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Abstract

We have witnessed an explosive growth in the use of social media technology during the past two decades. Specifically, WhatsApp has revolutionized the way people communicate with each other. There are several factors that have led to the widespread and worldwide adoption of WhatsApp as a social communication tool. It is highly accessible, easy to use, and has a low cost. Moreover, its use has been enhanced by the evolution of smartphones, storage capacity, and wireless Internet network connectivity. Its reliance on the Internet rather than the traditional phone lines allows for easy and less expensive communication across the borders. It fits well with the motto of techno-savvy millennial generation, "play and learn." The use of WhatsApp within the medical community has paralleled its explosive growth within the community at large.Specifically, WhatsApp has revolutionized communication within the interventional radiology community. The application is generally used both between individual users and in groups. Within a department, it may be used for sharing case schedule, duty roster, images, videos, literature, knowledge, or medical opinions. Formation of groups, which include experts around the world, allows anyone to quickly obtain a second opinion from an expert in the field. For example, if a patient experiences the unusual complication of a rapidly decreasing hematocrit following angioplasty for renal artery stenosis, the primary interventionalist can quickly consult an expert on a WhatsApp group, who may alert to the possibility of capsular perforation by the guidewire and suggest immediate embolization. This quick and easy knowledge sharing among the interventional radiologists has the potential to transform medical practice around the world. Additionally, trainees within the field can quiz each other to make learning fun while also sharing their experiences.The use of WhatsApp within the medical community has been extensively studied. A PubMed search on "WhatsApp" in June 2018 yielded more than 540 publications since 2015. These studies span across a multitude of specialties, indicative of its widespread use. A publication from Mexico mentions how effectively they used a WhatsApp group for stroke management in their hospital at various stages, including patient arrival, alerting the group for imaging, intervention, and rehabilitation. 1 An orthopaedic team from Ireland compared it with the traditional pager system and concluded that WhatsApp was reliable and improved the efficiency. 2 Others have reported that WhatsApp was more efficient than the hospital-provided duty pager system. Physicians have used WhatsApp as a communication tool between the health 69