S2957 Assessing the Influence of @CrushingGIBoard on Medical Education, Engagement, and Learning

Introduction: The @CrushingGIBoard online platform, launched in February 2023, utilizes the social media platform X to deliver high-yield, evidence-based gastroenterology (GI) board style questions to the online medical community. The platform and its creators aimed to promote up-to-date GI education with a focus on highly-tested gastroenterology topics targeting medical students, GI clinicians (trainees and attending GIs), and advanced practice providers. The account's weekly content was brought forth through a collaborative effort between GI trainees and practicing gastroenterologists and disseminated via interactive question polls, followed by detailed topic summaries and discussion. This study aims to evaluate the impact of @CrushingGIBoard in enhancing the gastroenterology medical education experience for the online GI medical community. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study analyzing weekly account posts from February 6th, 2023 (date of first question) to July 30, 2024, with a focus on metrics like post engagements, detail expands, profile visits, impressions, and new followers. The weekly GI topics covered were aligned with the topics per the American Board of Internal Medicine blueprint for the gastroenterology board examination. Results: From its inception in February 2023 to July 2024, the @CrushingGIBoard account has seen a visible follower growth of over 3,000 followers. A total of 69 GI Board questions and 21 topic summary posts have been posted over the course of 18 months. The analysis revealed an average of 345.8 engagements, 177.6 detail expands, 46.9 profile visits, 12,965.5 impressions and 2.1 new followers for the weekly question posts and 324.2 engagements, 68.0 detail expands, 48.6 profile visits, 6134.8 impressions and 3.9 new followers for the weekly topic summary posts resulting in a 8.2% weekly growth rate. Our weekly questions covered a majority of subtopics (58% of esophagus, 80% of stomach, 57% of liver, 50% of biliary tree, 100% of pancreas, 83% of small bowel, 60% of colon) listed in the American Board of Internal Medicine blueprint. Conclusion: @CrushingGIBoard leverages social media to create an innovative basis for developing potential Continuing Medical Education activities for learners with evidence-based and up-to-date information. Designed to enhance learner engagement, it effectively aims to improve knowledge retention and exemplifies the potential of social media as a convenient tool for advancing medical education and fostering meaningful professional development.