Use of social media in anatomy education: A narrative review of the literature

Purpose: Although anatomy is a significant part of medical education, there is controversy surrounding the appropriate method of anatomy teaching. Although social media is used in medical teaching, it has not been clarified if social platforms could significantly influence anatomy education. The purpose of this narrative review was to investigate to what extent the existing literature supports that social media could play a significant role in anatomy education. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane database of systematic reviews, ERIC and CINAHL plus were searched for studies with a purpose to investigate the correlation between social media and anatomy education. The following data were received from each paper: authors, year, country, level of outcome according to Kirkpatrick hierarchy, type of study, purpose, material, methods, conclusion and findings that supported each conclusion. Results: Nine papers were eligible for analysis. Four of them focused on YouTube, three on Facebook and two on Twitter. Most studies were non-comparative, all the papers evaluated participants' reactions and no study investigated if students' attitude or anatomy knowledge was influenced by social media. It was generally shown that social platforms could positively affect anatomy education. However, concerns about the educational value of YouTube videos were expressed. Conclusion: The research so far about the use of social media in anatomy education is limited and lacks comparative studies. It was generally demonstrated that social platforms could positively affect anatomy education. However, further research is needed to investigate if social media could influence students' attitude or anatomy knowledge. (C) 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.