TY - JOUR
T1 - Using a Facebook Virtual Examination Room to Enhance ROP Training in Armenia
AU - Sikder, Abu
AU - Mehta, Preeya
AU - Galoyan, Tamara
AU - Parekh, Eeshika
AU - Dickhoner, James
AU - Yeghiazaryan, Nune
AU - Harutyunyan, Ruzanna
AU - Hovhannisyan, Tadevos
AU - Lee, Thomas
AU - Espinoza, Juan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Sikder et al.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Purpose: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of worldwide childhood blindness with increasing incidence in low and middle income countries (LMICs) due to advances in neonatal care. There are insufficient numbers of healthcare professionals specialized in ROP management and few local training opportunities in LMICs. Social media platforms provide a promising solution to enable interactive medical education across geographic and logistic barriers. As an adjunct to an ROP training program for ophthalmologists in Armenia, we implemented a Facebook Virtual Examination Room (VER) for case discussion with a global community of collaborators and preceptors. To evaluate training through VER, we operationalized engagement as a multilayer meta-construct that includes cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional domains. Methods: A concurrent mixed methods approach was taken to collect and analyze data from comments and activities within VER. Quantitative data was analyzed for descriptive statistics on group utilization, participant activity, and clinical metrics. Qualitative data was analyzed by conducting thematic analysis involving initial and pattern coding. Results: Ten participants (7 trainees and 3 preceptors) interacted in the Facebook group across 153 unique cases, with 218 threads, 414 comments, and 216 likes. Of the 120 unique cases eligible for consensus evaluation, treatment was mentioned most frequently (87), followed by location (68), staging (65), and plus disease (31), with agreement ranging from 67% to 97%. Based on the qualitative analysis, the most common themes of discussion were clinical management, dilemma resolution, knowledge growth, and gratitude. Conclusion: A closed Facebook group for case-based discussions can be a useful adjunct to an existing ROP training program by engaging learners across social-emotional, behavioral, and cognitive domains. For international training partnerships, the financial and logistical advantages can be significant, though focus should remain on the primary curriculum and training modality.
AB - Purpose: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a leading cause of worldwide childhood blindness with increasing incidence in low and middle income countries (LMICs) due to advances in neonatal care. There are insufficient numbers of healthcare professionals specialized in ROP management and few local training opportunities in LMICs. Social media platforms provide a promising solution to enable interactive medical education across geographic and logistic barriers. As an adjunct to an ROP training program for ophthalmologists in Armenia, we implemented a Facebook Virtual Examination Room (VER) for case discussion with a global community of collaborators and preceptors. To evaluate training through VER, we operationalized engagement as a multilayer meta-construct that includes cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional domains. Methods: A concurrent mixed methods approach was taken to collect and analyze data from comments and activities within VER. Quantitative data was analyzed for descriptive statistics on group utilization, participant activity, and clinical metrics. Qualitative data was analyzed by conducting thematic analysis involving initial and pattern coding. Results: Ten participants (7 trainees and 3 preceptors) interacted in the Facebook group across 153 unique cases, with 218 threads, 414 comments, and 216 likes. Of the 120 unique cases eligible for consensus evaluation, treatment was mentioned most frequently (87), followed by location (68), staging (65), and plus disease (31), with agreement ranging from 67% to 97%. Based on the qualitative analysis, the most common themes of discussion were clinical management, dilemma resolution, knowledge growth, and gratitude. Conclusion: A closed Facebook group for case-based discussions can be a useful adjunct to an existing ROP training program by engaging learners across social-emotional, behavioral, and cognitive domains. For international training partnerships, the financial and logistical advantages can be significant, though focus should remain on the primary curriculum and training modality.
KW - ROP
KW - global health
KW - medical education
KW - social media
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U2 - 10.2147/OPTH.S371360
DO - 10.2147/OPTH.S371360
M3 - Article
C2 - 35911845
AN - SCOPUS:85134602543
SN - 1177-5467
VL - 16
SP - 2311
EP - 2322
JO - Clinical Ophthalmology
JF - Clinical Ophthalmology
ER -