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Social Media in Continuing Medical Education: Prevalence and Strategic Planning

There has been much discussion lately on why social media is not more broadly used within continuing medical education (CME).  I have included two presentations below that I gave at the 2010 and 2011 Annual Meetings of the Alliance of CME respectively.  The first reveals the data from a brief survey that Alicia Sutton, CCMEP, EVP of Omnia Education, and I conducted examining the professional and personal use of social media by people and organizations working in CME.  The second presentation provides a step-wise approach to developing a strategic plan for using social media in CME using the Forrester’s POST Methodology.

Here are some of the key findings we found from the 141 survey respondents

  • 79% use social media (SM) in their personal life.
  • 76% rate themselves as “intermediate” or “advanced” in their SM knowledge.
  • 64% reported their organization uses SM.
  • 54% rate companies as SM “beginner” or “novice.”
  • Only 24% have a formal strategic plan for SM.

As with any initiative, organizations need to conduct thorough planning in order to be successful.  Given that only 24% of people reported that their CME organization had a formal strategic plan, it is not surprising that social media is not more effectively used in our community.  The below presentation recommends using the POST Methodology for developing a strategic plan and a starter kit for the implementation of social media.

Related posts:

  1. Presentation: Social Media and Continuing Medical Education
  2. Major Academic Medical University selects EthosCE Learning Management System to Deliver Continuing Medical Education Programs
  3. Medical Device Manufacturer Launches ED Social Networking Site
  4. EthosCE Presented at Alliance for Continuing Medical Education
  5. EthosCE Mobile Automates University of Pennsylvania Office of Continuing Medical Education

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