June 9th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Opinion
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The Doctor’s white coat has been a symbol of the profession for decades. In the 1800’s and up through the early 20th Century, doctors wore street clothes while performing surgery…rolling up their sleeves and plunging dirty hands into patient’s bodies. They often were dressed in formal black, like the clergy to reflect the solemn nature of their role. (And seeing a doctor was solemn indeed as it often led to death)
A 1889 photograph from the Mass General Hospital shows surgeons in short sleeved white coats over their street clothes and in the early 20th Century the concept of cleanliness and antisepsis was starting to take hold in American medicine. Both doctors and nurses started donning white garb as a symbol of purity. The white coat took on more and more symbolic meaning and the “White Coat Ceremony”, where medical students are allowed to don the formal long white coat, has even been a right of passage with graduation from Medical School.
For the past few years, the American Medical Association and other medical societies have debated if it is time for the white coat to be retired. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
June 7th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Medblogger Shout Outs
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I love finding new physician voices. Here are a few that I’ve been peeking at over the past couple months. They’re worth checking out.
Linda Pourmassina. Linda is an internist in Seattle and one of the finest writers in the medical blogosphere. You can find her over at Pulsus where she offers commentary on an eclectic mix of medical goodness ranging from social media to the subtleties of patient interaction. Really good stuff. Check out The Internet and Delusional Thinking. Beyond her blog, Linda’s Twitter output is the perfect balance of valuable links and dialog. Put her in your feed and she’ll bring you good things.
Chris Porter. Chris is a surgeon who has been writing at On Surgery, Etc. since April. This guy has an incredible voice and offers rare insight into the experience of the surgeon. He has a remarkable way of seeing medicine at its most granular level. When he corrals his narrative in just the right way I expect we may see him on the new release table at Barnes & Noble. Check out his experience as a surgeon in Guatemala. And from the narrow column Blogger template to the liberal use of crazy images, his site offers the raw feel of some of the vintage medical bloggers. His bio reflects the mindset of a next-gen physician: I’m Phoenix-based and world oriented. How can you resist that? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
June 5th, 2011 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Opinion
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This is my column in June’s EM News.
‘But you’re a rich doctor, right?’ Have you had that conversation? There’s a certain expectation of physicians, that we’re all just filthy rich, overflowing with boxes of cash tucked neatly away beneath our gilded beds.
When we were building our house, our builder talked with my wife: ‘Jan, I want you to meet me to look for counters and cabinets. Don’t bathe the kids. Put them in dirty play clothes and don’t wear anything nice. Don’t ever tell them your husband is a doctor.’ He’s a wise man. What he knew was that the word ‘doctor’ means ‘cash.’ Or at least, means ‘cash’ to the popular mind.
I wonder if this perception is the reason patients come to the emergency department and say things like this: ‘I don’t have any money to go to the dentist, so I came here.’ It’s the belief that we come to our jobs already in possession of large amounts of money. Granted, there are some physicians who come from wealthy families. The majority, however, do not. And no one does that to any other professional. ‘I’d like a house built to order, and I know you’re a rich contractor. I can’t pay you, so get to work! Or else I’ll sue!’
Nevertheless, from patients to insurers, real-estate agents to contractors, attorneys to government and hospital officials, the belief is straightforward. MD means ‘Mucho Denaro.’ Witness the hospital in Pennsylvania that recently began Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
June 4th, 2011 by Berci in Opinion, Video
1 Comment »
My old friend and mentor, Ves Dimov, MD at Clinical Cases and Images shared some great instructions about how to start using social media as medical professionals.
– Start on Twitter, expand to a blog as natural progression.
– Input your blog posts automatically to a Facebook like/fan page.
– Listen to the leading physicians, nurses and patients’ voices on Twitter, and reply.
– Comment on blogs.
– Do not be afraid to share your expertise.
– Comply with HIPAA and common sense.
Also here is what Ves thinks about using Twitter.
I have published a series of similar entries on my Medicine 2.0 page.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
May 26th, 2011 by Shadowfax in Health Tips
1 Comment »
There’s been quite a kerfuffle over the “Unprofessional” post Dr V wrote. A lot of people have been very shrill in denouncing physicians who write about their experiences using social media — blogs, twitter, facebook, etc — with particular emphasis on those who do not use their real names.
So, while I won’t tell someone how they should blog/tweet, or try to impose my vision of professional standards on a community that clearly is still coming to consensus with public conversations by healthcare workers, I will offer you my personal guidelines and values that I use in determining what I am willing to put into the public domain. These are just my opinions; your mileage may vary.
As a general principle: patients give physicians and nurses access to intimate details of their lives and they have a reasonable and valid expectations that we will respect their privacy and dignity. When using social media, that does need to be maintained. How you do that requires careful attention and may be controversial regardless of your approach.
Don’t blog or tweet anything that you wouldn’t want you boss/hospital administration to read. Stress test yourself by informing your employer or CEO about your blog and invite them to read it. That will keep you honest! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
The Doctor’s white coat has been a symbol of the profession for decades. In the 1800’s and up through the early 20th Century, doctors wore street clothes while performing surgery…rolling up their sleeves and plunging dirty hands into patient’s bodies. They often were dressed in formal black, like the clergy to reflect the solemn nature of their role. (And seeing a doctor was solemn indeed as it often led to death)
