Selfies hit the headlines recently after they were rated as five times as dangerous as a shark attack in a recent study that reminded us that 259 people died taking selfies around the world in the past few years, which is considerably higher than those attacked by sharks.

New research from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) suggests that selfies can have a use that helps our health however.  The study finds that taking medical ‘selfies’ and then sharing them with your medical team is a great way to empower patients.

The findings emerged from interviews with patients, clinicians and carers to gauge how they felt about patient-generated health photographs.

“Consumers feel this data is valuable, it helps them have a sense of autonomy in their care, improves their view of the service they are being provided, and it enhances the relationship between doctor and patient because there is a sense of mutual respect and communication,” the authors say.  “The parents who took part in the trial said they felt reassured and that the service was going above and beyond. They said normally the door feels shut when you leave a hospital, and providing the photos was a way to stay connected and contact the surgeon afterwards.”

From a clinicians perspective, the main challenge is how to successfully integrate the images into other forms of patient-related data.  This is not an issue confined to photographs however, as there is also a growing demand for data from apps, wearable devices and body monitoring equipment to be integrated into medical records.

“This study adds to a body of research that shows there are benefits for clinicians and also for patients in engaging with this kind of patient or carer-generated information,” the researchers explain.  “If doctors ignore it and don’t engage, this research shows that it impacts the service experience and that some patients will switch doctors.”