Radiopaedia Blog

Introduction

The concept of 'free open access medical education' or #FOAMed emerged several years ago in the world of social media. It is a mechanism by which individuals, websites and organizations can act as a community to share and engage with free open access medical education material. Recently a group of radiologists and radiology trainees on Twitter have applied this concept directly to radiology with the creation of #FOAMrad, standing for 'free open access radiology education'.

What #FOAMrad is and is not

#FOAMrad is the sharing and discussion of free open access radiology education material using the online world of social media and blogs. It is not owned by any individual or company, it is merely a concept and a community. #FOAMrad is not a mechanism for the illegal sharing of copyrighted material. It should only be used to share openly accessible information and should respect copyright and creative commons licences where applicable. #FOAMrad should not be used to promote 'for-profit' ventures.

Founders of #FOAMrad

Many have been involved in the early adoption of the term including: 

• Matthew Bull (@mattdbull)
• Vikas Shah (@DrVikasShah)
• Andrew Dixon (@DrAndrewDixon)
• Jeremy Jones (@dr_jbj)
• David Little (@DrDLittle)
• Lynne Armstrong (@oscarella)

What is @FOAMrad?    

A group of radiologists have created the twitter handle @FOAMrad to help facilitate the promotion and use of #FOAMrad on Twitter. Currently the @FOAMrad account retweets cases from radiologists using the hashtags #Rad2B and #RadBasics:

• #Rad2B: these cases are designed for registrars and residents about to sit board level exams e.g. US boards, FRCR part 2B, FRANZCR part 2, etc
• #RadBasics: these cases are for beginners e.g. medical students, non-radiology doctors, physiotherapists, radiology technologists, nurses, etc

How to get involved

As this is a community and a concept you are free to get involved in any way you like. You can join the existing events on Twitter by following the hashtags #FOAMrad, #Rad2B and #RadBasics, and by following the @FOAMrad team. If you want to create your own #FOAMrad tweets with a new subgroup hashtag then you are most welcome. 

I'm a radiologist, can I use @FOAMrad?

If you are a radiologist and would like to share cases and have them retweeted by @FOAMrad then please do the following;

• start your tweet with "CASE:"
• always tag the tweet with "@FOAMrad"
• add a hashtag to indicate your target audience, eg "#Rad2B" or "#RadBasics"
• tag a few people who you want to engage with
• if using a photo/image it can be a more efficient use of characters to tag people in the photo rather than in the tweet itself
• once the discussion is ended, reply to your original tweet with the answer using the same format as the original case ie. "ANSWER: Hydronephrosis. Read more here: link #RadBasics @FOAMrad"
• always use free open access sources for the answer link; avoid information that is behind a log-in or pay wall

The @FOAMrad team will endeavor to retweet all high quality "CASE" and "ANSWER" tweets by radiologists that meet this format. If a radiologist is consistently meeting this standard then it is possible for them to be given access to the @FOAMrad account to make the process more efficient.

Dr Andrew Dixon is a Radiologist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He is social media editor for Radiopaedia.org, and among other things, has founded the successful Radiology Signs project on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter and the Radiology Channel on YouTube.  

NB: Opinions expressed are those of the author alone, and are not those of his employer, or of Radiopaedia.org. 

Over the next week we will be releasing a few relatively minor features, as we continue to work on much larger back end and front end features due next month. 

The current releases will include: 

1. Font / Style layout of cases will be updated to match that of articles, with improved typography (Google Open Sans / larger font size) to make reading easier. 
2. Relatively recently we implemented completion tracking on playlists you view. Currently this is mostly a back-end feature, but we will be releasing a small perk: when you complete a playlist while logged in, you will have the option to receive an official "you have completed this playlist on [date/time]" email. 
3. Since we created draft mode and therefore split the create / publish date into two, our 'recently created cases' list made no sense on the home page. This has been updated to "Published" and the dates are correct. We will be adding the ability to filter cases by published date as well as created date soon. 
4. For moderators - "pushed back to draft mode" status will be visible next to the thumbs up / down column. 

Many many more on the way :) 

Cheers, Frank

Every month or two we will collate some of the feedback we get from our users and post it on this blog. It is always rewarding to hear that what we are building is important and appreciated. If you have feedback or a story of how Radiopaedia.org helps you, please send it to [email protected]

"I'm radiology residency program director form [a] hospital [...] in Panamá. We use your site as one of principal source of education material for my residents." Dr RR

"Keep doing such a great job! Very helpful!"  Anonymous

"The best resource for 2B preparation!" Dr T

"It really helped! Amazingly good, thank you :)" Anonymous

"I am in love with Radiopaedia! It is such a useful resource!!!"  Dr HL

Original file on flickr commons here. 

In this photo from 1957, Florida's Health Department unveils a mobile X-ray unit. I am unaware of what 'free' in this case entails, but it creates visions of folk just wandering up and thinking "you know what, I always wanted a CXR". Not wanting to get into health politics, but it is a far cry from the 'co-payment' being proposed in Australia for all x-rays. 

For those interested, here are a couple of links to get you started:

• AMA (Australian Medical Association): Medicare co-payment: the politics
• The Age (Newspaper): Medical co-payment belongs on scrap heap
• The Australian (Newspaper): Co-payment won’t kill Medicare

Image source:

State officials with the Health Department's mobile X-ray unit in Tallahassee, Florida, September 24, 1957.  No known copyright restrictions. Original file on flickr commons here. 

Dr Frank Gaillard is a neuroradiologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, and is the Founder and Editor of Radiopaedia.org.

NB: Opinions expressed are those of the author alone, and are not those of his employer, or of Radiopaedia.org. 

Original file on wikimedia commons here. 

Photo depicting screening of apprentices in a steel plant in Mannheim, Germany, in 1939. As far as I can tell the chap standing with his back to us, resting his arms on the equipment, would squat down and peer into the machine (just where his hands are) at the chest of each young man in turn. Which means he was staring straight into the xray tube, with on the apprentice and the fluoro screen between him and it. 

Every time I see a photo like this I go through the same mental cascade. 

1. Huh? Crazy. What sort of lunatic would stare into an xray tube hours at a time? They must have been cretins.  
2. Hmmm... hang on.. we are probably no smarter than they were; they just didn't know any better. 
3. Errr... what will folk in 80 years time be looking at that we are doing today with the same thoughts?

Image source:

Scan from a reprint by the National Insurance Institute of Baden from 1939. This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. Original file on wikimediacommons here. 

Dr Frank Gaillard is a neuroradiologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, and is the Founder and Editor of Radiopaedia.org.

NB: Opinions expressed are those of the author alone, and are not those of his employer, or of Radiopaedia.org.