Back in 2004, after I was accepted into Stanford University, a friend of mine at the university took me around on a campus tour. He showed me the building he lived in (Donner), his cafeteria (Stern), Hoover Tower, and all the usual sights. When it came time for him to tell me more about his classmates and dorm buddies, he promptly pulled up a webpage on his computer. “You have …
How social media impacted a medical student’s career
Recently, Kevin Pho wrote about a physician, Alexandra Thran, who was disciplined by both her hospital and the state medical board for writing about a trauma patient she had seen. Although Dr. Thran hadn’t divulged the patient’s name, enough information was conveyed that allowed others in the community to identify the patient in question.
That story really freaked me out. Because, as you know, I sometimes write about my …
How doctors can write about clinical cases online
In the course of doing research on the future of social media in health care, and hearing from a group of doctors who believe there isn’t one in their practice, I also talked to a few future physicians. Three to be exact, from different parts of the United States, a third year student, a student on the verge of enrolling in a US medical school, and the one …
A medical student talks about social media in health care
Google “anonymity medical blogs” and you will find many takes on this. Some anonymous med-bloggers advocate the value of sharing real-life stories, but to me that comes loaded with layers of conflicts of interests. We all have the right to be anonymous, but is it always a good idea to do it just because we can?
Should medical bloggers be anonymous?
I started my first blog, Chick Lit MD, in December of 2009. By the time I began filling out my medical school applications I had been actively blogging for approximately 7 months. As someone interested in the intersection between medicine and media, the use of social media was integral to my exploration of both fields. As such, I included my adventures in social media in my application in a tactful …
Social media tips for students applying to medical school
Social media holds a lot of potential for the health care professionals. Is fear of the medium inappropriately leading to professionals avoiding this “social situation”? Have we created a social media anxiety syndrome?
We are aware of the social anxiety disorder or social phobia. Among its many features are (this is a convenient list for the purpose of this post and not a strict definition):
How physicians can overcome social media anxiety on Twitter
Occasionally, my vocation of treating obesity and my avocation of health care social media intersect.
This is one of those moments. This is the story of a health care social media betrayal in which obese children and e-patients are the victims. Nobody died, except medical ethics, good judgment, and trust in doctors. This is WebMD’s Health Care Social Media Disaster.
Recently, WebMD published the following “advertorial” from Kellogg’s: “Mums, kids & breakfast: The …
Sponsored content on health sites can mislead patients
Last summer, I joined millions of others in the deluge of social media. I committed one year of effort to see if social would enhance or distract from my pediatric practice.
That was my goal, just one year.
At that time, I wanted to dip my foot in the pool, and see if it made any ripples. The unexpected consequence was how much social media has changed my medical practice, and …
How social media has changed my medical practice
In general, educators are often trying to find unique ways to engage their students.
This is certainly true of medical educators, given that little has changed in medical education in the past 100 years, and for that reason there have been many recent efforts to change this. Similarly, there is often a generational gap between teacher and learner, and thus teachers look for ways to connect with the younger generation they …
Using Twitter as an audience response system
Google+ has launched in beta stages and social networking for physicians has the potential for significant evolution. The challenge for physicians of balancing personal and professional online is not easy to solve. The dual citizenship approach provides recommendations for physicians to manage their profiles online. It is suggested that separate personal and professional profiles are created, with the hope that the latter will rank higher in searches. They also recommend …
Google+: Physicians can optimize their online footprint
The Facebook Kawasaki diagnosis story is a wonderful one. In case you’ve not heard, a 4-year-old boy with a fever and facial swelling was misdiagnosed by his pediatrician. When his mother went to Facebook to share photos of the poor, pumpkin-headed child, three of the mom’s Facebook friends told her that he had Kawasaki disease. They implored her to take him to the ER. She acquiesced and took her …
A dermatologist take on the Facebook Kawasaki diagnosis story
Twitter, like most social media, is evolving rapidly. Even though most physicians are not directly familiar with Twitter, more are building an awareness and curiosity each month. This post is written mostly for those of you new to this tool or giving it consideration.
The AMA recently posted an article entitled Physicians on Twitter and here is a synopsis of their study: “The study focused on 5,156 tweets …
Suggestions for physicians trying to determine the value of Twitter
I delivered a keynote presentation a few weeks ago entitled “Personalized Medicine: Tailoring Healthcare in the Information Age” to a group of parents who had taken their kids to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Science Horizons summer science camp.
Aside from the jolt the parents received from my presentation regarding anticipated changes in 21st century healthcare, especially involving the myriad ELSI issues that would confront medical practices as a …
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The issue of social media being used by the pharmaceutical and health care industry has raised a variety of concerns from consumer groups and industry critics. Most recently, several consumer groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that the pharmaceutical industry’s use of social media was deceptive and unfair.
Consequently, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine also covered the issue of social …
The FDA needs to issue guidance on the use of social media
Recently, I dashed off this tweet:
PhD student just asked me which journals I read to stay up to date on health + tech. My answer: Twitter.
It was classic RT bait and indeed it was echoed dozens of times by fellow Twitter geeks — more than any other tweet I’ve written. But I would like to qualify it with a fuller explanation. I don’t just read Twitter and ignore journals. …
How Twitter is a library and field work combined
“Twitter? I don’t have time for that, besides, my life is boring; nobody wants to hear about my boring life.” This is a common response when I talk to people about social media.
One of the reasons I think many have a hard time persuading docs to adopt social media, is because docs don’t understand what they can do with social media or how they can use it for …
Why your medical practice should adopt social media
Bryan Vartabedian, MD blogs at 33 Charts about the convergence of medicine and social media. A post last year gives a vision of how current social media concepts will merge with existing electronic medical record (EMR) technologies to produce a fully integrated communications system for health professionals.
The picture Dr. Vartabedian paints is a dream for those of us who extensively use technology in other parts …
How social media will merge with electronic medical records
Should all health care professionals have a social media presence?
No, not necessarily.
Did I surprise you? Here I am rattling on and on about how health care professionals should all have a blog, tweet, link up and now I’m saying not everyone needs to hop onto social media.
Let me explain the apparent contradiction.
If you are a solo provider and hope to stay financially solvent, you need to market online. All …
Should all health care professionals have a social media presence?
This is a message that should resonate loud and clear with providers, institutions or members of the healthcare enterprise world who are ruminating over the upsides — and potential downsides — of a wide reaching, multiple digital property: social media presence.
As Ted Eytan found out when he questioned the (anonymous) physicians on Sermo, many physicians are simply not interested in establishing an online presence.
“Risk” is the overwhelming variable they’re …
Social media ROI for one practicing physician
I was recently asked by Adam Sharp, MD the Chief Medical Officer of Sermo, the physician-only online community at Sermo.com, to write a guest post of my choosing and facilitate a discussion about it for a few days. My choice? Social media, (based on the recent article colleagues and I co-published in The Permanente Journal). This post is about my experience and what I learned.
I know that …
Discussing social media with physicians on Sermo
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