In 2021 Dr. Dawn DeWitt sparked the use of patient photos in our digital publishing projects with the Transition to Residency challenge cases that our MS4s go through in the spring—I had to use up all of my free Adobe Stock downloads (ten whole photos!) so that we could have images in the introductions to each patient. Times have changed, though: now we have full access to Adobe Stock, and as a result, our materials are more personal than ever.
Patient images
Since the advent of our new CBL backend in 2022, we have been able to work patient images into CBL cases and Powerpoint lectures. The repetition—and in some uses, continuity, such as for a baby growing into a toddler or a woman who becomes pregnant—adds another level of personalization to the cases.
Full representation
Heather, our web and digital publishing coordinator, is a strong advocate in including a range of under-represented populations in our materials, including CBL cases. Stay tuned for a future post about these efforts!
Show, don't tell
We also use stock images to augment case studies in other courses, such as the one shown below in Global Health, developed by Dr. Joanna Breems.
Other sources for stock images
It is important that our photos represent a broad spectrum of patients, and Disability:IN provides a great resource for inclusive images.
Paint a picture
Dr. Anne Grossman’s Planetary Health pages also use Adobe Stock images, which vividly illustrate the topics that are covered.
One last bonus
Adobe Stock images come embedded with alt text—important for our audience who use screen readers.