Q&A 

Reynaldo O. Joson, MD, MHA, MHPEd, MSc Surg

What is medical photography?

Medical photography is taking pictures of something medical.

That something is either persons (patients) and objects of medical interest.

Taking pictures of patients may consist of taking pictures of the whole person or body or just a portion of the person’s body such as the head, neck, chest, abdomen, or extremity or a deeper part of the person’s body usually done during and after an operation or autopsy such as thyroid, breast, stomach, colon, kidney, etc.

As to time of picture taking of patients, this may be done at consultation, during the pretreatment (preoperative), intra-treatment (intra-operative) and post-treatment (post-operative) phases.

Taking pictures of objects of medical interest may consist of taking pictures of medical equipment (both diagnostic and therapeutic) and diagnostic results, pictures, and plates (such as x-rays, ct-scans, nuclear scans, ultrasounds).

What are the two kinds of medical photography or pictures in terms of motion?

Still pictures and motion pictures (videos).

Motion pictures are taken if one wants to capture the step-by-step and moving details of an activity.

What are the purposes of medical photography from the point of view of a physician?

General objective is to document.

Specific objectives of documentation consist of the following: 

1. To reinforce personal learning of the physician-photographer.

Taking pictures allows the physician-photographer the opportunity to scrutinize the details of the patients and the objects for which a picture will be taken. It also facilitates easy recall because of the extra time and effort placed in doing such an activity called medical photography.

Note: I learned gross pathology mainly through taking pictures coupled with histopathologic result and follow-up correlation during my residency in the Philippine General Hospital from 1976 to 1981.  I have gained the competency of making a gross diagnosis (both preoperatively and intra-operatively) with a 90% degree of accuracy.

1. To facilitate teaching and sharing through formal and informal medical presentation;

2. To facilitate research project; and

3. To provide evidences to support testimonies during inquiry and investigation.

What are the parameters of quality for medical pictures?

CLEAR

          Well-focused (not blurred); good resolution

          With proper lighting (not over-exposed; not under-exposed)

          With proper size of intended focus of interest (proper zooming-in) 

With a clear pictorial message or objective such as to show the nature of the     pathology or to show the nature of the activity in the picture)

With a proper background that will promote clarity or contrast of the object of interest

NOT JAMPACKED

Not too many messages in one picture (preferably, one; not more than two)

Not too many intended contents or objects of interest as this will impair the clarity of the picture because of sacrifice in size

CLEAN

            Clean pictorial person and object of interest

            Clean background

                        No unnecessary background objects

Intra-operative pictorial – such as no unnecessary gloved fingers, gauze, instruments

Pictures of patients – such as no unnecessary chairs, tables, and persons in the background

No dirty background such as blots and blood and dirty linen/cloth used as background

Note: Will incorporate illustrative examples of do’s and don’ts on still pictures in separate pages.

ROJ@12feb17