InstaHisto: Utilizing Instagram as a Medium for Disseminating Visual Educational Resources

Applying active recall during studying vexes medical students. The integration of social media into medical education is rapidly expanding; however, there is minimal use of Instagram in medical education. Histology is a visually dominant subject and pairs well with Instagram. We sought to create a standardized process for medical educators to establish Instagram as a study tool for histology.

An Instagram account accessible to MS1s was created. Histology images in the course syllabus along with questions and explanations for each image were organized and posted to Instagram in a question and answer format. Instagram analytics on student engagement were gathered along with student survey responses.

Seventy-four percent (141/190) of the class followed the account. Images had an average of 442 total views. Images had an average of 3.5 views per user (VPUs), ranging from 2.6 to 4.3 VPUs, suggesting that students are viewing images multiple times. Ninety-eight percent of survey responders found the account easy to use. Ninety-five percent said studying the account increased their confidence when answering histology questions on exams, and 75% said the account led to decreased stress when studying histology.

Instagram is a platform that the majority of our medical students are already using daily. There was strong evidence of student engagement via Instagram analytics. Once a database of images with questions and answers is established, content can readily be posted to Instagram for students to study. Once established, this process can be applied to other visual content, such as anatomy, radiology, pathology, and microbiology.