Fellow Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Texas, United States
Background: Childhood rheumatologic and musculoskeletal diseases (cRMDs) have an estimated prevalence of 1:300,000 in the general population and are associated with morbidity and mortality, especially when unrecognized. Approximately 18% of acute pediatric visits are for musculoskeletal (MSK) complaints, however, formal teaching about cRMDs is variable given that 33% of US medical schools and 40% of pediatric residency programs have no affiliated pediatric rheumatologist.
Within graduate medical education (GME), learner engagement poses a challenge. Previous studies have shown gamification improves engagement by promoting risk-free decision-making and providing immediate feedback. Social media platforms are widely used, inherently captivating, and could be harnessed for teaching. We developed a gamified rheumatology review delivered via Instagram (IG) to foster participation and learning. Objective: Increase cRMD teaching for pediatric trainees and to assess user satisfaction with this delivery method. Design/Methods: The “Question of the Week” (QOTW) post occurs weekly and is composed of board-style questions covering cRMDs posted to the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Pediatric Residency IG page (~1700 followers). The correct response is revealed immediately upon answering, and the following day an explanation is posted. The following week, the usernames with the first five correct answers are posted (Figure 1). Available data from IG was collected for the past 9 months. Intermittent surveys collected information on enjoyment, perceived knowledge acquisition, and preferred question difficulty. Results: Between January to September 2023, engagement with QOTW was sustained (Figure 2). On average, there are 386 views per question, 101 unique responses, 386 views per answer, and 355 views per explanation. Repeated surveys at 3 and 7 months show similar results with 98% of survey respondents indicating that they liked QOTW at 7 months (95% at 3 months), 100% reported learning at both time points, and 50% wished the questions were more difficult at 7 months (57% at 3 months) (Figure 3).
Conclusion(s): The QOTW intervention utilizing IG as a delivery method unites gamification and formative assessment within social media. Given the frequent interaction with social media by learners, we have been able to successfully utilize this platform to engage more learners than traditional methods with high levels of participant enjoyment. We believe this is an effective way to educate our target audience which will improve recognition, work up, and timely, appropriate referral of patients with concerns for cRMDs.
