BMC Medical Education (09/03/24) Singh, Nagendra Kumar; Singh, Akashkumar N.; Patni, Bijay; et al.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a WhatsApp (WA)-based community of physicians to encourage learning, knowledge sharing, and discussion among physicians in India. The WhatsApp CME India Group was divided into seven different WA groups due to the high number of participants. Seven years after the groups were formed, researchers sent a voluntary survey to 3,500 members of the WA groups to determine how effective the groups are, assess participant engagement, and identify which factors drive usage. Based on responses from 581 participants, 43% of physicians said they used the WA academic groups for continuing medical education (CME) content — and nearly a third said they checked in on their group more than four times a day. In all, 77% said their primary reason for accessing their WA group was to discuss difficult cases and 70% said they wanted to learn from other physicians. Other key resources cited included medical websites, referral books, and Google. All of the respondents cited the WA groups as the most useful resource for medical science updates each day, with 57% also noting the group's value for real-time information exchange and more than 78% saying they helped to keep them up-to-date with knowledge and guidelines. Most of the respondents (94%) said they considered their WA group as something to use in addition to physical conference, not instead of them. In conclusion, the researchers noted the value of digital platforms like WA for CME. A key challenge, they said, is finding a balance between real-time engagement and information overload and privacy concerns.

Read More