Many people use reviews to help decide how to choose products and services. However, it is not widely known that an online physician review may not reflect what we think it does.
I thought about sharing this information before — but now it is time.
Recently, a frustrated patient called my office to schedule an appointment.
She simply wanted a doctor who did not have awful online reviews.
Seriously?
This is truly a sad state …
Pseudoscience hate groups of all kinds are targeting physicians who openly advocate for public health issues. This is a favorite intimidation tactic used by anti-vaccine activists: When pediatrician colleague Jen Trachtenberg posted a video for National Immunization Awareness Month 2018, she was blasted with thousands of horrible comments and fake online reviews. I wrote a blog post in her defense, and immediately, I was similarly targeted, …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
We live in a time when social media isn’t just about sharing pictures or ideas with a close circle of friends and family. Between our Facebook statuses, our Twitter profiles and especially our LinkedIn pages, we are always public, all the time — no matter what your privacy settings may have you believe.
For …
I started sharing my journey through medicine on Instagram about four years ago after I failed the musculoskeletal block during my first year of medical school. I felt alone in my struggles and didn’t want anyone else to feel that way. So I started talking about it openly. It quickly became a place to nurture my creative self and build community. And even though a lot …
For Apple iPhone users, the release of iOS 12 included a new feature called “Screen Time.” Although a number of productivity apps that offered a similar snapshot of phone usage were available before this update, I was never interested in quantifying my usage. Now, on a weekly basis, I get a reminder of the exact percentage breakdown of how I’m using my phone.
In true millennial fashion, a review of my …
By now, I’m sure most of you probably have heard about the Cleveland Clinic first-year resident who was fired last September when it became known that in 2012 she had tweeted she would “purposely give all the yahood [Jews] the wrong meds …”
The website Canary Mission documented numerous tweets expressing similar thoughts. She has apologized but will likely have great difficulty finding another job as a physician.
This …
During rounds, in between seeing patients, the medical student pulls out his phone and scans a dating app for new matches. In the team room, a resident opens Facebook before responding to a non-urgent page. Each of these instances may seem trivial enough, but I’ve seen both lead to poor evaluations, reprimands, or others whispering terms like “unprofessional.”
In the medical world, there’s an implicit understanding that while you’re at work, …
I use social media. Specifically, I use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. In the beginning, I did so for utilitarian purposes. As a columnist and aspiring writer of books, these were (and indeed are) useful marketing tools.
I have, in the past, carried around a note-pad to jot down ideas. I was never without my note-pad. I always wanted a small legal-pad with a blue or black gel-ink pen. It was my …
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
Whether you’re looking for a new position or just wanting to connect with colleagues, LinkedIn is a great resource to advance your career. As a healthcare professional, having an online presence can understandably make you uneasy, especially when it comes to concerns about privacy or potential HIPAA violations. However, in today’s technological …
It’s been said that 80 percent of success is showing up, but that’s simply not true. Showing up is not enough. Showing up reliably and giving your best is not enough. You’ve got to be seen showing up. So, how do you raise your professional visibility? Here are five tips for the modern physician leader. If you are a traditionalist, please keep an open mind. The strategies below aren’t that …
Patients have a lot of choices when it comes to physicians. Making sure your online profile is up to date, complete, and contains these five items will improve the chances that a website visitor will become a patient.
Create a personal connection. Having good rapport with patients is important, and that process starts before patients ever walk in the door.
How often have you seen a physician bio that only contains a single, …
Early this month, Joanna Gaines, co-host of HGTV’s popular Fixer Upper, shared her pregnancy news with the world via a baby bump photo and an ultrasound, both posted to Instagram. The congratulations began pouring in from excited fans. But the conversation took a dark turn when a physician commented that the ultrasound appeared to …
Twitter is a communication platform, and, therefore, it is a neutral medium. It’s not the medium itself, but how you use the medium that makes Twitter “good” or “bad.” In my five years of being an anonymous and five months of being a named individual on Twitter, I have come to realize that different people use Twitter for different purposes. In …
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The ALS ice bucket challenge, better known as #ALSIceBucketChallenge or #icebucketchallenge, was almost the perfect storm for viral fundraising. In my course, Designing Health Campaigns Using Social Media at Tufts University, we analyzed why the challenge went viral.
Not surprisingly, given its popularity, my students had all heard about it and watched challenge videos. About half had done it. Some researched amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and …
At the end of a long day at my medical practice, I am sitting at my computer catching up with friends via Facebook. Suddenly, a notification pops up: one of the patients I saw today has sent me a friend request. I know that the ACP, AMA and every other physician organization recommends strongly that doctors not connect with patients via social media, so I quickly click to decline the …
An anesthesiologist at a California hospital pasted stickers simulating a mustache and teardrops on the face of a hospital employee while she was having surgery on a finger.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the doctor said, “I thought she would think this is funny and she would appreciate it.”
And if that wasn’t bad enough, a “nursing attendant” took a photograph.
The patient, who said she had to quit her job …
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If one searches for “online patient communities” over 19 million Internet sites are found. Online patient communities (OPCs) may exist as subgroups of social media sites, non-profit organizations, and increasingly as part of websites of healthcare organizations and stand alone sites.
Online communities are now becoming a rich source of information gleaned from their discussions. This information will be increasingly used for both clinical and commercial purposes. I will touch on themes which …
A few weeks ago I was following an online discussion conducted by a widely followed health site.
During the discussion, they had a physician who was giving out wellness advice to users via Twitter.
That physician had one tweet in particular that terrified me.
As the above screenshot shows, one tweet mentioned that when in doubt regarding …
How should doctors behave online? This is a funny question, isn’t it?
Medical establishment loves rules and hierarchy. Social media does not. Social media levels the playing field of who gets to talk; it gives real caregivers a voice. That’s very cool.
This is just a guess, but I suspect there are many more acts left to play out in the healthcare social media play.
The American College of Physicians and the Federation …
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The General Medical Council (UK) published new guidelines that state, “If you identify yourself as a doctor in publicly accessible social media, you should also identify yourself by name. Any material written by authors who represent themselves as doctors is likely to be taken on trust and may reasonably be taken to represent the views of the profession more widely.” This has …
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