September 23rd, 2011 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in True Stories
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Got a call from a long-time patient over the weekend. Hearing a not overly alarming story but one that was not terribly reassuring either, I suggested she go to the Emergency Department.
Later that morning, sitting at an internet cafe with DSS eating breakfast, each of us surfing on our respective laptops, he says conversationally, “So I see Miss LTP is in the ER.”
My heart stopped and my stomach dropped. Had he managed to access the voicemail program I use for after hours calls? My EMR? Had I left shortcuts up to any patient-related materials on that machine? When had I last used it anyway? My mind was racing. I wasn’t all that concerned specifically about him knowing that a particular person was in the ER, since he understands confidentiality. But if he was able to access confidential patient information, did that mean I had a security breach?
“How do you know that?” I asked him carefully, after a very long pause, during which all of the above ran through my head. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
August 29th, 2011 by Berci in News
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I’ve always been a great fan of what Mayo Clinic has been doing on social media. Then after Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media was launched, I became a member of the international external advisory board which I’m very proud of. I reported when they launched a patient community and also discussed how well they did this. Now the Center is 1 year old and still performs perfectly. An excerpt form their previous entry:
Here’s a sneak peek of a few topics that were discussed during Mayo’s retreat: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
August 25th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
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Perhaps the biggest challenges facing the next generation of physicians is information overload. The problem: Unlimited information on limited human bandwidth. There’s simply too much to read and see. For physicians the problem is compounded by a perceived responsibility to keep up.
But the idea that we actually can have our hands around everything is reflective of a time when doctors actually could know all there was to know. Many of today’s physicians were raised at a time when a paper inbox and a pile of journals represented their only information inputs. But things are very different now.
Here are a few ideas on controlling your inputs: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
August 6th, 2011 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Expert Interviews, Opinion
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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*
July 26th, 2011 by DavedeBronkart in Opinion
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“Health is social,” says SPM member Phil Baumann, RN (@PhilBaumann) at HealthIsSocial.com.
Slate has a dramatic story of how a mother’s Facebook network helped spot – rapidly – Kawasaki Disease, a rare auto-immune disease that the family’s doctors had initially missed.
Her social network contains some medically knowledgeable people. (Do you have any docs, nurses, etc in your Facebook circle?) Note that friends’ availability is sometimes far greater than a doctor’s office.
Read how the diagnosis unfolded. And read what her family physician said, when she called from the E.R.:
“You know what?” he said, “I was actually just thinking it could be Kawasaki disease. Makes total sense. Bravo, Facebook.”
Then this, as the crisis wound down: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at e-Patients.net*
