Anatomy in 140 Characters or Less: Developing @Bristoldemos a Social Media Based Additional Learning Resource: Abstracts presented at Joint Meeting of the Anatomical Society & the British Association of Clinical Anatomists Summer Scientific Meeting 2016, Brighton, United Kingdom

Using social media to provide an additional learning resource within medical education is a rapidly expanding field. @Bristoldemos was created in 2013, offering supporting material to the University of Bristol year 1 and 2 MBBS anatomy practical sessions. Questions and diagrams illustrating the more complex elements of the course are uploaded weekly. Content is matched to teaching delivery, incorporating student and staff suggestions. This year questions for the 1 st year dental cohort were added to the account. Throughout the academic year profile visits, followers and organic impressions were monitored using Twitter Analytics, then compared to those of the previous year.
Over 9 months the average percentage difference was +444% for profile visits and +160% for organic impressions. Followers have increased by 45%. Direct formal feedback from the students was collected in the 3rd semester, with appropriate ethical approval. 76% (182/240) of 1st year medical students and 82% (50/61) of dental students responded to the survey. Of surveys completed 52% of dental students and 31% of medical students used @Bristoldemos. 89% of dental and 80% of medical students who had used the resource stated they had found the page useful and 92% and 74% respectively would recommend @Bristoldemos to other students.
@Bristoldemos continues to be a useful additional learning resource, with active, sustained student engagement, as shown by both independent analytic data and student feedback. The aim would be continued development of the resource, allowing it to evolve with the ever-changing virtual learning environment and preferences of our student cohort.