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Health Care Attorney Discusses The Use Of Disclaimers On Facebook Pages

This is the third part of a three part post addressing the legal concerns of social networking in the health care arena.

In part one, legal expert David Harlow, Esq., Health Care Attorney and Consultant at The Harlow Group, LLC in Boston, answered questions regarding “The Legal Implications for Doctors, Nurses and Hospitals Engaging in Social Media?”

In part two, Mr. Harlow answered questions related to the Pharma industry;  “Legal Concerns: What Steps can Pharma Take to Engage in Social Media?”

The third part addresses a question from a follower on Facebook about the use of disclaimers.

Q:  Barbara: A Healthin30 reader on Facebook writes:  “I’m looking for a good disclaimer to put on a couple of medical practices’ Facebook pages. The AMA social media guidelines aren’t helpful. Do you have a good boilerplate you recommend? Thanks in advance for your help!”  David, can you offer a couple suggestions?

A:  David: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*

New Program At USF Health Hopes To Mold More Empathetic Physicians

Can we teach empathy to the next generation of physicians?  The University of South Florida Health thinks so and they’re putting it on the line this week with the launch of the SELECT program, a new curriculum intended to “put empathy, communication and creativity back into doctoring.”

The SELECT (Scholarly Excellence. Leadership Experiences. Collaborative Training.) program will offer 19 select students unique training in leadership development as well as the scholarly tools needed to become physician leaders and catalysts for change. During their first week on campus, instead of the old-style medical school tradition of heading to the gross anatomy lab, SELECT students are immersed in leadership training centered in empathy and other core principles of patient-centered care.

The hope is that this program will prepare the next generation of departmental chairmen, CMOs and physician thought leaders through more intense, non-traditional preparation.

Students will Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*

Health Care Attorney Warns About HIPAA Privacy Issues In Social Media

This is the first of a three part post addressing the legal concerns of social networking in the health care arena.

Legal expert, David Harlow, Esq., Health Care Attorney and Consultant at The Harlow Group, LLC in Boston, addresses the legal issues.

Q:  Barbara:
What are the legal implications for doctors, nurses and hospitals engaging in social media?

A:  David: Health care providers are concerned about HIPAA privacy issues – HIPAA violations may occur as a result of staff posts, or as a result of patient, family or caregiver posts – as well as potential liability for medical advice provided on line.  Physicians and nurses have been sanctioned and fired for privacy breaches via social media, so these are real concerns.  Some communications that folks think are OK may in fact be violations of HIPAA or state privacy laws, so great care in training is needed.  In addition, Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*

The Stories In Medicine That Need To Be Told

I can’t help but think that as time passes we’ll forget about how much medicine has changed with the introduction of the Internet.  We’re witnessing a transition that hasn’t been seen in generations.  We live with the end result but the memory of how we got here is fading quickly.  Like any kind of cultural shift, once we’ve arrived it’s hard to remember what it was like along the way.

How did patients think before the information revolution?  And how did it go down when patients began to search?  How specifically did information clash with the old model of doctor and patient and how did we deal with it?  There are stories here that need to be told.  I think the real stories are in the small details of what went down between doctors and patients. But as early adopters, most of us spend our time looking forward, not back. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*

Which Generation Of Physicians Uses The Most Mobile Technology?

Smartphones and tablets have reached 80% of physicians across all practice types, locations and years in practice, and 25% of users are “Super Mobile” physicians who use both types of mobile devices. This is far beyond the general population’s 50% adoption of smartphones and 5% adoption of tablets.

QuantiaMd, a free, online learning collaborative, released survey results that showed 44% of physicians who do not yet have a mobile device intend to buy one this year.

While younger physicians have higher adoption rates than older ones, current use of mobile devices by physicians longest in practice is above 60%, the survey showed. Among physicians with 30 years or more of practice, almost 20% already use a tablet device for work, and another 25% say they are extremely likely to do so. Physicians in their second decade of practice use Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*

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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