The online application Figure 1 was launched in France on December 3. It allows doctors to share photos with their colleagues around the world.
Instagram, Pinterest… social photo-sharing networks are flourishing on the net. And a new one has just landed in France. For the doctors this time. Baptized Figure 1, this application nicknamed “the Instagram of doctors” allows them to post pictures of bizarre symptoms of their patients and to send them to colleagues.
Exchange expertise between colleagues
Launched in Canada in May 2013 and inaugurated in France on December 3, Figure 1 has already met with great success: more than 150,000 Internet users use it around the world (United States, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom and South Africa). Brain, eyes, skin infections … In bulk, the home page of the site offers images that are all more unusual than the others. And for good reason: the Internet doctors who posted them often do not themselves know what is going on. Simple voyeurism? Rather a remote consultation between international colleagues, and a quick way for professionals to exchange their expertise. “I am a doctor in an intensive care unit. Several times, I found myself at 4 o’clock in the morning with no one to talk to about a patient or to show it, ”says app founder Joshua Landy, in an interview with to the magazine Obs.
Quizzes and challenges
Beyond these unappealing images, of the human then. And even a playful dimension. Health professionals sometimes have fun launching challenges among colleagues. Like this photo of a 23-year-old woman sticking out her tongue, revealing yellowish walls. And below, a comment from the user who posted the photo: 23-year-old aboriginal woman, suffers from headaches and has difficulty breathing. The latter denies any high-risk social behavior. Can you find the diagnosis? If no one finds, the doctor obviously gives the answer! “Figure 1 aims to educate. There is even a case where the app has saved a person’s life. She had porphyria, a blood disease with neurological consequences. The doctor had posted a photo of the rash. Redness which is rare, since the disease is rare. But Internet users have recognized them. The patient was able to be treated earlier than expected, ”Joshua Landy told the Obs.
An app for doctors but accessible to all
If the general conditions of the application clearly specify that the identity of the patients remains anonymous and that the administrators have the means to verify the identity and the medical status of the users, it is nevertheless open to all (sensitive souls if abstain). Only doctors are allowed to post photos and post comments. They must first ask patients for authorization and have them sign a consent form. Figure 1 undertakes to verify the content of all photos before authorizing publication, as well as to verify the identity of professionals. It remains to be seen how to ensure that each Internet user who posts photos is indeed a health professional….
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