Tired of seeing in-your-face cute kitties and overdone models that buffet the tangled mess that is Instagram? Do you crave raw images of inscrutable medical conditions? If that juices you up, this will interest you.
Figure1 is a photo and information sharing app that gives doctors an endless helping of user generated images of medical conditions, most often, novel and graphic ones.
Think of it as the ‘Instagram for Doctors’. It’s already been referred to severally by that epithet.
But it’s more serious, in fact.
Figure1 is a platform for knowledge sharing and collaboration for medical and nursing professionals that transcends boundaries.
According to Josh Landy who sounded off the idea in 2013, “A simple photo and a comment about a unique case can lead to collaboration and the creation of new bodies of knowledge with doctors worlds away.”
Landy, a Toronto-based Pulmonary/Critical care specialist, came upon the idea when he noticed that Doctors were already sharing these information to get a consult for cases on which they were working via social media, nevertheless in a manner that does not protect the patient.
Landy teamed up with Gregory Levey and Richard Penner to launch the app in May 2013 and now available on both iOS and Android platform, it has more than 150, 000 professional users in 19 countries. (Figure1 data).
This no doubt sets off some privacy and confidentiality alarms, but the team at Figure1 claims they have this in the bag.
According to the community guidelines, which also gives strict directions on nature and place of comments/captions, “[users] must never include identifying information. Any image or comment that violates this policy will be removed. it is your responsibility to maintain patient privacy at all times.” The guideline adds that under most circumstances, patients must give consent before they have their pictures taken and shared.
The app, though largely targeted at medical experts, can be used – with limited functionality – by the general public.
I, for instance, could not comment
Plus, I can’t upload images because of my location.
This app is available across Europe, US, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa but it’s yet to create considerable buzz across the rest of Africa; if it has, no one is talking about it. But it could be an imperative learning tool in a context like ours with a pervasive fear of the unknown. Images on Figure1 help the community explain the unknown. At the risk of sounding stereotypist, this could help assure many that the arcane medical condition is not an affliction from an angry god or the local witch.
Caveat: Some of the images on Figure1 could make you lose your breakfast.
Image via: Figure1
