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19–22 APRIL, 2017, BARCELONA, SPAIN
16:50–16:53
S19-2 (PP)
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SOCIAL MEDIA IN PAEDIATRIC UROLOGY: EFFECTS
ON PARENTAL AWARENESS AND JOURNAL IMPACT
FACTOR
Fardod O’KELLY
1
, Gregory NASON
2
, Rustom MANECKSHA
3
, Salvatore CASCIO
2
,
Feargal QUINN
2
, Michael LEONARD
4
, Martin KOYLE
5
, Walid FARHAT
5
and Michael LEVERIDGE
6
1) Our Lady’s Childrens Hospital, Urological Surgery, Dublin, IRELAND - 2) Our Lady’s Childrens Hospital, Paediatric
Urology, Dublin, IRELAND - 3) Tallaght Hospital (AMNCH), Urological Surgery, Dublin, IRELAND - 4) Childrens’ Hospital
of Eastern Ontario, Paediatric Urology, Ottawa, CANADA - 5) The Hospital for Sick Children, Paediatric Urology, Toronto,
CANADA - 6) Kingston General Hospital, Urological Surgery, Kingston, CANADA
PURPOSE
Social media (SoMe) comprises of a number of internet-based applications which have the capabil-
ity to disseminate multimodal media as well as allow for unprecedented inter-user connectivity.
The aim of this study was to assess the impact of social media platforms on the impact factor of
both urological and paediatric journals which publish on paediatric urology, and to assess parental
awareness of social media.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A filtered Journal of Citation Reports (JCR) search was performed for 2012-2016 for journals which
published articles on paediatric urology. Journals were ranked according to Impact Factor, and
each individual journal website was accessed to assess for the presence of social media. Parents
in paediatric urology clinics and non-paediatric urology patients also filled out a questionnaire to
assess for awareness and attitudes to social media.
RESULTS
Overall there were 50 urological journals and 39 paediatric journals with a mean impact factor of
2.303 and 1.766 respectively. There was an overall average increase in impact factor across all
urological journals between 2012-2016. The presence of a Twitter feed was statistically significant
for a rise in impact factor over the four years (p=0.017). The cohort of parents was statistically more
likely to have completed post-secondary education, to have and access a social media profile,
use it for health education, and use it to access journal/physician/hospital social media accounts
(p<0.0001).
CONCLUSIONS
This study examines for the first time, the role of social media in paediatric urology. Social media
use within paediatric urology is associated with a higher impact factor, which remains significant
after four years of analysis. Parents are more likely to use a wide variety of social media to search
for conditions and physicians/healthcare providers, and therefore journals and institutions need to
embrace and endorse SoMe as a potential source of important clinical information.