Woolridge Tiana S, Bloyd Cooper, Taylor Madelynn, Hatamiya Nicolas, de Borja Celina
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Family Medicine, Sports Medicine Fellowship Program, 1920 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA, 90404, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, Campus Box 0110, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
BMC Med Educ. 2025 Jul 22;25(1):1094. doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07640-7.
The COVID-19 pandemic limited in-person recruitment opportunities for many training programs at academic medical centers. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of social media use among Primary Care Sports Medicine (PCSM) fellowship programs and to investigate the impact of social media on recruitment. Additionally, potential barriers to social media interaction between programs and applicants were examined.
A cross-sectional study was conducted using publicly available online sources to identify PCSM fellowship programs and corresponding social media accounts. PCSM Fellowship directors were surveyed regarding their program's use of social media. Prospective PCSM Fellowship Applicants and current fellows were surveyed to determine their interaction with PCSM fellowship social media accounts and how social media influenced their perception of the programs.
A total of 211 PCSM fellowship programs were identified on the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) website, of which 83% had a social media presence. The most commonly used platforms were Instagram (43%), Facebook (30%) and Twitter (24%). Fifty-eight individuals who were either current fellows, recently graduated fellows, or current fellowship applicants responded to our survey. Among the surveyed fellows and applicants, 95% reported using social media, with 35% reported following PCSM accounts. Of those who did not follow (N = 38, 65%), the most common reason was lack of awareness of these accounts. Twenty-two percent of respondents indicated that social media positively influenced their perception of a program and its rank list position, while the remainder reported a neutral effect. Forty-seven percent of the fellowship directors reported their program did not have official guidelines for appropriate social media use. Lack of time, resources, and oversight were identified as the most common barriers to social media use.
A majority of PCSM fellowship programs, fellows, and applicants are present on social media. Social media presence can positively impact an applicant's view of a program. However, applicants' lack of awareness of these accounts may serve as a barrier for interaction. The development of universal guidelines for appropriate social media use may help increase adoption and utilization of social media platforms for PCSM fellowship recruitment, particularly during times when in-person recruitment opportunities are limited.
新冠疫情限制了学术医学中心许多培训项目的线下招募机会。本研究旨在确定基层医疗运动医学（PCSM） fellowship项目中社交媒体的使用情况，并调查社交媒体对招募的影响。此外，还研究了项目与申请人之间社交媒体互动的潜在障碍。
采用横断面研究，利用公开的在线资源识别PCSM fellowship项目及相应的社交媒体账号。对PCSM fellowship项目主任就其项目使用社交媒体的情况进行调查。对潜在的PCSM fellowship申请人和在读学员进行调查，以确定他们与PCSM fellowship社交媒体账号的互动情况，以及社交媒体如何影响他们对这些项目的看法。
在美国运动医学学会（AMSSM）网站上共识别出211个PCSM fellowship项目，其中83%有社交媒体账号。最常用的平台是照片墙（43%）、脸书（30%）和推特（24%）。58名在读学员、刚毕业的学员或当前的fellowship申请人回复了我们的调查。在接受调查的学员和申请人中，95%报告使用社交媒体，35%报告关注了PCSM账号。在那些未关注的人（n = 38，65%）中，最常见的原因是不知道这些账号。22%的受访者表示社交媒体对他们对一个项目的看法及其在排名列表中的位置有积极影响，其余受访者报告影响中立。47%的fellowship项目主任报告称他们的项目没有关于适当使用社交媒体的官方指南。时间、资源和监督的缺乏被认为是使用社交媒体最常见的障碍。
大多数PCSM fellowship项目、学员和申请人都在社交媒体上。社交媒体的存在可以对申请人对一个项目的看法产生积极影响。然而，申请人对这些账号缺乏了解可能成为互动的障碍。制定适当使用社交媒体的通用指南可能有助于增加社交媒体平台在PCSM fellowship招募中的采用和利用，特别是在面对面招募机会有限的时候。
