@PsychResChat is the home of #PsychResidentTwitter, a platform to foster community and provide a forum to share stories and experiences. The chat is hosted by five psychiatry residents: Tolu Odebunmi, Christina Warner, Atasha Jordan, Akshaya Selvamani and Michael McClurkin.
You might have noticed that there’s a new 
networking medium taking over the field of medicine. #MedTwitter is made up of thousands of physicians from around the world who turn to the social media platform, Twitter, as a means of networking, learning and professional development. There are several sub-communities within the #MedTwitter sphere that cater to the diverse needs and interests of the medical community. #WomenInMedicine, #MedStudentTwitter, and #SoMeDocs are a few examples of these sub-communities aiming to connect like-minded medical professionals.
@PsychResChat is the newest such sub-community on Twitter. @PsychResChat, short for Psychiatry Resident Chat, started as the brainchild of Dr. Tolu Odebunmi, MD, MPH who is a psychiatry resident at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Odebunmi recruited Dr. Christina Warner, MD of the University of Minnesota, Dr. Akshaya Selvamani, MD of Hennepin Healthcare, Dr. Atasha Jordan, MD, MBA of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Michael McClurkin, MD, MPP of Yale University to join the founding team. Together, the co-hosts of @PsychResChat set out with the mission to meet, learn alongside, and connect psychiatry residents in the United States and around the world. The co-hosts use the account to share information and news relevant to psychiatry residents. Additionally, @PsychResChat is the home of bi-weekly live discussions, aimed at engaging the #PsychResTwitter community.
@PsychResChat officially launched in August 2019. So far, there have been three live Twitter discussions. The inaugural @PsychResChat discussion on September 12, 2019 served as a virtual meet and greet for members of the newly formed #PsychResTwitter community. In this chat, we covered topics such as challenges and surprises about residency. The second discussion aimed to connect medical students applying to psychiatry with current psychiatry residents, fellows and program directors, centering on frequently asked questions about the residency interview trail. Lastly, the most recent took place on Thursday, October 10, in which we discussed the role and ethics of Googling the background information of patients for the betterment of their care.
So, what can you expect from #PsychResTwitter going forward?
The co-hosts of @PsychResChat will continue to host bi-weekly discussions every other Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. The discussion topics of each live chat are driven largely by the expressed interests of the members of the #PsychResTwitter community. The pipeline includes chats on choosing a job after residency, the role of in-service exams, keeping up-to-date with literature, resident wellness and so much more.
We hope that you’ll join us on Twitter as we aim to meet, learn and connect psychiatry residents around the world. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, use the hashtags #PsychResChat and #PsychResTwitter in your psychiatry-related tweets, and join us for our live discussions every other Thursday at 8 p.m. EST.
Not yet a member of Twitter? Sign up here, and start networking!
Images courtesy of PsychResChat
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Atasha Jordan, MD, MBA is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania joint MD/MBA program. Dr. Jordan currently works as a psychiatry resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Jordan’s professional interests lie at the intersection of healthcare delivery innovation and behavioral health. In her spare time, Dr. Jordan co-hosts PsychResChat on Twitter and writes about her experiences as a #DualDegreeDoc via her blog www.atashajordan.com.
