248 - The Influence of Social Media on Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Applicant Recruitment

Publication Number: 248.6656

Susan M. Wiltrakis, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States; Amelia Bray-Aschenbrenner, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States

Background: The shift from in-person to virtual interviews for medical trainees since the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in residency and fellowship program social media (SoMe) accounts. While Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) fellow applicant attitudes about virtual interviews have been studied, PEM applicant and PEM fellowship program director (PD) views towards program SoMe is unknown.

Objective: This cross-sectional survey study further investigates current practices regarding PEM fellowship and division websites and social media accounts.

Design/Methods: Surveys evaluating fellowship applicant and PEM fellowship PD attitudes and perceptions of program SoMe accounts were reviewed and approved by the AAP Section of Emergency Medicine (SOEM) Subcommittee of Fellowship Director’s Survey Committee. The survey link was distributed to 90 PEM fellowship PDs via the AAP SOEM Subcommittee of Fellowship Directors listerv6. PDs were instructed to distribute the survey to fellows that matched in the 2024 NRMP fellowship match cycle. The survey was open from December 14, 2023 to February 8, 2024. Data from the two surveys were analyzed via simple proportions and descriptive statistics.

Results: Response rate for the survey was 28% for applicants (56/200) and 34% for PEM Fellowship PDs (31/90). Most fellowship applicants used SoMe (98%), with the majority using Instagram (83%). 79% of applicants reported visiting the SoMe accounts of some or all programs they applied to, with 59% citing social events as the most helpful SoMe content influencing their decision to apply. SoMe accounts were reported to influence the decision to apply or rank a program by 28% and 22% of applicants, respectively. The majority of responding programs have a fellowship or division SoMe presence (71%), predominantly on Instagram (91%). Of fellowship-specific SoMe, 76% were created in the past 3 years and have a primary purpose of fellowship recruitment (70%). Most fellowship SoMe featured content was related to fellowship education (94%) or social events (94%), while social events were featured in 60% of division sites. PD respondents reported that SoMe was influential for fellow application to a program (54%) and less influential in decision to rank (33%).

Conclusion(s): This study demonstrates that SoMe is a popular way for PEM fellowship applicants to engage with programs before applying, though may be less impactful in applicant’s decision to apply to or match rank a program. Fellowship PDs can use this data to tailor content towards more meaningful recruitment efforts.