The radiology department at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has become the first hospital account on Figure 1, a social media community for medical and nursing professionals to share clinical cases and discuss treatment.

The radiology department, which is known on social media channels as CincyKidsRad, is expected to post content—including medical images—on Figure 1 regularly.

In an interview with the Figure 1 blog, radiologist Saad Ranginwala, MD, said that since social media has become such a key component of communication, it made sense to expand medical education efforts into that world. “Not only are we reaching people who are interested in learning more about radiology,” he said, “we are also showcasing the good work done at Cincinnati Children’s.”

“Image sharing enabled us to reach a whole other segment of people who are interested in the work that we are doing,” added Alexander Towbin, MD. “Radiology is particularly well suited for image-based learning as it provides quick teaching points in one or two images. Further, pediatric radiology is a very unique subspecialty that offers a wealth of educational content.”

Radiologists at Cincinnati Children’s can use a free app that can be downloaded to an iPhone or Google Android smarthphone to post MRIs, CTs, ultrasounds and X-rays with captions. According to Towbin, a software program is used to ensure that there is no patient-identifying information anywhere in an of the imagings

In an article in the Cincinnati Business Courier, Towbin said that the radiology department at Cincinnati Children’s is known as a leader in radiology education and that adding a channel on Figure 1 is "just another way of providing education to radiology colleagues.”