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Do Doctors Feel That They Need Permission To Share Ideas?

Let’s say you’re a doctor and you have an idea, opinion, or a new way of doing things.  What do you do with it?

It used to be that the only place we could share ideas was in a medical journal or from the podium of a national meeting.  Both require that your idea pass through someone’s filter.  As physicians we’ve been raised to seek approval before approaching the microphone.

This is unfortunate.  When I think about the doctors around me, I think about the remarkable mindshare that exists.  Each is unique in the way they think.  Each sees disease and the human condition differently.  But for many their brilliance and wisdom is stored away deep inside.  They are human silos of unique experience and perspective.  They are of a generation when someone else decided if their ideas were worthy of discussion.  They are of a generation when it was understood that few ideas are worthy of discussion.  They are the medical generation of information isolation.

I spoke with a couple of students recently about Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*

Healthcare Engagement: Most Companies Are Not Meeting Employee Expectations

nancyturettEdelman has been a leader in surveying and analyzing consumer health opinion on a global scale. In 2008 they released the results of a Health Engagement Barometer, confirming the public’s strong desire for personal engagement with health experts and peers online and beyond. I clearly remember Edelman’s revelation that medical bloggers (particularly healthcare professional bloggers) are one of the most trusted sources of health information online. That made me feel good.

This time around, Edelman created a new survey (The Health Engagement Pulse) focused on consumer expectations of their employers. The results reflect a further shift away from traditional siloed roles and relationships (where employers have nothing directly to do with healthcare) and a new era of blended responsibility. To understand this shift, I interviewed Nancy Turett, Edelman’s Global President of Health. Please listen to the audio interview or enjoy the synopsis below.

[Audio:https://getbetterhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/nancytourettjan.mp3]

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The True Life of a Pediatric Blogger

Not only am I welcoming in a new year, but also a new opportunity. This is my first blog on getbetterhealth.com, and I am very excited. I previously worked with Dr. Val at Revolution Health, where I was a pediatric consultant and blogger, and I now have the good fortune of working with her on her new health website.

I plan on blogging regularly and look forward to getting to know you better – your interests, questions, and goals. Actually, I would love to learn what you want from me and how I can best serve you. It might help if I first tell you about myself and my own interests. I am a pediatrician in private practice in Maryland. I am also a blogger, speaker and writer. I just finished my first book, “Anorexia,” for ABC-CLIO and recently wrote a story which will appear in a book about pediatricians, which is being edited by Dr. Perri Klass and published by Kaplan Publishing.

I love to teach. One of my favorite aspects of pediatrics is educating parents and kids, whether it’s about breastfeeding, asthma, puberty, or the latest clinical research. I love to travel and learn about new cultures. My late-husband and I spent three years working at the Kayenta Health Center on the Navajo Reservation, where we were constantly learning about health-related customs and decisions which were so different from our own.

And I love my children. I have two wonderful daughters (if I must say so myself), ages 13 and 10 years. I enjoy writing about them in my blogs occasionally. It hasn’t bothered them yet, but I assume I will soon have to be careful about what I divulge with regards to my teenager.

A very sad part of my life was the death of my incredible husband almost four years ago. He was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor, on his 40th birthday, and died exactly one year later. His illness and death were not only difficult for obvious reasons, but also because the location of the tumor caused significant personality changes and the loss of his ability to do every day things which we take for granted, such as motivating himself to stand up from a sitting position. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the pitfalls of the health care system and how to look for clinical research trials. Since my husband became ill, I have been working on a book for children whose parents have cancer. I am determined to finish it.

I think that’s enough about me. Now I’d like to know about you. I want to know what your issues and concerns are, and what you would like me to discuss and blog about. Let’s make this year our best and most productive yet!

Stacy Beller Stryer, M.D., FAAP

 

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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