# Instagram and WhatApp in Health and Healthcare: An Overview
## 3 WhatsApp
(2017) assessed WhatsApp as a communication method among staff of plastic and reconstructive surgery at a tertiary care health facility. In 2012, [PERSON] and colleagues used smartphones and WhatsApp as a communication method in patient management and as a tool for academic endorsements. There were 116 episodes regarding patient management, handled in a timelier fashion by using WhatsApp. The opinion of residents was sought regarding this method of communication. A majority of residents were satisfied with this mode of communication. [PERSON] et al. concluded that WhatsApp is an effective, low-cost, quick and easy-to-implement method for clinical and academic endorsements. Along the same line, [PERSON] et al. (2012) evaluated the use of WhatsApp instant group messaging amongst urology team members to promote patient safety within a busy acute and elective urology service, and found it to be \"a cost and time efficient, user-friendly adjunct to traditional modes of communication\". Similarly, [PERSON] et al. (2013) concluded that WhatsApp \"is cheap, quick, and easy to operate\" following their assessment of its efficacy as a communication method between the emergency physician in a rural hospital without percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) capability and the interventional cardiologist at a tertiary PCI centre. [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2014) report a life-saving use of WhatsApp in resource-limited situations that involved sending clinical images. They were able to save the life of a critically ill patient by sending clinical monitor images of transvenous pacing with ECG (electrocardiogram) changes to, and receiving feedback from, an expert consultant who was 40 km away from the center where the patient was located. [PERSON] et al. (2014) evaluated the inter- and intra-observer agreement in the initial diagnosis and classification by way of CT (computerized tomography) scans and plain radiographs of tibial plateau fractures photographed and sent using WhatsApp. They found an excellent inter- and intra-observer agreement in the imaging assessment of tibial plateau fractures on WhatsApp, and concluded that the app is suited for obtaining the opinion of an experienced consultant when not on call. In the same vein, [PERSON] et al. (2014) found that \"sending and receiving images and videos on WhatsApp is an easy, rapid way of evaluating maxillofacial CT scans in night-time teleconsultation\". There are also studies that investigated the effectiveness of WhatsApp as a communication tool in supporting patients. In a study presented at the Third World Congress on Integrated Care, Mexico City, Mexico, 19-21 November, 2015, [PERSON] (2015) reported on the use of WhatsApp as a means of communication within a self-help group that involved hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes and expert medical staff. Social support received in this way promoted greater adherence of patients to treatment and self-care guidelines. However, in another study by [PERSON] et al. (2014), in which they evaluated the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a WhatsApp-based intervention aimed at enhancing health-related physical fitness components and cardiovascular disease risk factors, WhatsApp was found to be less effective than the face-to-face mode with which it was compared. In the context of learning, social media have been used progressively in recent years to support all areas of learning. WhatsApp exhibits some useful benefits in this respect and its increasing popularity has spawned several research studies. [PERSON] [45] reviewed the experiences of undergraduate nurses in using WhatsApp to improve primary healthcare education at a university in the Western Cape, South Africa. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [46] showed how WhatsApp can improve peer engagement and increase learner participation. The use of WhatsApp in mobile social learning was found to have a significant positive impact on learners' attitudes and achievement levels [47].