Scope of Twitter application in facilitating the delivery of medical education: A systematic review

Abstract

The process of delivery of medical education has always been a complex one, considering the amount of knowledge, skills, and other essential attributes that need to be developed during the training period. The purpose of the current review was to explore the role of Twitter in medical education and the areas in which it can help to augment the learning process. An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was carried out on the PubMed and Google Scholar search engines, and a total of 39 articles were selected based on their suitability with the current review objectives and analyzed. The review of literature was done by a single investigator and thus there were no duplicate articles. Keywords used in the search include social media, Twitter, and medical education in the title alone only. Twitter plays a crucial role in ensuring the active engagement of students by promoting academic conversations. To conclude, Twitter provides a platform for rapid and easy sharing of information on a global scale and thus encourages collaborative learning. Amid the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to satisfy the learning needs of medical students and practicing physicians, Twitter is an innovative option. The need of the hour is to encourage and explore the utility of Twitter in different settings and use the same as an added tool for the attainment of learning outcomes.