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What advice is given to newly qualified doctors on Twitter? An analysis of #TipsForNewDocs tweets

Overview of attention for article published in Medical Education, May 2018
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (93rd percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (87th percentile)

Mentioned by

twitter
72 tweeters

Citations

dimensions_citation
11 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
108 Mendeley
Summary Twitter Dimensions citations
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Title
What advice is given to newly qualified doctors on Twitter? An analysis of #TipsForNewDocs tweets
Published in
Medical Education, May 2018
DOI 10.1111/medu.13589
Pubmed ID
29766550
Authors

Mohammed Ahmed Rashid, Doug McKechnie, Deborah Gill

Abstract

Twitter is a social media platform on which users post very brief messages that can be rapidly communicated across wide geographical areas and audiences. Many doctors use Twitter for personal as well as professional communications and networking. The #TipsForNewDocs hashtag is used on Twitter to give advice to newly qualified doctors as they commence their careers. This study explores the nature and focus of such advice. An analysis of Twitter activity containing the #TipsForNewDocs hashtag was performed using Symplur health care analytics software. Tweets sent during a peak 48-hour period in 2016 (immediately preceding the first day of work for newly qualified UK doctors) were studied. The geographical locations and professional backgrounds of participants were categorised and the content of tweets was subjected to thematic analysis. During 1 and 2 August 2016, 661 unique #TipsForNewDocs tweets were posted. A total of 621 (94.0%) were posted by people in the UK; 522 (79.0%) were posted by doctors, and the remainder by allied health care professionals and patients. The majority of included tweets focused on aspects of professional development, improving personal or professional knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge, and developing 'know-how'. These aspects of professional knowledge have previously been described as fundamental to professional education and training. However, a significant subset of tweets focused on accelerating socialisation into the profession, an essential step in joining a professional community. The tweets relating to socialisation were often humorous and colloquial in nature. Despite their brief and often jocular nature, #TipsForNewDocs tweets provided meaningful advice for newcomers to the profession, often focusing on tacit learning and professional socialisation. Hashtag-driven enquiries can be a valuable and time-efficient way of accessing and sharing tacitly held knowledge. Social media content analysis can provide valuable insights into key educational issues.

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Twitter Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 72 tweeters who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 108 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 108 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Unspecified 48 44%
Student > Master 13 12%
Student > Bachelor 7 6%
Student > Doctoral Student 6 6%
Professor 4 4%
Other 13 12%
Unknown 17 16%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Unspecified 52 48%
Medicine and Dentistry 11 10%
Computer Science 6 6%
Nursing and Health Professions 5 5%
Social Sciences 5 5%
Other 9 8%
Unknown 20 19%

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 41. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 June 2022.
All research outputs
#892,875
of 23,650,645 outputs
Outputs from Medical Education
#83
of 2,884 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#21,213
of 328,094 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Medical Education
#6
of 40 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,650,645 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,884 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 328,094 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 40 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.

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