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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.

BackgroundDespite its long-established importance, diagnostic reasoning (DR) education has suffered uneven implementation in medical education. The Clinical Problem Solvers (CPSolvers) podcast has emerged as a novel strategy to help teach DR through case conferences with expert diagnosticians and trainees. CPSolvers has 25,000 listeners in 147 countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the podcast by eliciting the developers' goals of the podcast, then determining to what extent they aligned with the listeners' actual usage habits, features they valued, and perceptions of the podcast.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 3 developers and 8 listeners from April-May 2020, followed by qualitative thematic analysis.ResultsThree major developer goals with sub-goals resulted: 1. To teach diagnostic reasoning in a case-based format by (1a) teaching schemas, (1b) modeling expert diagnostic reasoning, (1c) teaching clinical knowledge, and (1d) teaching diagnostic reasoning terminology. 2. To change the culture of medicine by (2a) promoting diversity, (2b) modeling humility and promoting psychological safety, and (2c) creating a fun, casual way to learn. 3. To democratize the teaching of diagnostic reasoning by leveraging technology. Listeners' usage habits, valued features, and perceptions overall strongly aligned with all these aspects, except for (1c) clinical knowledge, and (1d) diagnostic reasoning terminology. Listeners identified (1a) schemas, and (2c) promotion of psychological safety as the most valuable features of the podcast.ConclusionCPSolvers has been perceived as a highly effective and novel way to disseminate DR education in the form of case conferences, serving as an alternative to traditional in-person case conferences suspended during COVID-19. CPSolvers combines many known benefits of in-person case conferences with a compassionate and entertaining teaching style, plus advantages of the podcasting medium - democratizing morning report for listeners around the world.

Case-based diagnostic reasoning conferences, like morning reports, allow undergraduate medical trainees to practice diagnostic reasoning alongside senior clinicians. However, trainees have reported discomfort doing so. Peer-assisted learning offers an alternative approach. We describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a virtual, student-only diagnostic reasoning conference that leverages peer-assisted learning. Student virtual morning report's (VMR) design was informed by social and cognitive congruence and experience-based learning. We evaluated participant experiences using a survey focused on participant perceptions of Student VMR's value, their methods for participation, and their preferences for Student VMR compared with VMR with more senior clinicians. 110 participants (28.9%) completed the survey. 90 participants (81.2%) reported that Student VMR was educational. Compared to VMR, participants reported being more likely to participate in Student VMR by turning on their video (50.0%), presenting a case (43.6%), verbally participating (44.5%), or participating in the chat (70.0%). Strengths included a safe learning environment to practice DR and the opportunity to engage with an international learning community. When asked whether they preferred Student VMR or non-Student VMR, most respondents (64.5%, 71/110) identified that they did not have a preference between the two. A student-focused DR conference may offer a valuable complement to, but not a replacement of, apprenticeship-based DR case conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: The epidemiology and clinical impact of COVID‐19‐associated candidemia (CAC) remained uncertain, leaving gaps in understanding its prevalence, risk factors and outcomes. Methods: A systematic review and meta‐analysis were conducted by searching PubMed, Embase and Scopus for reports of CAC prevalence, risk factors and clinical outcomes up to June 18, 2024. The generalised linear mixed model was employed to determine the prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The risk factors and clinical outcomes were compared between patients with and without CAC using the inverse variance method. Results: From 81 studies encompassing 29 countries and involving 351,268 patients, the global prevalence of CAC was 4.33% (95% Cl, 3.16%–5.90%) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. In ICUs, the pooled prevalence of CAC in high‐income countries was significantly higher than that of lower‐middle‐income countries (5.99% [95% Cl, 4.24%–8.40%] vs. 2.23% [95% Cl, 1.06%–4.61%], p = 0.02). Resistant Candida species, including C. auris, C. glabrata (Nakaseomyces glabratus) and C. krusei (Pichia kudriavzveii), constituted 2% of ICU cases. The mortality rate for CAC was 68.40% (95% Cl, 61.86%–74.28%) among ICU patients. Several risk factors were associated with CAC, including antibiotic use, central venous catheter placement, dialysis, mechanical ventilation, tocilizumab, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and total parenteral nutrition. Notably, the pooled odds ratio of tocilizumab was 2.59 (95% CI, 1.44–4.65). Conclusions: The prevalence of CAC is substantial in the ICU setting, particularly in high‐income countries. Several risk factors associated with CAC were identified, including several that are modifiable, offering the opportunity to mitigate the risk of CAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Invasive aspergillosis affects solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients, carrying a high risk of mortality and morbidity in this population. Rapid and accurate diagnosis is essential to ensure the initiation of correct antifungal therapy. We aimed to evaluate the performance of the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) Eurofins Viracor Aspergillus PCR (AspPCR) in diagnosing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in SOT recipients. Methods: We conducted a multicenter retrospective study of SOT recipients in Arizona from February 2019 to December 2022 who had AspPCR done at the time of the clinical encounter. Probable IPA was defined as a positive BAL culture with Aspergillus spp. with clinical and imaging findings of IPA per EORTC/MSGERC criteria. Results: Ninety‐nine SOT recipients with 131 encounters with BAL AspPCR testing were included. The median age was 66, the majority were White, non‐Hispanics (60%), and males (66%). Among the participants, 93 lung transplant recipients with 87 of the encounters received antifungal prophylaxis active against Aspergillus spp. Sixty‐four encounters had BAL galactomannan (GM), all of which had BAL GM <1 OD, and one case had a serum GM of 10 OD. Nine cases met the definition of IPA. The sensitivity of the BAL AspPCR was 67% (95% CI 30%–93%), and the specificity was 98% (95% CI 93%–99%). Conclusion: BAL AspPCR had moderate sensitivity and high specificity in identifying IPA in our cohort of SOT recipients. Further studies in populations with a higher prevalence of IPA are needed to evaluate the performance of this test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Transplant infectious diseases (TID) is a growing area of expertise within infectious diseases (ID), but TID training is not standardized. Previous surveys of fellows identified opportunities to improve TID education resources but did not explore didactic, clinical, and nonclinical experiences comprehensively. Methods The American Society of Transplantation ID Community of Practice surveyed adult and pediatric fellows in US-based general ID or dedicated TID training programs to explore their didactic exposure, clinical experiences, and non–direct patient care activities in TID. Results A total of 234 fellows initiated the survey, and 195 (83%) (190 general ID and 19 TID fellows, including 125 adult, 76 pediatric, and 8 combined adult-pediatric fellows) completed the entire survey. More than half of the fellows described receiving no formal curricular content on most foundational topics in transplant medicine. Almost all respondents (>90%) had some inpatient TID experience, but for >60% of fellows this was <12 weeks annually. Clinical exposure varied by fellow and patient type—in an average month rotating on an inpatient TID service, more than half of adult fellows had evaluated ≥10 kidney, liver, or hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients but <10 heart, lung, pancreas, or intestinal recipients; pediatric fellows saw <10 of all patient types. Nearly half (46%) of general ID fellows had not spent any time in the dedicated TID clinic at their program. Few fellows had participated in protocol development, organ selection meetings, or donor evaluations. Conclusions This survey highlights important gaps in TID training. Given the increasing need for TID specialists, updated curricula and educational resources are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic digital education (ODE) includes online medical education content that can take various forms, such as blogs, social media, videos, podcasts, or infographics. Multimedia ODE platforms have unique benefits and have quickly become an essential part of medical education. Modern medical educators with competency in digital teaching modalities can leverage these for teaching as well as career development and dissemination of scientific research. The ID Digital Institute is a digital education program with a curriculum designed to equip infectious diseases (ID) professionals with the skills to appraise, create, curate, and integrate ODE into their teaching and career. We share the structure, content, and lessons learned from the ID Digital Institute program. We also illustrate how digital education skills can present unique opportunities to align with current and future transplant and immunocompromised host infectious diseases education efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem: Traditionally, clinical reasoning is developed with purposeful exposure to clinical problems through case-based learning and clinical reasoning conferences that harvest a collaborative exchange of information in real-life settings. While virtual platforms have greatly expanded access to remote clinical learning, case-based clinical reasoning opportunities are scarce in low and middle income countries. Intervention: The Clinical Problem Solvers (CPSolvers), a nonprofit organization focused on clinical reasoning education, launched Virtual Morning Report (VMR) during the COVID-19 pandemic. VMR is an open-access, case-based clinical reasoning virtual conference on the Zoom platform modeled after an academic morning report format available to participants worldwide. The authors conducted 17 semi-structured interviews with CPSolvers' VMR participants from 10 different countries to explore the experiences of the international participants of VMR. Context: The CPSolvers was founded by US physicians and has now expanded to include international members throughout all levels of the organization. VMR is open-access to all learners. Preliminary survey data collected from VMR sessions revealed 35% of the attendees were from non-English speaking countries and 53% from non US countries. Impact: Analysis generated four themes that captured the experiences of international participants of VMR: 1) Improving clinical reasoning skills where participants had little to no access to this education or content; 2) Creating a global community from a diverse, safe, and welcoming environment made possible by the virtual platform; 3) Allowing learners to become agents of change by providing tools and skills that are directly applicable in the setting in which they practice medicine; 4) Establishing a global platform, with low barriers to entry and open-access to expertise and quality teaching and content. Study participants agreed with the themes, supporting trustworthiness. Lessons Learned: Findings suggest VMR functions as and has grown into a global community of practice for clinical reasoning. The authors propose strategies and guiding principles based on the identified themes for educators to consider when building effective global learning communities. In an interdependent world where the virtual space eliminates the physical boundaries that silo educational opportunities, emphasis on thoughtful implementation of learning communities in a global context has the potential to reduce medical education disparities in the clinical reasoning space and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pythiosis is a rare disease with high mortality, with over 94% of cases reported from Thailand and India. Prompt diagnosis and surgery improves patient outcomes. Therefore, continuing professional development (CPD) is essential for early recognition. However, a needs assessment related to a pythiosis CPD program has not been performed. Objectives: We conducted a needs assessment to develop a pythiosis CPD program. Patients/Methods: We conducted a survey study with 267 King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital residents (141 internal medicine (IM) residents and 126 surgery residents). A 30-item survey consisting of a knowledge assessment, demographic section, and an attitudes portion was distributed both electronically and via paper. The data was analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Sixty-seven percent completed the survey (110/141 IM residents, 70/126 surgery residents). The mean score [95% confidence interval] on the knowledge assessment was 41.67% [39.64%-43.69%] across all objectives. The three domains with the highest scores were pythiosis risk factors (67.22% correct), microbiologic characteristics (50.83%), and radiographic interpretation (50.56%). The three domains with the lowest scores were laboratory investigation (15.00%), epidemiology (29.17%), and symptomatology (30.83%). Most participants noted that the program should be online with both synchronous and asynchronous sessions, with a preferred length of 60–90 minutes per session. Conclusion: The pythiosis CPD program should emphasize education regarding symptomatology, laboratory investigation, and epidemiology, all of which are critical for the early detection of pythiosis to decrease mortality from this devastating disease. Most respondents felt this program was necessary and should be implemented in a virtual blended format. Author summary: Researchers conducted a needs assessment to develop a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program on pythiosis, a rare and often fatal disease prevalent in Thailand and India. The study surveyed 267 residents at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, revealing a 67% completion rate. The residents exhibited a mean knowledge score of 41.67%, with the highest proficiency in pythiosis risk factors (67.22%), microbiologic characteristics (50.83%), and radiographic interpretation (50.56%). Conversely, lower scores were observed in laboratory investigation (15.00%), epidemiology (29.17%), and symptomatology (30.83%). Participants expressed a preference for an online CPD program with both synchronous and asynchronous sessions, each lasting 60–90 minutes. The study emphasizes the need for education on symptomatology, laboratory investigation, and epidemiology to enhance early pythiosis detection and reduce mortality. Respondents widely supported the implementation of the proposed virtual blended CPD program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]