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How Are Physicians Using Social Media?

The time is approaching when businesses will want to capture the eyes and minds of physicians in the social world.  Throwaways and mailouts will give way to more current channels of communication.  Friends in the health
industry ask how they should connect with physicians using social media channels.

The rules really aren’t much different but here are a couple of things the consultants will never tell you:

I’m not on Sermo.  While Sermo and Ozmosis may seem like obvious targets, physician specific verticals are tricky.   The road to the successful physician network is littered with the skeletons of startups who went broke trying to capture our eyeballs.  While its hard to ignore Forrester’s bullish analysis of services like Sermo, I don’t
expect
the enthusiasm to be sustained.  Look to the next iteration of IMedExchange to possibly be a game changer
in this area.  Until then, the connectors who are going to get you where you want to go aren’t necessarily hangin’
with other doctors.  They’re found in the wild. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*

A Twitter Primer For Physicians

With the explosion of social media, I am amazed at how many cardiologists I encounter who know little to nothing about blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz and the like. “I’m too busy.” “Who has time for that stuff?” “I wouldn’t have time for anything else.” “How can I possibly keep up?”

And yet today, as more and more patients reach out to the web to find medical information or, more importantly, their doctor, physician specialists of all types should probably be asking, “Can I afford to not be connected with social media in one way or another?”

Google yourself. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*

Conversation Is Not A Business Strategy

I don’t agree with the first thesis of the Cluetrain Manifesto which asserts: Markets are conversations. There’s a measure of truth to it, but it’s an assertion that can lead marketers down a narrow path that obstructs a larger view of the possibilities of media. If markets were indeed conversations, then we all could get rich just by conversing. No, leading an audience is what gets things done – conversation is simply a bonus feature of a two-way Web.

I need to make my point in the flesh. So here I am, presenting an elucidation of my thesis: Audiences are strategic imperatives [link to video if you can’t see the embed is here]: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Phil Baumann*

Twitter-Assisted Diagnosis

I have many reasons to use Twitter. One of them is that it’s quite easy to get feedback from doctors who also use Twitter for communication. Now one of my stories was featured in the New York Times.

Some people are even using Twitter for more urgent questions. Bertalan Meskó, a medical student at the University of Debrecen in Hungary, wrote a post about a patient with mysterious symptoms: “Strange case today in internal medicine rotation. 16 years old boy with acute pancreatitis (for the 6th! time). Any ideas?”

Within hours, specialists worldwide had responded, suggesting gallstones, lupus or growths on the pancreas. One of the suggestions helped the doctors with a diagnosis.

“It would have been impossible to find that specialist through e-mail, because we had no idea who to contact,” Mr. Meskó said.

*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*

FDA, Social Media, And Second Life

You have probably heard about the Food and Drug Administration Social Media Hearing that took place last November focusing on how FDA-regulated products should use internet and social media for health-related communications. It also has an own, properly designed, online presence including Twitter streams and partners.

A week ago, I had a chance to attend a lively discussion focusing on this issue in the virtual realm of Second Life moderated by Patricia F. Anderson. I’ve seen numerous conferences in Second Life and this one was again a nice example that virtual environment is still useful when people from around the world would like to gather around and watch a presentation, then discuss it. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*

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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