• Challenges and opportunities of use social media in medical education; A narrative review
  • Fateme Keykhosravi,1,* Zahra khodadoostan,2 Faeze Niazi,3 Fereshte Niazi,4 Mahsa Khodadoostan,5 Zahra Asadi,6
    1. Student Research Committee, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman, Iran
    2. Student Research Committee, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
    3. Student Research Committee, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman, Iran
    4. Student Research Committee, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
    5. Student Research Committee, Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    6. Student Research Committee, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran


  • Introduction: Social media is a place where people can share, exchange, and communicate their ideas and knowledge. As a result, social media has become the new trend in communication and learning and its use in the field of medical education is increasing dramatically. Despite the increasing presence of social media in medical education, few studies have been conducted to determine their advantages and disadvantages. This review aimed to synthesize evidence regarding the use of social media in medical education, to identify features associated with positive and negative outcomes.
  • Methods: This is a narrative review study conducted in September 2022 using the keywords related to “social media”, “medical education” and “medical students” that searched in scientific databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar search engine. After the initial search, screening was done by two authors in two stages: primary screening (inclusion criteria such as studies published between 2012 and 2022, English-language studies, original, intervention, and observation articles) then secondary screening (the title and abstract were for relevant to applying social media in educational interventions at each level of physician education included, and irrelevant articles such as patient training were removed). Finally, we independently extracted 1001 articles initially and combined data from articles that met the inclusion criteria (7 articles).
  • Results: The results of this study showed that the benefits of social media in medical education include: sharing educational materials (6 studies), the role of facilitating professors (4 studies), simplifying immediate group interaction, networking and learning from others (4 studies), Saving time and ease of access (3 studies), instant feedback and quick response (3 studies), strengthening the student-teacher relationship and promoting educational interaction (3 studies), geographically free and distance learning (2 studies) , communication of people with different interests (2 studies), informal supplement for medical education (2 studies), access, student participation, flexibility and dynamics of these groups (1 study), replacement of expensive forms and surveys (1 study), peer education and increasing the vertical transfer of knowledge (1 study), faster identification of weak students (1 study), cost-effective (1 study), suitable for clinical communication (1 study), suitable bed for facilitating, speeding up and creativity in The educational process (1 study), is free (1 study) and saves time and money (1 study). Also, the disadvantages mentioned for social networks in medical education include privacy and respect for patient rights when transferring patient information (3 studies), distraction in studying (3 studies), lack of organization and quality assessment of posts, and failure to transfer all content (3 studies), dependency (3 studies), time lost from the students (2 studies), bad behavior of others (2 studies), the anonymity of people (2 studies) and peer pressure (1 study). Also, some have expressed the use of these tools with a sense of freedom and comfort, and some have considered participating in groups under the supervision of universities with a sense of lack of freedom in expressing their opinions. It was stated that marketing topics should not be discussed in educational groups.
  • Conclusion: This study stated the educational challenges and opportunities of social networks in medical education. Today, the use of social networks among students in medical education is common and affects the learning process, health, and personal life of learners. The benefits of using social networks in education have been shown, although disadvantages have also been mentioned for it, such as dependence and excessive use, lack of privacy, etc. In this study, solutions such as determining specific policies in the organization, designing an app are recommended by the university organization with high security, the presence of professors as supervisors and facilitators, and parents being informed about the student's program. Also, based on the reviewed studies, it is suggested that medical institutions guide students on how to get the most out of social networks, policies, and how to avoid its disadvantages. Also, he has created authentic pages in the social network so that authentic materials are available to students.
  • Keywords: social media, messaging, medical education, medical student, medical training