The Adoption of an Online Journal Club to Improve Research Dissemination and Social Media Engagement Among Hospitalists
BACKGROUND: Twitter-based journal clubs are intended to connect clinicians, educators, and researchers to discuss recent research and aid in dissemination of results. The Journal of Hospital Medicine (JHM) began producing a Twitter-based journal club, #JHMChat, in 2015.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the implementation and assess the impact of a journal-sponsored, Twitter-based journal club on Twitter and journal metrics.
INTERVENTION: Each #JHMChat focused on a recently published JHM article, was moderated by a social media editor, and included one study author or guest.
MEASUREMENTS: The total number of participants, tweets, tweets/participant, impressions, page views, and change in the Altmetric score were assessed after each session. Thematic analysis of each article was conducted, and post-chat surveys of participating authors and participant responses to continuing medical education surveys were reviewed.
RESULTS: Seventeen Twitter-based chats were held: 7 (47%) focused on value, 6 (40%) targeted clinical issues, and 4 (27%) focused on education. On average, we found 2.17 (±0.583 SD) million impressions/session, 499 (±129 SD) total tweets/session, and 73 (±24 SD) participants/session. Value-based care articles had the greatest number of impressions (2.61 ± 0.55 million) and participants (90 ± 12). The mean increase in the Altmetric score was 14 points (±12), with medical education-themed articles garnering the greatest change (mean increase of 32). Page views were noted to have increased similarly to levels of electronic Table of Content releases. Authors and participants believed #JHMChat was a valuable experience and rated it highly on post-chat evaluations.
CONCLUSION: Online journal clubs appear to increase awareness and uptake of journal article results and are considered a useful tool by participants.
© 2018 Society of Hospital Medicine
Clinicians, educators, and medical journals are increasingly using the social media outlet, Twitter, as a medium to connect and engage with their colleagues. In particular, online journal clubs have created a space for the timely discussion of research, creation of online communities, and dissemination of research.
Social media-based journal clubs are thought to be one way in which journals can leverage the power of social networks so that researchers can engage with a diverse range of end users4 (including bedside clinicians, administrators, and patients). Several examples of these models exist. For example, #GeriMedJC acts as a complimentary, synchronous chat that takes place at the same time as a live, in-person journal club. #NephJC offers multiple 1-hour chats per month and provides an in-depth summary and analysis of each article, while #UroJC is an asynchronous discussion that takes place over 48 hours. Few data exist to describe whether any of these programs produce measurable improvements in indicators of engagement or dissemination of results.
In 2015, the Journal of Hospital Medicine (JHM) began producing a Twitter-based journal club as a means to connect and engage the Hospital Medicine community and allow for discussion and rapid exchange of information and opinions around a specific clinical topic. This study aims to describe the implementation of the first Journal-sponsored, Twitter-based online journal club and ascertain its impact on both Twitter and journal metrics.
METHODS
#JHMChat was launched in October 2015, and was initially held every 2-3 months until January 2017, when chats began to take place monthly. Each 1-hour chat focused on a recently published article in JHM, was moderated by a JHM social media editor (C.M.W., V.M.A.), and included at least 1 study author or guest expert. Articles were chosen by the social media editors based on the following criteria: (1) attractiveness to possible participants, (2) providing topic variety within the journal club series, and (3) sustainability and topic conduciveness to the online chat model. Chats were held at 9 PM EST in order to engage hospitalists across all US time zones and on different days to accommodate authors’ availability. All sessions were framed by 3-4 questions intended to encourage discussion and presented to chat participants at spaced intervals so as to stimulate a current of responses.
Chats were promoted by way of the JHM (@JHospMedicine, 3400 followers) and Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM; @SHMLive, 5800 followers) Twitter feeds beginning 1 month prior to each session. Visual Abstracts5,6 were used to publicize the sessions, also via Twitter, starting in February 2017.
Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits were offered through the SHM to registered participants, starting in July 2016.7 All sessions were cosponsored by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation and the Costs of Care Organization, a non-profit organization aimed at improving healthcare value.
