scale (β=-.089; P=.08).
Social media was an effective means to inform applicants, and generally positively impacted applicants' perception of programs. Thus, residency programs should consider investing time and resources toward building a social media presence to improve resident recruitment.
鉴于社交媒体能够吸引广泛受众，它可能是住院医师招聘中的一种有效工具；然而，关于社交媒体对申请者对麻醉学住院医师项目评价的影响的数据有限。
本研究评估在新冠疫情期间社交媒体对申请者对麻醉学住院医师项目认知的影响，以便各项目评估社交媒体在住院医师招聘中的重要性。该研究还试图了解申请者的人口统计学特征（如种族、民族、性别和年龄）在社交媒体使用方面是否存在差异。我们假设，鉴于新冠疫情对见习轮转和面试过程的限制，麻醉学住院医师项目的社交媒体形象将对招聘过程产生积极影响，并且是传达项目特征的一种有效沟通形式。
2020年10月，所有申请亚利桑那州梅奥诊所麻醉学住院医师项目的申请者都收到了一封电子邮件，其中包含一份调查问卷以及关于调查匿名性和可选择性质的说明。这份20项的Qualtrics调查问卷包括关于实习轮转完成情况、社交媒体资源使用及影响（如“基于住院医师项目的社交媒体账号对我对该项目的看法产生了积极影响”）以及申请者人口统计学特征的问题。对描述性统计数据进行了分析，并按性别、种族和民族对社交媒体认知进行了分层；进行了因子分析，并将所得量表与种族、民族、年龄和性别进行回归分析。
调查问卷通过电子邮件发送给了1091名申请亚利桑那州梅奥诊所麻醉学住院医师项目的人员；共记录到640份有效回复（回复率 = 58.6%）。近65%的申请者报告称，由于新冠疫情限制，无法完成2次或更多计划中的实习轮转（n = 361，55.9%），25%的申请者报告称无法进行任何访学轮转（n = 167）。官方项目网站（91.5%）、Doximity（47.6%）、Instagram（38.5%）和Twitter（19.4%）被报告为申请者最常使用的资源。大多数申请者（n = 385，67.3%）认为社交媒体是向申请者提供信息的有效手段，其中57.5%（n = 328）表示社交媒体对他们对该项目的认知产生了积极影响。创建了一个具有良好信度的8项量表，代表社交媒体的重要性（Cronbach α = .838）。存在一种正向且具有统计学意义的关系，即男性申请者（标准化β = .151；P = .002）和年龄较大的申请者（β = .159；P < .001）在获取麻醉学住院医师项目信息方面对社交媒体的信任和依赖程度较低。申请者的种族和民族与社交媒体量表无关（β = -.089；P = .08）。
社交媒体是向申请者提供信息的有效手段，总体上对申请者对项目的认知产生了积极影响。因此，住院医师项目应考虑投入时间和资源来建立社交媒体形象，以改善住院医师招聘情况。
