TipsforNewDocs: The HashTag

For most physician training programs in North America, July 1st is the universal promotion day that transitions students to residents, juniors to seniors, and seniors to fellows or attendings. This landmark event inevitably inspires the more experienced clinicians to wax philosophical about their experiences and pass on their pearls of wisdom to the next generation. In the past, these conversations have happened in cafeterias, locker rooms, doctor’s lounges, and classrooms. However, the increasing use of social media by physicians led to a new way to crowd-sourcing the wisdom of the world’s English-speaking physicians that I found quite helpful last year as a new attending.

The TipsForNewDocs Twitter hashtag (#TipsForNewDocs)

While participating in the #meded tweet chat on June 26, 2014 I realized that it was time to resurrect this tradition. I sent out a few tweets of inquiry to see if others would be interested in sharing their knowledge via tweet. The hashtag quickly caught on and …

According to Symphur, in just over 2 weeks (June 26-July 12, 2014), this hashtag has yielded:
6.7 Million Impressions
4,934 Tweets from
2,231 Participants

For the details, you can view the analytics (courtesy of Symphlur’s Healthcare Hashtag project) and the transcripts below.

Analytics (June 26-July 12)

Transcript (June 26-July 12)

The tips included solid advice, good comics, and jokes among other things. Do you have some tips to share? Feel free to join in the conversation on Twitter (HT: #TipsForNewDocs). Of note, there is also the reactionary #TipsForOldDocs which is full of wisdom and overflowing with humor.