December 8th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Opinion
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The pros and cons of social media for physicians are nicely reviewed by a number of prominent medbloggers (including yours truly) by Bonnie Ellerin in her recent white paper (pdf). An excerpt:
There is a profound change sweeping the world of medicine. Technology is the driver, but it has nothing to do with a new drug, device or procedure. Rather it is about the change in physician behavior and mindset that technology — the Internet more specifically — has unleashed. Today, physicians of all ages and specialties are online, whether via laptop, desktop, or mobile.
With physicians’ acceptance of technology has come a new type of openness among a small but growing number. In the past, the only doctors who were likely to air views publicly were medical journalists. But, today, there are physicians who blog, tweet, email with patients, post videos, even check-in on Foursquare. If you have any doubt, just look at the “Favorite Blogs” section of a physician blogger or scan the list of followers/following of any doctor on Twitter, and you’ll get a sense of how many of them are getting social. Far more than you thought.
Read more HERE.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
h/t: @hjlucks on Twitter via Smartblog On Social Media.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
December 7th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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We all want technology to improve communication between doctors and patients. We fantasize that social tools will open doors and bridge the expanding divide between doctors and patients.
I’m wondering if it’s a case of unicorns and rainbows: Fancy new tools to do the old thing in a less-effective way. I’m guessing that if Facebook was the old platform for doctor-patient dialog and the telephone was invented this year, everyone would be clamoring to use the phone (“Dude, this is amazing…you can hear them talk.”)
I like the telephone. Written copy misses intonation, timing, pitch, and all the other rich elements of human speech. Subtle changes in a parent’s voice tell me if I’ve made my point and exactly how I need to proceed [with caring for their child]. Unspoken words on a screen are so one-dimensional.
Of course, email has a tightly-defined place in patient communication. And real-time social interaction between patient and clinic will evolve to have a clear role in patient care. But for now, the phone remains one of the most effective tools for helping doctor and patient really understand one another.
[Image credit: Cemagraphics]
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
September 23rd, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
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Last week, Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry smartphones, held a clinical collaboration summit in Boston to discuss their vision of the future of mobile device integration into healthcare IT. Several vendors and app makers attended and shared how they are implementing mobile devices into workflows with RIM claiming their superiority in security and data protection through data wiping, access control, and audit trail.
One claim that several speakers made was that hours per week could be saved by making clinical and logistical data available on smartphones and that studies have shown clinical information presented on a small screen can be used for mobile situation diagnostic ability, notably for ECG and OB data through companies like AirStrip. A few studies have backed parts of this claim, [including] a recent paper in the Journal of Hospital Medicine by Wu. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
September 23rd, 2010 by Felasfa Wodajo, M.D. in Better Health Network, Interviews, Opinion, Research
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We recently reported our interview with Dr. Henry Feldman of the Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston and his experience using the iPad as his sole computing device while attending on the wards. Overall, his experience was positive, while accessing the hospital networks, using clinical applications and questions about security. Be sure also to check out Future Docs blog and Dr. Arora’s experience using the iPad on the wards to get more real-world perspectives on using the iPad on the wards.
Among the few difficulties Dr. Feldman had, one was that typing long notes on the glass keyboard was cumbersome, requiring the use a desktop computer for admission and discharge notes. This may now turn out to be one of the easiest problems to solve, if two recently announced iPad cases are any indication. Sena and Kensington are both releasing iPad cases with built-in bluetooth keyboards. Each has a built in battery and the cases fold into dimensions not much larger than a standard iPad case. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
August 10th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
1 Comment »
Dr. Wes (a cardiology blogger whom all should read) wrote a very compelling post about technology and the bondage it can create for doctors:
The devaluation of doctors’ time continues unabated.
As we move into our new era of health care delivery with millions more needing physician time (and other health care provider’s time, for that matter) –- we’re seeing a powerful force emerge –- a subtle marketing of limitless physician availability facilitated by the advance of the electronic medical record, social media, and smartphones.
Doctors, you see, must be always present, always available, always giving.
These sound like dire words, but the degree to which it has resonated around the Web among doctors is telling. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
