June 18th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Medblogger Shout Outs
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My friend Dr. Rob tagged me with the “8 random facts” meme. I’m supposed to list 8 little known facts about myself, and then tag 8 other bloggers to go and do likewise. Although I’ve never participated in chain mail, I’m a sucker for a good blog meme and will bite on this one.
Eight little known things about Dr. Val…
1. I once worked for a marketing research firm that regularly sent me and a camera crew to the homes of wet vac owners to videotape their home use technique. That was some entertaining videography, I can tell you.
2. I have 3 citizenships – US, Canada, and the UK
3. My dad once unionized a group of pickle factory workers, and was fired the next day.
4. I worked as a bartender in Manhattan while I was in medical school.
5. My car was hit by a drunk driver once, so I chased him down, forced him off the road and demanded his license and registration. Probably a dangerous move, but I was really angry.
6. As a child I wanted to grow up to be a Hollywood special effects artist. I still love to watch movies like Lord of the Rings and Alien because of the special effects.
7. I was a precocious little kid – when I was 6 years old my mother’s friend asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said, “a philanthropist.”
8. I worked as a nanny in Quebec for a summer. The kids called me the “monstre de betteraves” (the “beet monster”) because I ate so many beets from their garden. They had a pressure cooker – and the fresh beets were so sweet and tasty! How could I resist?
Ok, well those are my 8 random facts… now I will nominate 8 bloggers to give me the dirt on themselves (if they’re up to the challenge):
Resilient Mom
Sandra Foschi
Dr. Glode
Dr. Silver
Dr. Brown
Dr. Hill
Dr. Herndon
Dr. Poceta
Let’s learn a little about each other, shall we?This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
June 17th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Medblogger Shout Outs
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In response to recent concerns about healthcare blogging (potential privacy violations in particular), a group of bloggers got together to create the first Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics. All health bloggers who agree to abide by the ethical principles listed in the code will be given the HBCE seal to display on their blogs. If anyone suspects the bloggers of violating that code, they can be reported to the HBCE website for further investigation.
I think this is a great step forward for health blogs – and a good reminder to respect confidentiality, transparency, and courtesy while blogging. To request a copy of the seal for your blog, please write to: healthcare.bloggers@gmail.com
Many thanks to Dr. Rob for taking the lead on this project. Also thanks to Medi-mation who worked on the logo with me.
The 5 principles:
- Clear representation of perspective – readers
must understand the training and overall perspective of the author of a
blog. Certainly bloggers can have opinions on subjects outside of their
training, and these opinions may be true, but readers must have a place
to look on a blog to get an idea of where this author is coming from.
This also encompasses the idea of the distinction between advertisement
and content. This does not preclude anonymous blogging, but it asks that even anonymous bloggers share the professional perspective from which they are blogging.
- Confidentiality – Medical bloggers must
respect the nature of the relationship between patient and medical
professionals and the clear need for confidentiality. All discussions
of patients must be done in a way in which patients’ identity cannot be
inferred.
- Commercial Disclosure – the presence or
absence of commercial ties of the author must be made clear for the
readers. If the author is using their blog to pitch a product, it must
be clear that they are doing that. Any ties to device manufacturer
and/or pharmaceutical company ties must be clearly stated.
- Reliability of Information – citing sources when appropriate and changing inaccuracies when they are pointed out
- Courtesy – Bloggers should not engage in
personal attacks, nor should they allow their commenters to do so.
Debate and discussion of ideas is one of the major purposes of
blogging. While the ideas people hold should be criticized and even
confronted, the overall purpose is a discussion of ideas, not those who
hold ideas.
Happy blogging!This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
June 16th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements
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Because Washington DC is the national headquarters for many heathcare professional organizations and advocacy groups, we host more than our fair share of medical conferences. Just a few weeks ago I attended Digestive Disease Week, where 16 thousand gastroenterologists descended upon our fair city from all over the globe. Sporting purple gift totes and oversized name tags, these docs moved like a great school of fish through the reefs of our convention center. At one point I was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time – a lecture let out just before lunch, and I was almost flattened by the wave of hungry purple people on a frantic quest to be first in line at the refreshment counters (the song, “one eyed, one horned flying purple people eater” kept dancing in my head as I ran for cover).
And I started thinking – gee wouldn’t it be easier to have a virtual conference where you could attend from the comfort of your own home? You could navigate to the information booths that interest you, you could attend lectures via telecast, and you could even opt in for goodie bags that could be mailed to you. No need to be stressed out and jostled by well meaning, but frantic colleagues. You could sit in your PJs with kitty or puppy nearby and click your way through a much calmer version of the educational experience.
And so the Revolution Health team discussed this idea and came up with the Online Health Fair. We invited a small group of advocacy groups to set up booths on our website to show others all the exciting programs they have going, and to spark interest in getting involved. The fair just opened and I think it’s a pretty neat idea – Revolution Health is donating money to the groups, based on page clicks. So the more people who go to learn about their favorite advocacy groups, the more they benefit.
So I would encourage you to check this out and let us know what you think – do you like this online health fair concept, or are you more of a “flying purple people eater” kind of person?
Here are the advocacy group “booths” at the fair:
Autism Speaks
American Kidney Fund
National Alliance on Mental Illness
IBS Self Help and Support Group
National Family Caregivers Association
The Wellness Community
National Foundation for Celiac Awareness
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
National Sleep Foundation
Society for Women’s Health Research
If this online fair is popular, we can create many more of them in the future. I think it’s great to support these noble groups, and the Wall Street Journal agrees. Tell a friend. 🙂This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
June 15th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements, Expert Interviews
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I was recently interviewed about my blog (and this week’s edition of Grand Rounds) by Dr. Nick Genes at Medscape. For the curious among you – here is the full Medscape interview with Nick Genes (prior to editing). It gives you a little more information about Revolution Health…
1. You’ve
been involved in writing since medical school, for various audiences. Who are
you trying to reach with your new blog, and how have you found blogging to be
different than the other media you’ve worked in?
The best part about
blogging is that it’s a dialogue rather than a monologue. I find the interactive discussions and
heartfelt responses to be touching and engaging. My previous writing was more academic because
of the medium (medical journals) but now I’ve found that blogging is where I
can really be myself – there is no team of reviewers to scrub my words. So what you read is what you get!
2. I’m
very curious about Revolution Health, your role as Senior Medical Director, and
where you think this is all going. But all revolutions have their origins
somewhere, and yours seems to start… on a yogurt farm. Please share a little
of what that was like, and maybe what early influences have given you such an
interesting background. From small towns to New York City, from theology to medicine, it
seems like you’re living a very rich life.
Yes, I guess you could
say that my origins as a revolutionary are firmly rooted in dairy farming. Although it may not be immediately apparent
how the two are related, Internet startups and cattle herding have their similarities. First, you have to wear many hats – there is
no job too small or too large. If the
cows need milking, and the electric machines are broken, you do it by hand. If a cow breaks through the fence and wanders
off into town, you lure her back with short feed. If a large batch of yogurt curdles, you’ve
got yourself a gourmet meal for your pigs… you get the drift. In a large start up, all manner of unexpected
events happen – but the trick is to handle them quickly and efficiently, and
make sure the outcome is a win-win.
As far as my other
life detours… I guess you can say that I’ve been a victim of my own
curiosity. There are so many interesting
things going on, I just can’t help but want to try them out. In the past I’ve held jobs in the following
capacities:
A protestant minister,
NYC bartender, bank spy, food critic, doctor, cartoonist, computer sales
associate, yogurt mogul, nanny, motivational speaker, biophysics researcher,
graphic designer and revolutionary medical director.
So my life has
certainly been an adventure!
3. How did you get involved with this company? Did Steve
Case find you, or know you from before — or was there an application process?
Is the mingling of medical and computer technology folks going smoothly? Is it a
mix of hospital culture vs. laid-back internet start-up culture? (Foosball and
mountain bikes, or suits and meetings?) Can you make comparisons to your time
with MedGenMed?
A friend of mine had
interviewed at Revolution Health for an executive position and thought that the
company would be a great fit for me.
When I heard who was involved (including Colin Powell, Steve Case, Carly
Fiorina) and that the goal was to create a website to help patients navigate the health care
system, I thought – gee, this sounds serious, challenging and worthwhile. So I sent in my resume, got offered an
interview, put on a bright red suit and announced that I’d heard that there was
a revolution afoot and wondered where I could sign up. They hired me that same day (May 8, 2006) and
it’s been the most exciting job I’ve had to date!
About the “mingling”-
a very interesting question. There is a
hint of Foosball/mountain bike in the mix, but I think we’re a little more hard
driving than that. Since Revolution
Health is in its start up phase, there is simply too much work to do for people
to be playing Foosball. When I started,
there were 30 employees, now there are closer to 300. We are all working long hours on cutting edge
projects that I believe will make a big difference in supporting the
physician-patient relationship, streamlining the process of healthcare delivery
and improving accessibility to the uninsured and underinsured. Revolution has attracted some of the
brightest minds in the tech industry – and they are building products I could
never have dreamed of on my own. Since I have such an unusual background,
I’m bilingual in both techie speak and
physician speak, and this helps a great deal.
Because I understand what physicians and patients need, and can translate
that for the “creatives” we can build some really meaningful tools and products
together.
My time at MedGenMed
was wonderful, primarily because Dr. George Lundberg is a dear friend and
mentor. He has done fantastic work
creating a pure platform (no pharma influence or fees for readers or authors)
for open-access publishing. He taught me
to speak my mind, follow my gut and never compromise my ethics. His book, “Severed Trust” galvanized me into
action – to do my part to improve the damaged physician-patient relationship
that is at the core of our broken system (caused by middle men, volume
pressures and decreased time with patients).
After reading his book, I wanted to do something big – so I joined a
revolution.
3. Revolution
Health has some bold ideas about improving care for its members — getting
appointments with specialists, patient advocacy in dealing with insurance, and
of course, sharing information. What’s your job entail, as medical
director? Do you think you’ll find yourself making policy decisions that
could affect, directly or indirectly, chunks of the population? Could
you find yourself in a position where some specialists are not recommended
based on their insurance? Will Revolution Health have a formulary, will it
be evidence-based — or could could care be rationed ?
My job is incredibly
challenging and fun, and I rely on both halves of my brain for much of what I
do. We have 146 medical experts most of
whom I’ve personally recruited, I’m responsible for coordinating the medical
review of all the content on our portal (so that it conforms with
evidence-based standards), I facilitate relationships with major hospital
systems (such as Columbia University Medical Center), spearhead new product
initiatives (such as Health Pages for physicians), monitor and promote our 30+
expert bloggers, participate in writing press releases, creating podcasts, radio interviews,
identifying new partnership opportunities and much more.
I do think that
Revolution Health will greatly influence vast “chunks” of the population. And this is what’s particularly exciting
about working here. We really are
building a brand new navigational system for healthcare – and this will empower
patients to take control of their health and provide them with better
information and guidance in living their best.
I believe that Revolution Health will become the new virtual medical
home for physicians and patients, just the way that AOL grew to be America’s
Internet home. You log on first to AOL
to get your email, check your news, and get plugged in before surfing the
net. You’ll log in to Revolution Health
to track your health, connect with your lifestyle coach or physician guide, get
involved with a community of others like you, or track your loved ones’ health
issues through Care Pages. This is a 20
year project, so all of our plans and programming may not be apparent yet, but
the trajectory is amazing and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else as a
physician today.
5. What are some of your favorite posts — something that
struck a nerve with readers, or captured something you wanted to express?
Please provide links!
My absolute favorite
post is the story of how my mom, a strong patient advocate, saved my life as a
baby. She refused to accept the
misdiagnosis I was given, and continued to nag the medical team until they
realized what was wrong and took me to the O.R.
If it hadn’t been for her persistence (or the incredible skill of the
surgeon who ultimately took care of me), I wouldn’t be here today. And maybe that’s why I’m passionate about
both good medical care AND patient empowerment!
Other posts that have
been well received are true stories from my medical training days. Some are controversial (like this one about
end of life issues and my first day as a doctor),
and others are warmer reflections. But ultimately, I just share what’s on my
heart and let the audience take away what they can from it.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
June 14th, 2007 by Dr. Val Jones in News
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This is a really gory series of photos (via KevinMD) of what happened to a man’s hand after he was bitten by a spider. The venom created a necrotic reaction that burst open his skin and caused a gaping wound to appear by day 10.
What can you do to avoid a similar fate? Well, first of all, most spider bites aren’t poisonous. It looks like the man in these photos was bitten by a brown recluse spider – a nasty arachnid found in the central to midwestern United States. As their name suggests, these spiders are non aggressive and tend to remain secluded – and they don’t bite unless you disturb them or handle them in some way.
But if you are bitten, there’s no good treatment (no anti-venom). Ice, steroids, and antibiotics can be used to reduce inflammation and protect against bacterial super infections. But basically, the severity of your reaction to the venom depends upon your body’s personal sensitivity. Some people don’t mount a serious response, and others, like the unhappy fellow above, have a violent tissue-ravaging reaction. Scary stuff.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
