What Twitter Can Tell Us About #IDWeek2020

Keeping Up With the Literature: New Solutions for an Old Problem

Pharmacists utilize medical literature to provide evidence-based care to patients. However, staying up to date with current literature can be challenging, especially with the increasing number of publications produced in a growing number of journals. While evaluating literature is a standard in pharmacy education and training, the specific skill of keeping up with the literature is often not included. We explore the following 5 strategies to help pharmacists stay up to date with the literature: medical journals, social media, podcasts, teaching/precepting, and continuing education/board certification. Pharmacists are encouraged to evaluate which tactics fit best into their practice and incorporate them into their workflow, as well as routinely reflect on the system they create and continue to modify as needed.

How to Harness the Power of Social Media for Quality Drug Information in Infectious Diseases: Perspectives on Behalf of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists

Clinicians, researchers, and the public frequently turn to digital channels and social media for up-to-the-minute information on novel therapeutics and vaccines. The value of credible infectious diseases drug information is more apparent in the setting of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This viewpoint by the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) provides guidance on utilizing social media platforms to optimize infectious diseases pharmacotherapy. It includes tips for all levels of users but primarily serves a guide for the infectious diseases clinician who has not yet joined social media. It compares various social media platforms and suggests which to begin with based on user needs, recommends efficient curation of social media content, and outlines a stepwise approach (shown below) to increasing engagement over time. This summary will hopefully spur further quality content and engagement regarding drug information from the infectious diseases social media network.

Surgeons, Infectious Diseases, and Twitter Hit a Home Run for Antibiotic Stewardship

Many infectious diseases (ID) clinicians join Twitter to follow other ID colleagues or "like" people. While there is great value in engaging with people who have similar interests, there is equal value in engaging with "unlike" or non-ID people. Here, we describe how Twitter connected an ID pharmacist with a pediatric surgeon, a vice chair of surgery, a surgeon chief medical officer from Spain, and a surgical intensive care unit pharmacist. This Twitter collaboration resulted in several scholarly activities related to antibiotic resistance and antibiotic stewardship and served as a conduit for global collaboration.

#SoMe the Money! Value, Strategy, and Implementation of Social Media Engagement for Infectious Diseases Trainees, Clinicians, and Divisions

Social media platforms have revolutionized how we consume information, along with how to effectively present communication, education, and advocacy efforts. There is profound value in leveraging social media within these aspects for the field of infectious diseases, for divisions and individual clinicians. Herein, we provide the rationale to incorporate social media as a key competency for infectious diseases training and specific guidance on aspects of education and strategic development of new accounts critical for success.

The Digital Classroom: How to Leverage Social Media for Infectious Diseases Education

Social media (SoMe) platforms have been increasingly used by infectious diseases (ID) learners and educators in recent years. This trend has only accelerated with the changes brought to our educational spaces by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Given the increasingly diverse SoMe landscape, educators may find themselves struggling with how to effectively use these tools. In this Viewpoint we describe how to use SoMe platforms (e.g., Twitter, podcasts, and open-access online content portals) in medical education, highlight medical education theories supporting their use, and discuss how educators can engage with these learning tools effectively. We focus on how these platforms harness key principles of adult learning and provide a guide for educators in the effective use of SoMe tools in educating ID learners. Finally, we suggest how to effectively interact with and leverage these increasingly important digital platforms.