Purpose: To describe a student-designed Women’s Health elective for medical students with an emphasis on the utility of social media as a mode of education and advocacy.
Background: In light of the shift to virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, we created an interactive Women’s Health elective designed to engage students beyond the classroom. With the main goals of expanding women’s health knowledge and competencies in advocacy among medical students, we utilized Instagram, Mailchimp newsletters, and a Wix website to engage students in the elective curriculum material.
Methods: Our elective supplemented a traditional lecture series with weekly calls to action on an Instagram account, biweekly newsletters using Mailchimp, and a Wix website consolidating educational and advocacy opportunities for participants. A 16-Item Questionnaire was sent to participants to examine self-reported women’s health literacy and advocacy competencies before and after completion of the elective.
Results: Throughout the elective, we sent 16 Mailchimp newsletters to 184 recipients with an engagement rate of 83.2 participants per newsletter. The elective’s Instagram account has 63 posts and 351 followers to date. Pre- and Post-elective surveys showed an increase in participants’ self-reported confidence in women’s health advocacy by 68.7% and an increase in confidence in meeting the needs of their future female and gender-minority patients by 25.7% and 39.5%, respectively.
Discussions: In an educational landscape that is continuously changing with the evolution of technology, the success of our elective demonstrates utility in embracing social media and virtual tools for education and health-related advocacy.
Topics: CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, 2022, Student, Faculty, Medical Knowledge, Interpersonal & Communication Skills, GME, Lecture, Advocacy, General Ob-Gyn,
Danna Ghafir, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth; Maitreyi Narayan; Hunter McSpedden; Lauren Conroy
