Since my involvement with a microbiology laboratory during my undergraduate training, the microbial world has held my fascination. Throughout pharmacy school and PGY1 rotations, I have found that my unparalleled interest revolves around any patients with an infectious process due to the complicated nature of their care. I always knew that I wanted to pursue infectious diseases (ID), however, creating a Twitter truly solidified what I wanted to do for the rest of my life as a pharmacist. Towards the end of 2017, I created a personal Twitter account to "pilot" as a social media resource for me to stay current with newly published research or review articles, upcoming conferences, and attempt to become incorporated into the ID community and create my own personal brand. Seeing the passion and love for ID pharmacy that individuals displayed on a daily basis attracted me to this specialty of our profession more and more each day.

    If your current (or future) specialty has a social media presence (which most do; if not, create one!), Twitter is a resource that is guaranteed to keep you up-to-date. I began with following practitioners that I know or have heard of in the ID world. Every morning, the first thing that I do is log into Twitter and see if there is any new i nformation in ID that I can stick in my back pocket to educate myself whenever I get some time. Erin McCreary (a pharmacist with a strong ID social media presence on Twitter) once described it to me as an "information superhighway," and I could not agree more. Twitter has given me access to updates in ID as soon as they occur, whether that be the newest publications or someone Tweeting out important information that was said from the experts from an ID conference that I could not attend. I was even granted the opportunity to write a piece for IDStewardship, a site that is dedicated to promoting pharmacy, infectious diseases, and education. This opportunity only granted itself due to becoming involved with the infectious diseases community on Twitter. Twitter has made me grow as a future ID pharmacist much more than I was expecting.

     Another important tip that I would recommend is to include a description of who you are and your specialty (if you have one) or what you hope your specialty to be in the "Bio" section. This way, individuals who interact with your profile will automatically know a little more about yourself. Mine, for instance, is "PGY1 resident at Methodist University Hospital. Lover of pharmacy, infectious diseases, and craft beer." Short, sweet, and to the point; and how could you not follow someone with that amazing biography? Next, I would recommend "Retweeting" and "Favoriting" others' Tweets - I have gotten a handful of followers (I think) based on doing this. Finally, there are a few "Tweetchats" that I have joined. This has helped not only to learn, but also for others in the field of ID to see who I am.

    One thing that I wish someone would have told me prior to beginning on this journey is to start by following as many individuals that you can! One of the reasons of creating a social media account for professional reasons is to learn as much as you can and learn on a continued basis through a unique avenue. If you start following someone and do not prefer what they Tweet, there is a simple solution: the unfollow button. Give them a try!

    Overall, creating a Twitter to become more incorporated into the world of infectious diseases pharmacotherapy is truthfully one of the wisest things I have done thus far in my career. I have yet to find an avenue that has kept me up-to-date with the literature, introduced me to leaders within the field as Twitter has. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Take the advice from a guy you have never met: do yourself a favor and create a Twitter to learn on a daily basis and begin to create your digital brand!

Best,
Taylor Morrisette

When we were asked to describe our experience of creating a twitter into words, it was almost impossible to try and depict how this virtual platform has transformed our professional lives.

    We were encouraged to get involved in social media from one of our mentors, Dr. Robert Pugliese. As an innovative, forward-thinking individual, Dr. Pugliese enlightened us on how twitter has advanced his professional development, and allows him to remain as a proactive, connected member within the greater healthcare community. His excitement for twitter was beyond infectious, and we were immediately convinced this would be the perfect platform to share our creativity, innovation, and engage our continuous desire for learning. Within minutes of creating our personalized page, we quickly recognized the educational utility that Twitter would provide with the high-quality content delivered from experts, scholarly journals, and professional organizations. At the click of a button; twitter opened a gateway of opportunity to remain at the forefront of the latest clinical research, guideline updates, and advancements within the profession.

    From blog posts to webinars, twitter is embedded with endless educational resources that allow us to remain at the top of our learning curve. Reading our feed daily satisfies our hunger for knowledge and ignites us with excitement to discuss emerging literature with our preceptors and students on our clinical rotations. As commuters, scrolling through our twitter feed has become our morning ritual as an effortless way to gain a vast amount of information at the click of a button. This routine strengthened our voices on our APPE rotations to proactively engage in conversations on clinical controversies and therapeutic advancements amongst our medical teams. At the end of each day, we put our two inquisitive minds together to share some our clinical pearls with the twitter world. Although challenging to squeeze within 140 characters (newly increased to 280!), we personalized our posts and shared our unique pharmacology mnemonics and illustrative pictures to help our student community turn complex topics into memorable lessons.

    To us, the greatest surprise upon developing our Twitter was recognizing how this platform goes far beyond the tremendous opportunities to learn, but also serves as a communication landscape to network with the utmost influential leaders of the pharmacy profession. The culture invigorated with passion, positive energy, and high spirit made us feel welcomed within this virtual community. The commitment of each member to their area of expertise was evident with their willingness to spark conversations and lend their clinical perspective on the questions we posed. Their influence was not exclusive to our intellectual growth. Each and every member has served as an invaluable mentor to share words of wisdom and tips of advice, ultimately instilling us with confidence that our professional dreams can certainly become a reality. Just as we have all dealt with having limited characters to express our thoughts in a twitter post, we felt this page was not simply big enough to mention the innumerable amount of members on twitter that have impacted our lives, in fact all of the names we have to thank would likely span around the world (probably even two times!). We firmly believe the saying that pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers stands true, as the Twitter members not only lend a helping hand to their patients but also make an impact on us as next generation pharmacists through the virtual world.

    Here is our advice to students looking to join social media, “Never give up”. When first jumping in, it may seem tempting to judge your success by the number of likes and followers. However, do not be discouraged, as quality trumps quantity and there is no numeric measurement that defines your overall impact on this community. Share your passion, creativity, and let your personality shine as developing your voice will best help build your audience. We encourage students to start your journey on social media early, because within the click of a button, you would not believe the unexpected life changing experience Twitter will provide. It will skyrocket your professional development, help you to establish lifelong friendships, and ultimately empower you to make a difference.

- Ashley & Brooke Barlow
@theABofPharmaC