Instagram-like app created for doctors to gather medical opinions

Instagram is a great social media platform where users can share their outfit of the day, photos from their holiday and what they're eating. Now, a new app hopes to use a similar system to allow doctors to share medical information with other doctors.

The app, developed in Toronto, is estimated to be used by 1 in 3 North American med students. Dr. Josh Landy, one of the app's co-developers, believes the app called Figure 1 has the power to help patients receive consistent, higher-quality health care.

"I'm a very visual learner. Most doctors are ... and we like to talk to each other," explains third-year medical resident Sheryll Shipes of Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial, in Texas, according to Fox News.

Shipes began using Figure1 in 2014. The purpose of the photo-sharing app is to allow healthcare professionals to share photographs and information about their patients for both learning and diagnosis purposes. "It's now my medical guilty pleasure," she adds.

The app is now available in 19 countries and as of summer 2014 there were 150,000 users, according to Figure-1. The number is expected to be higher today with images in the library being viewed on average 1.5 million times a day. The greatest popularity lies in the continent of origin, with Figure-1 now being used by 30% of U.S. medical students, including Shipes.