October 17th, 2009 by DrRob in Announcements, True Stories
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I am sitting now in the medical blogger track at the Blogworld Expo.
As is generally the case, I got here too late to bum around with the med bloggers last night. It happened when I went the the “Putting Patients First” summit in DC as well. I just seem to have that kind of luck.
Anyway, the medical bloggers are forgiving and did not think I was being snooty. They also didn’t mind it when I missed breakfast with them. Why did I miss breakfast? I was being interviewed by Ira Glass from NPR. For some reason, this little ol’ blog got the attention of the producer from This American Life, the show that Ira hosts. They are doing a series on health care costs being out of control, and read the post I did in January about the insanity of medical codes. She felt that I would be a good person to discuss the reality of medical codes in the daily life of a doctor. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
September 11th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Better Health Network, Opinion
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I’ve received some emails from nurses who would like to start a blog. Some are a bit nervous about starting, others are not sure how to begin. There are a million sites out there on how to start a blog; in fact, I wrote a post specifically on how to be a “nurse blogtitioner”.
But their emails got me thinking about the blogosphere in general and the most important considerations in starting/maintaining a blog.
1. The blogsosphere can never be saturated.
Think you have nothing to add to the dialog? Think that everything about your topic has been said? Think again. If you aren’t blogging there is still a voice that needs to be heard. What exactly do you bring to the discussion? You! No one has had your experiences or can express your opinions. More importantly, no one else can bring your voice. And unlike a meeting or an email, there are no time limits or physical boundaries to the blogosphere. There is room for everybody, and that means you!
2. The heart of the blogosphere is interactivity.
If you read blogs, you probably leave comments. Comments are the soul of the blogosphere. With them, the blogosphere is a conversation. Without them, the blogosphere is simply a virtual collection of “articles”. By starting a blog, you bring the dialog to your “home turf”, so-to-speak. You are the host/hostess of a virtual “salon”, providing information on your sphere of expertise, initiating the debate and most importantly, learning from those who comment on your posts.
3. The blogosphere is the great equalizer.
There is no hierarchy of blogs. Don’t confuse size with importance. Some blogs may have a million readers a day and some may have ten, but in the blogosphere, no one is “better” than anyone else. Your blog, with that first post, is just as important and just as relevant as anything you see on “Instapundit” or the “Huffington Post”. It’s unique and cannot be replicated, because it is based on your outlook and experiences.
Here are some things to keep in mind as you start your blog:
1. Content is King
Maybe you look at the blogs with the sidebars and the graphics and the ads and the widgets and think, “Man, I don’t know how to do all that!”. You don’t have to do all that! All you have to do is start posting. One post. Later, if you want, you can add a blogroll or a few widgets. But the way to start is to begin writing, and keep writing. People will come for your content. Everything else takes a back seat to that.
2. Promotion, Ur Doin’ it Right
You’ve just put up your first post. A few folks might stumble on your site by accident, but you need to get out the word that you’re on the web. This is where you start promoting your blog. The best way to do this is find a carnival for your niche and submit a post. For those of us in the medblogging community, examples would be Grand Rounds, Change of Shift, Patients for a Moment and The Handover. Make your url part of every email signature and blog comment you send. Write it, and they will come…but they need to know you’re there.
3. Prolific Perfection…Not
Blogging can be addicting, and in a good way. It can be challenging, therapeutic, frustrating, and energizing – all in one post! But…you do not have to be the “perfect” writer. Just find your style and run with it. And while consistent posting makes it easier for readers to find your blog, you control your posting schedule. “Prolific” is what you say it is, be it once a week or once a day. But know this: the more you write, the easier it becomes to write; the more you are interacting with the blogosphere, the more inspiration you will find and the more you will want to write. It’s the blogosphere “circle of life”!
So…if you ask me, should I blog?
I’ll say YES!!!!
Been there, still doing that, and if I can do it, you can do it.
It will clarify your outlook.
It will recharge your batteries.
It will change your life.
Really, the bottom line?
You’ll never know unless you write…
That first post.
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
July 25th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Announcements, Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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This is Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, speaking at the Better Health “Putting Patients First” event in D.C.
I should talk about how passionately he spoke about health care reform (he did), about why he does not believe government should be running health care (he doesn’t) or that he took the time to come and speak at 8 am even though he had been up until 2 am working on the health care bill (he did) or that he spoke right up until he – literally- had to run back to the House to vote (he did).
And I will talk about these things.
But first, let me state the obvious and get it out of the way so that I can go on to discuss the serious nature of the health care reform debate before us.
Whoa.
Seriously, is it just me or are politicians getting better looking?
There. Now I can move on to the meat of the matter.
(I had to say it because you all know I was thinking it!)
*****
This event marked my first time in Washington, and just being there is awe-inspiring. Seeing the White House from the car window took my breath away, literally. I felt like Ellie May Clampett marveling at the ce-ment pond. The National Press Club is a museum in and of itself. Mother Jones and I were hoping we’d catch a glimpse of Sanjay Gupta, but he must have been off doing neurosurgery or something.
*****
By now, you’ve probably read who was on the panel (Dr. Wes, DrRich, Dr.Rob, Dr.Kevin, me, and Better Health contributors Dr. Alan Dappen, Valerie Tinley, NP and “token” – his words, LOL – surgeon Dr. James Herndon).
I will tell you straight up that I learned much more than I contributed.
The panel shot from the hip and spoke from the heart. Some of us had notes, some of us illustrated our comments with anecdotes and one of us (*cough*) had no clue what was going to come out of her mouth until that moment.
I’ll give you a hint….it wasn’t Valerie…..
*****
For the record, those of us on the panel were not told what to say, how to say it or what to believe, nor were we chosen based on what we do believe. Some discussed concepts that should be taken into account no matter what plan we end up with, others were definitely against a single payer plan run by the government (*raising hand*).
The inefficiencies of national health plans of other countries were illustrated/discussed. This hit me later: we should look at what works in those plans, not just what is wrong with them. We don’t have to emulate them, just learn from them, and that includes the good and the bad. It also applies to any universal form of coverage, not just a government-run plan.
Wish I had said that at the time.
So much for thinking on my feet (or on my butt, as the case may be).
*****
There was some controversy about not having any patient bloggers on the panel. There should have been. I hope that, as a nurse, I spoke for patients, but it was not the same as having someone there who navigates the system as a patient every single day.
The patient bloggers were in the audience, though, and if you go to Twitter you can find the live tweeting at “#patientsfirst”. There was a pretty healthy debate going on in the Twitterverse while the panel was up on the dais.
Here I am with Lisa Emrich (Brass and Ivory) and Kerri Morrone Sparling (Six Until Me). Duncan Cross was also there, but my pic was blurry!
*****
While health care reform has been a hot topic for awhile, it was especially acute this week as the President was actively promoting a government run health care system and there seemed to be a huge sense of urgency to get what is called “Americas Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009″ passed ASAP.
The bill is over 1000 pages long.
I just downloaded it.
And Congress has not read it.
Folks, our representatives are being asked to pass legislation they have not had a chance to read.
While I will admit to being a bit unsure of exactly what happens in the Beltway (Civics classes and Schoolhouse Rock’s “I’m Just a Bill” notwithstanding), that can’t possibly be business as usual.
Can it?
*****
I’ll say one thing: no matter what we believe, why we believe it or what our role is in the health care system, it is a conversation rife with strong opinions and passionate debate.
And, in the end, because we are all patients in one form or another at some point in our lives, the conversation is about us.
So, when you hear the phrase “putting patients first”, think of it as “putting me first”.
That may help you get a foothold in the morass of information that is the health care debate.
It worked for me.
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
June 25th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Audio, Health Policy
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Have you been following these bloggers?
Well you’re in for a treat. I had the good fortune of coralling them for a healthcare reform discussion, lead by Dr. Bob Goldberg of CMPI-Advance. Bob’s recent Op-Ed at ABC can be viewed here. I was going to provide a synopsis of what they said, but then – that would spoil the show!
[Audio:https://www.getbetterhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/cmpi-conference-call-62509.mp3]
