October 7th, 2010 by Maria Gifford in Announcements, Better Health Network, Medblogger Shout Outs, News
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Check out this preview article (dated October 20, 2010) by Madonna Behen on Oprah’s “O” Magazine website entitled “4 Doctor’s Blogs to Read Now,” where two of the four doctors’ blogs listed are regular Better Health content contributors. They are family physician Lucy Hornstein, M.D., author of “Musings of a Dinosaur,” and internist, cardiologist, and cardiac electrophysiologist Wesby Fisher, M.D., author of “Dr. Wes.”
An excerpt:
You thought physicians were robotic and cold? A new epidemic of personal blogs written by docs might change your mind. These medical scribes are boldly posting their real feelings (and worst fears) on the web, for all the world to see. Their journals provide us patients with an informative and humanizing look behind the professional mask.
Congratulations to these great physician bloggers of ours for making up half of the list!
September 23rd, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Medblogger Shout Outs, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, True Stories
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I don’t think doctors should be socially anonymous. We need to be seen. Here’s why going underground isn’t good policy for physicians:
Anonymity makes you say stupid things. When you’re shouting from the crowd it’s easy to talk smack. Come up to the podium, clear your throat, and say something intelligent. You’re a physician, not a hooligan.
It’s 2010: Anonymity died a long time ago. You think anonymity offers shelter? You’re funny, you are. Anonymity is a myth. You can create a cockamamie pseudonym, but you can’t hide. And if I don’t find you, the plaintiff attorneys will. They found Flea.
Being a weanie is no excuse. Just as you’re unlikely to consult a lawyer before speaking at a cocktail party, commenting as Dr. You is unlikely to kill you or land you in court. Just a few pointers: Don’t talk about patients, help people out, and be nice. Trust me, I’m a doctor. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
September 19th, 2010 by KevinMD in Announcements, Better Health Network, Health Policy, Medblogger Shout Outs, News, Opinion
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The Mayo Clinic has always been at the forefront of the social media and health care intersection, and is the first institution to have an official Center for Social Media.
When they recently announced the invited first 13 members of their Advisory Board for the Mayo Clinic Center for Health Care Social Media, the first thing I noticed that there were zero physicians, and few with clinical experience. What a slap in the face.
There’s little question that the qualifications of the selected members are beyond reproach, and all are respected luminaries in the health care social media field. But this is the Mayo Clinic, one of the leading health care institutions in the country, so it’s odd that clinician-bloggers were blatantly ignored. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
September 18th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
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When it comes to the social media landscape, doctors are scarce. Few on Twitter and fewer with blogs. Maybe we’re socially lazy. Or maybe we’re just taking it all in.
Mitch Joel of Six Pixels of Separation caught my eye last week with his article “In Praise of Lazy” and reminded me that despite the how we may want to see things, most of us aren’t interested in creating content. In fact, he describes a 1 percent rule — only 1 percent of the audience will take time to actually create content.
I suspect that if we were to take the time and do the survey properly, we would find that physicians too are largely new media consumers — or spectators, joiners or collectors in the Forrester sense of the word. Physicians, in fact, might adhere to something of a 0.1 percent rule. Like Peter Sellers as “Chance the Gardner” in the 1979 classic, Being There, we “like to watch.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
August 31st, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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Lately there’s been talk of a tweetchat for doctors. The issue has surfaced on Twitter over the past couple of weeks. The idea is out there –- the genie’s out of the bottle. There will be a tweetchat for physicians. But I’m not sure we need it. We may want to think about why we need a Twitter discussion group and what we’d like to get out of it.
I look at tweetchats like I look at medical meetings: I go to see old friends in one place. Most of what’s discussed was public long before the meeting. The most interesting stuff happens in the hallway. With that said I still go to medical meetings. But it’s usually to cultivate relationships. And tweetchats do accomplish that.
I like to participate in tweetchats to see who shows up. I like to look at how people behave, how they meet the challenge of open-ended questions in the limits of 140 characters. It’s really interesting to watch those who think they have the answers. I like to see who actually takes the process so seriously that they can’t crack a joke and have a little fun (this tells me the most). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
