In many countries, prescription drug advertising is banned, but pharma companies can still give little gifts to doctors. Now a Spanish blog covers, as reported by Advertising in Health, a lot of gadgets and gifts which sometimes are quite weird or have no functionality.
And if you think doctors are fed up with these, just take a look at the two videos below. The first one becomes interesting at 0:35.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
The Efficient MD’s eyes are opened by the nasty thoughts Google Suggest offers up when someone starts typing “Doctors are…” Since Google Suggest lists only common results with which to complete your queries, it seems that the most common thing people think about doctors online is that we’re “overpaid” or “jerks” or “dangerous” or, most commonly, “sadists who like to play god.”
Surveys show people consider doctors to be among the most respected professions. So what gives? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Blogborygmi*
Image by luc legay via Flickr
A little over a year ago, before Twitter was the tech/pop culture phenomenon it is today, doctors like myself had a problem: how do you identify other health professionals on Twitter? (At the time, there must have been at least dozens. Dozens.)
This was the first solution. In retrospect, it was hilariously cobbled-together:
This is a feed containing the conversations of all known doctors and medical students who use Twitter: http://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorsontwitter. (If that doesn’t work, you can try the original feed from Yahoo Pipes instead.) Technical details, for those interested: I used this list of doctors/medical students on Kidney Notes, ran each person’s Twitter feed through Yahoo Pipes, then burned a FeedBurner feed.
When FriendFeed debuted, I created “The Doctor’s Room,” which was populated by both Twitter feeds and RSS feeds of physicians. Unfortunately, the “room” feature was poorly designed by FriendFeed (which has since been acquired by Facebook). Like the Yahoo Pipes experiment, the FriendFeed room was an educational failure. Read more »
This post, Finding Health Care Professionals on Twitter, was originally published on Healthine.com by Joshua Schwimmer, M.D..
I was hesitant to post this photo because it is an image of my girlfriend’s bathtub in New York City. I’m sure she wouldn’t want me to post this, but I figure it’s ok because I didn’t reveal her identity and also, she doesn’t read my blog.
My girlfriend is a physician. She is friendly and smart and well-groomed. Her bathroom, on the other hand, is pretty scary. It’s not unlike other bathrooms I’ve seen in New York – which means this could be partially a cultural phenomenon. She knows it needs cleaning – I guess.
She invited me to stay at her place during a recent visit – instead of a hotel – and I gladly accepted. We planned to have a nice dinner and drinks out on the town. She showed me to my room and casually mentioned that she needed to get some Draino for the bathroom. I wondered what exactly that might mean, and was surprised by her use of understatement in this case. Read more »
I use Twitter and I like it. As a registered nurse, twitter helps me promote health and wellness and it helps me educate the public on vital health topics.
It allows me to tweet about an upcoming radio show, link to informative websites and blogs, or retweet (RT) a tweet.
I can read about the latest breaking health news, learn about the latest in health 2.0 and
sometimes it simply allows me connect with colleagues and consumers in a fun and friendly fashion.
Twitter has become a source for obtaining the latest news and information. Short snippets of info flow to and fro faster than you can say “uncle.”
In 140 characters or less you can say what you need to say. While some tweets aren’t relevant, I mean really, do we need to know that you’ve waiting in a long line at Starbucks for your café latte? No, but sometimes the mundane tweets helps humanize you a bit.
Tweeters
When a Tweet passes my way that is directed from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN (@sanjayguptacnn), Gwenn O’Keefe, MD, (@drgwenn), Jennifer Shu, MD (@livingwelldoc), Val Jones, MD (@drval), Kevin Pho, MD (@kevinmd), CDC, (@cdcemergency), Daniel Sands, MD (@DrDannySands), or American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), (@emergencydocs); just to name a few, I can feel good knowing that the 140 characters or less of info is accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
Educate the Public
Doctors, nurses and other health care professionals can provide accurate,complete, reliable and trustworthy health information.
Tweeting is the perfect opportunity to help educate the public.
I asked three doctors who use twitter to share their thoughts. Here’s what they said:
Kevin Pho, MD, a primary care physician and a nationally recognized medical commentator who publishes provocative medical commentary at KevinMD.com –
Twitter offers an opportunity for doctors to provide instant feedback, faster than they can even from blogging. This can range from providing updates on surgery, which Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital has done, to giving opinions on the latest, breaking studies. Twitter can provide more transparency to what goes on in the physician’s world, and allow both patients and other doctors to interact with one another in a quick, convenient way.
Gwenn O’Keefe, MD, pediatrician and editor, pediatricsnow.com –
When we graduate medical school and say the modern Hippocratic oath, we promise to not only do no harm but care for people by respecting the society in which they live. Like it or not, technology is part of that society so we have a responsibility to not only respect it but learn it and use it for the greater good of family health in whatever ways necessary and on whatever platforms are available.
Daniel Z. Sands, MD, Director of Medical Informatics at Cisco IBSG and a primary care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center –
By following tweets from health information sources that they trust, people can get general health tips, preventive health information, disease specific information, and even suggestions about to be more engaged in their healthcare. You might also get health coaching from a health professional, a health coach, or even peers (“Did you exercise today?” “I walked 5110 steps today—how many did you walk?”).
The take-away message
Everyone needs to be alert regarding the tweets they receive. Just because a tweet is about a health topic, that doesn’t mean it’s accurate.
Health consumers need to check the source. Doctors and nurses can help educate the public on vital health topics with information that is accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
You can follow me on twitter @barbaraficarra. Thanks!
This topic continues on today’s Health in 30 Radio Show on WRCR at 12:30 pm EST. Kevin Pho, MD will join me to talk about “Doctors and Social Media.” For more info please go to Healthin30.com.
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
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