Cincinnati Children’s has a wealth of knowledge and experience, especially when it comes to medical education. Technology and social media platforms in particular provide a valuable avenue to share this wealth amongst the medical community, patients, and families. The main benefit of sharing this educational content is increased awareness and recognition of the many conditions and ailments that affect children, ultimately leading to more expedited diagnosis and treatment.
In the field of radiology, case-based learning has immense popularity since it mirrors the way we practice. On a daily basis, we review images to identify abnormal findings, develop a list of potential causes (differential diagnosis), and when possible, provide what we believe are the most likely entities that should be considered by the referring physician. Occasionally, imaging findings may be characteristic of a single diagnosis. An important aspect of our radiology training includes case-based conferences where trainees are shown images with key findings, which they are expected to identify and render an appropriate differential diagnosis.
With social media platforms, we can now expand these case-based teaching sessions and share educational content far beyond the walls of Cincinnati Children’s. This type of teaching is both effective and efficient, since cases can be reviewed in a matter of minutes, from virtually anywhere. An added benefit of social media is the ensuing discussion of each case, which often includes subject matter experts from around the world, further enhancing the educational experience.
Our Radiology Department is among the most active in social media education, providing weekly educational content in all pediatric radiology subspecialties across several social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, and Figure 1. If you are interested in viewing our case-based educational content, you can follow us: @CincyKidsRad (all platforms) and @CincyPedsNeuro (Twitter).
Contributed by Dr. William O’Brien and edited by Michelle Gramke, (Adv Tech-US).
Michelle is a Sonographer and has worked at Cincinnati Children’s for almost 26 years. She loves her job and loves working with kids. She is a lifetime Westsider (a person that lives on the west side of Cincinnati) and is married with 3 kids.
