The role and importance of the Radiology Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meeting in the management of Orthopaedic patients has long been established. The founders recognised that being able to connect radiology images with actual intra-operative surgical footage allowed both the radiologists and surgeons to review and better understand the surgical pathology. Creating this MDT ‘feedback loop’ in turn enabled a common understanding of terminology when cross-specialty discussions occurred. Recognising this simple technique as an extremely powerful educational tool, ArthroInsights was established to allow this resource to be more readily available to a wider audience.
ArthroInsights was formed with 3 clear goals:
- To correlate high resolution MRI with ultra HD surgical video providing some of the clearest imaging available.
- For the videos to be short, easy to understand and freely available online.
- To allow a global reach, particularly relevant in areas of the world where access to medical education and CPD is challenging.
It was recognised that the next generation of clinicians access medical content by new methods. Traditional educational models of setting apart periods of time for study are being supplemented with a variety of online resources. Clinicians look increasingly for medical soundbites; short and sharp content that they are able to access throughout their working day.
The videos have been developed to be ‘bite sized’ for easy and quick consumption and are typically under 2 minutes. The videos are also accessible via the ArthroInsight’s YouTube channel.
Since its inception ArthroInsights has gained a substantial following. Its cross-discipline appeal is reflected with followers ranging from Orthopaedic Surgeons, Radiologists, Physiotherapists, Sports & Exercise Medicine Physicians and Medical Students across all continents.
The videos have been specifically developed for easy use for patient education. They also form an ideal vehicle for helping those involved in patient care who are unable to attend theatre to gain experience and a greater understanding of surgical procedures.
The first videos that were posted covered the normal anatomy of the knee and the basics of MRI. They then progressed to encompass a range of knee pathologies (ACL tears, Meniscal Injuries, Chondral Lesions) with other joints to follow. Ultimately, a full library of video footage of any joint accessible with an arthroscope which can be correlated with plain radiology and MRI scans will be developed. The overarching principle is to make the video short, concise and with clear take-home messages.
To date the posts have been seen 170,000 times by a worldwide audience. This illustrates the global reach and potential rapid growth for online medical education via social media platforms.
Appreciating the different social media platforms and the manner in which they are accessed is essential for anybody involved in medical education for the next generation of surgeons and clinicians. Concentrating on using social media platforms has allowed ArthroInsights to reach a broad cross speciality audience - something that would have been extremely difficult via traditional publications.
The rapid growth of ArthroInsights will hopefully see other surgeons and radiologists utilise this to post their own work on this platform and adhere to the principle of correlating surgical footage with the corresponding radiology images for educational purposes.
