This year, nearly 4 million of you visited KevinMD.com.  

Thank you.

I’m humbled that so many of you find the time during the day to visit the site and participate in the discussion that often ensues.

As our health care world dramatically changes around us, it’s important that medical professionals have a say in the process. KevinMD.com provides an influential platform for your voice, and I will continue to do my best to expand that stage, so you can be heard.

By the media.  By the politicians.  By the policy makers.  And, most importantly, by our patients.

So, without further ado, here are the most popular posts of 2011.

1. What happened inside the hospital during the Joplin, MO tornado. Dr. Kevin Kikta was one of two emergency physicians on duty at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, MO on Sunday, May 22 when an EF-5 tornado struck the hospital.

2. Your 10 minute office visit needs 8 people and 45 minutes of work. I know that patients often say “But he only spent 10 minutes with me.” Checking back with the provider, I find it was typically longer. Patients tend to underestimate the time as it goes very fast.

3. How a medical student uses an iPad for patient care and education. iPads have been introduced into medical education mostly during the pre-clinical years. I’d like to share my experience using an iPad during my clinical year. I’ve found it to be exceedingly useful and versatile.

4. Why 99 percent of health care should be angry. As Occupy Wall Street has gone from an obscure protest covered only on blogs and social media to a national phenomenon, the apparent parallels between the issues it is raising and the issues we have been raising in health care grows.

5. Why hospitals and physicians should get serious about patient-centered care. Health care professionals are a cynical lot. We joke about the “fad or buzzword of the month,” usually some vague concept heralded by the powers on high. Our job is to promote the idea, knowing full well that the “next big thing” is probably right around the corner.

6. Real life example of medical school debt. Want to really understand the reality of US medical education debt? Then allow me to pull back the curtains to expose the financial monster that awaits me after I earn my MD.

7. Should doctors be addressed by their first name? Please hold me accountable, and keep calling me “Doctor.”

8. A doctor’s letter to a patient with newly diagnosed cancer. Nothing in my career in medicine has prepared me for being a friend to someone with such a terrible disease.

9. A complete guide to planning a social media presence for healthcare. The world of healthcare is inherently siloed, tethered, fragmented and prone to poor communication and collaboration.

10. How Steve Jobs mentored a physician and changed health care. Clearly though the outpouring of comments and support across the web, Steve Jobs has had a profound influence in many of our lives. In most cases, it wasn’t even about the products. It was simply a way of living and viewing life.