The 5 Minute Explainer Video: An Effective Approach to Pathology Education and Connections

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

3-19-2022

Publication Title

Mod Pathol

Abstract

Background: In the last decade, online social networks have emerged as an effective and convenient platform for professional networking and education. Using LinkedIn, Twitter, Doximity, and Facebook, pathologists can easily reach out to a global audience and raise the public profile of pathology. Today, most social media content in Pathology is either photographic or textual. Explainer videos convey a complex topic concisely and engagingly using a storyboard, stock images, background audio, and video editing. This work describes the workflow for creating a clinician-oriented five-minute explainer video and serves as a template for any pathologist aspiring to create video-based educational content. Design: A pathologist board-certified in molecular genetic pathology collated emerging information on mutations discovered in SARS-CoV-2 variants. Sources included open-source variant trackers (www.nextstrain.org), peer-reviewed articles, summaries published in Nature Reviews, and online resources of public health organizations. A synopsis of this data was uploaded to a digital marketplace (www.fiverr.org) to create a voiceover and illustrations. On receipt of the voiceover and illustrations, the pathologist created the explainer video using Camtasia, a video editing software from Techsmith Inc. (Okemos, Michigan). The video's final version was uploaded on the pathologist's LinkedIn profile and his health system's YouTube account. Results: The explainer video entitled, 'Review of Mutations and Pathogenesis of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2', covered the basics of COVID-19, binding of ACE2 receptors with the S-protein of SARS-CoV-2, and the effects of four key mutations (D614G, P681R, L452R, and T478K) on receptor binding/immune evasion. It was uploaded on the authors' LinkedIn profile and hospital's YouTube account on 09/10/21. As of 09/26/21, both versions had 1585 views (combined). The LinkedIn version had 802 views from 719 unique viewers, with 91% (644/719) from outside the pathologist's metropolitan area. After watching this video, 26% (190/719) viewers visited the pathologist's LinkedIn profile. Conclusions: In a world beset by medical misinformation, the explainer video format can provide a positive public platform for pathology education and awareness. With an average viewership of over 100 views/day in the first 14 days of online release, this example demonstrates that explainer videos are an economical, scalable, and global solution for education as well as new professional connections.

PubMed ID

Not assigned.

Volume

35

Issue

SUPPL 2

First Page

383

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