Kevin, MD: USA Today Op-Ed

One of New Media Medicine's leading voices, Kevin Pho, has another op-ed piece in USA Today. It is entitled, "Why Doctors Still Balk At Electronic Medical Records." Here is an excerpt:

Despite the advantages of computerized records — including reduction of errors, improved preventive care and potential health care cost savings — adoption of the technology remains distressingly low. In addition, the learning curve for these programs is steep, increasing the amount of time a physician spends per patient.

Furthermore, today's electronic record systems are riddled with problems. Many programs boil the patient encounter down to a series of "yes" or "no" questions that are then entered into the software. The resulting computer-generated notes are almost devoid of useful clinical information.

I could not agree more. I am a primary care physician myself and our physician group has been dragging our feet on getting an electronic medical records system. The reasons above are among our rationale. In addition, Kevin is now a member of the USA Today's Board of Contributors. Congrats on this and thanks for keeping up the voice of physicians.

PixelRN: First Video Post

Congrats on PixelRN on creating her first video post. Here, she updates us on what's been happening and how she's been feeling since her blog was "delisted" by Google. What? Really? Yes, that's right. For more information, check out Part One and Part Two and she goes into more detail there.

So, another person from the New Media Medicine community journeying into the area of video blogging. YAY! Are you next? I know that you are. It's easy. And, it's fun. I know most of you out there have a web cam on your laptop now. So, check it out! You'll be glad you did!

GruntDoc Caption Contest

This is pretty self-explanatory. Leave your comments over there, and be creative!

Show 50 Wrap-up

Thanks so much to Dr. Jeffrey Parks from the Buckeye Surgeon blog. Missed the show? Well, you can always catch the archive of The Doctor Anonymous Show 50 (don't forget to rate the show). In addition to surgical topics, we talked about how he started out as an anonymous blogger. And, in the past few months, he decided to use his real name and picture up on his blog. (See video post above)

Thanks also go out to those who called into the show including Bongi (a surgeon from South Africa where it was 3:30am when he called in), Vijay (a radiologist from India where it was about 8am local time when he called in), Ramona, Enrico, and Mother Jones who called in at the end of the show. I admit that I had a little difficult time hearing Bongi live. So, I'll have to listen to the archived show again.

At the end of the show, I talked about a possible Doctor Anonymous Halloween Show at the end of October. I'm thinking that would be fun, but not sure exactly how the show would be structured. Maybe we can talk about that as the date gets closer. Any suggestions? Leave them in the comment section.

Finally, I'm cancelling the blogtalkradio show next week. I'm scheduled to play soccer doc and when I would be back home at Dr. A world headquarters is unpredictable. I'm considering doing something like broadcasting from my ustream channel when I get home - maybe put out there on Twitter when I would be broadcasting. Still unsure yet. However, if you're not subscribed yet to my twitter account - Do it! It's a great time. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Dr. A Show 50: Buckeye Surgeon

Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 9:00pm Eastern Time

Join us tonight for The Doctor Anonymous Show number 50. Our guest will be Dr. Jeffrey Parks and his blog is called Buckeye Surgeon.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll start taking calls about halfway into the show. There is also a "Click To Talk" feature where you do not need a phone to call into the show - only a microphone headset. Hope these tips are helpful!

The Buckeye Surgeon interview

This week, The Doctor Anonymous Show is honored to welcome Dr. Jeffrey Parks to the show. His blog is called Buckeye Surgeon and he works in the Cleveland, Ohio area. This probably doesn't mean much to some people out there, but, to me, I think this is great because this is a guy who is close to me. And, someone I may actually refer patients to at some point in the future.

Not only does this guy have great clinical posts (with added images from CT scans and other pics), he has excellent non-clinical posts as well whether it comes to Cleveland sports or whatever. I really enjoyed the first paragraph that he ever wrote on a blog - in a post simply entitled, "Begin"

An initial salvo into the world of unfettered spilling of soul into the public domain. The concept is revolutionary, as far as Im concerned. Whatever happened to locked leather journals, stashed under the bedframe? Away with private thoughts. This is me! I exist! Although reeking of narcissism and existential angst, you have to admit, it's compelling as hell. If you're any good, and people respond regularly with insightful feedback, an entire community is born, a community unavailable to us in non-cyber (so-called real) life, as we mindlessly pass through our waking days like automatons, driving the same routes to work, having the same superficial conversations with colleagues you know nothing about but have known for years, distracted by talk radio, ipods, sports scores, our minds cluttered with the nothingness. Maybe the modern mind isn't made for solitary contemplation with pen and paper. We make a deal. If we are going to, god forbid, think creatively, constructively, or insightfully, then it has to be done so everyone else can see. The age of exhibitionism. Watch me. Read me.

So, join us for show number 50(!) on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time on BlogTalkRadio. In addition to the interview, you can also participate in the live interactive chat room, you can call into the show to ask a question, and you can even see my shining face on the live web cam. Exciting, I know. See you for the show!

BlogWorld 2009 starts NOW

As this blog reported yesterday, Blog World Expo 2009 will have an entire medblogger program track devoted to it (YAY!). There were more details from the initial planning meeting posted on Emergiblog just last night. Apparently, there will be eight sessions on the program.

In their initial brainstorming session, they came up with eleven potential topics including the following: Health Care Blogger Code of Ethics, HIPPA, Pharmaceutical companies, Writer's Block, "Bloggin for a livin," Medical corporate america in blogging, Health Policy Issues, Networking inside and out of the medblogosphere, something called "Skeptics Circle," and health advocacy.

Of course, I paraphrased all the topics above (rather badly, I think). To get the more detailed version, I suggest you head on over to the Emergiblog, take a read of the list, and leave comments. I'm going to turn off comments over here in an effort to concentrate all the comments in one place. Put on your thinking caps, boys and girls! Even though we have a year to do this, let's channel this excitement into planning mode for next year. What do you think? This is going to be fun!

New Media Medicine at BlogWorld

It was really great seeing the twitters and blog posts from my pals out there at Blog World Expo this past weekend. Big shout out to Emergiblog for the blog update and to Dr. Val for the twitter updates. That's a great pic above. According to Kim, here are the people above, "From left to right: Rob Halper, our friend from Johnson & Johnson, Beth (PixelRN), Me (when I’m not doubling as my Lego alter-ego), and Dr. Val. In the back, the one and only Shane and Dr. Val’s friend John (Mr. Dr. Val was taking the picture!)."

Did you know that Dr. Val was interviewed by BlogTalkRadio while at the expo? And, that she is going to have her own BlogTalkRadio show soon? Yeesh, I fear that I will be blown away by the Dr. Val tsunami when she starts on BTR. Oh well. Thanks, though, for mentioning my show during your BTR interview. Want to listen? Click here and check it out.

Mark your calenders now - all of you who are friends of New Media Medicine. The dates for next year are October 15-17, 2009 for Blog World Expo. And, if you didn't already know, there will be an entire medblogger track - the first of its kind at a national new media convention. I'm very excited about that. I'll be curious about how the schedule is put together and the speakers that the organizers obtain for the convention.

I hope to read more experiences from 2008 Blog World from those who attended - especially the luncheon sponsored by Johnson & Johnson - the topic of which was supposed to be about new media medicine and medblogging. Let us know how that went. I'm curious about the reception to this topic by those who attended - particularly corporate America.

The Differential Podcast: Episode 1

I just got the e-mail today that the first episode of The Differential podcast is now available for your review and download. As you know, this is a podcast about the TV show "House, MD." We talked to two of the co-hosts on The Doctor Anonymous Show number 48 a couple of weeks ago.

I did a little 3 minute commentary about the relevant medical plotlines of this week's episode called "Dying Changes Everything." This analysis is not intended to be all inclusive like the analysis seen on other sites like polite dissent, but only a quick opinion about what I think is interesting. So, I hope, if anything else, listeners find it entertaining.

Anyway, you can get to the Episode One by clicking here. I turned the comments off here, because I hope if you check out the episode, that you leave comments over there on The Differential podcast site. Enjoy!

Show 49 Wrap-up

Thanks to everyone who joined The Doctor Anonymous Show 49 tonight! Thanks to Kim from Emergiblog who is going out to Blog World Expo in Las Vegas this weekend. We talked about a luncheon that's going to take place out there centered on new media medicine and medical blogging. (See video post above)

There has also been talk that there will be a specific new media medicine and medblogger programming track at Blog World Expo 2009. So, we talked about potential topics including The Health Care Blogger Code of Ethics. Also, in kind of a fun way, we were "volunteering" people to do sessions next year. Thanks so much to the people who called into the show (and makes my job a lot easier so I don't have to talk to myself): Emily, Mother Jones, Enrico.

Also, thanks to everyone who listened live! I had to start the show 45 minutes late tonight because I was stuck at the hospital. But, as soon as I sent the twitter out that the show was starting - BOOM - about 20 people magically appeared in my chat room. The power of Twitter!

After the radio show, I went live on my UStream site. And, there were about 20 people in there chatting it up, and looking at my face as I talked like a pirate - hehe. We listened to music, did out little post morteum of the show, and just hang out. We even had people listening and watching from Australia, India, and South Africa tonight. How cool is that? Thanks so much to everyone for continuing to support the show. Have a great weekend!