Dr. A Show 190 Wrap-up

Thanks to all those who were able to listen to Doctor Anonymous Show 190 live last night. I talked about this week's Digital Pharma East meeting in Philadelphia. During the show, I talked about the 2 panels that I was lucky enough to be a part of. I also talked about some people that I met at the meeting.

In the video clip above, I make some predictions of where I see the industry going. There is no way that pharma or even docs like me are going to push physicians into digital or into social media (at least right away). Who will push docs in this direction? Check out the video above to find out what I think.

You can listen to the entire audio podcast in the player in the sidebar. Or, if you like, you can go to the show's iTunes page, download Show 190, and listen at your leisure. I also encourage you to check out the show's facebook page and hit the big "Like" button at the top. Finally, if you enjoyed the video above, I encourage you to check my youtube page. Have a great weekend everybody!

Video Essay: Digital Pharma East 2010

I took a lot of video while at the Digital Pharma East 2010 conference this week in Philadelphia. I put this video wrap-up video really fast so that I could share this with all of you. (Apologize for all the non-ideal lighting. Hey, I'm not a videographer lol) The music is "Goodbye Philadelphia" by Peter Cincotti. I also invite you to read Post #1 and Post #2 from the meeting along with Doctor Anonymous Show 190. Thanks for a great meeting!

Dr. A Show Tonight

Thursday, October 21th, 2010 at 9pmET (0100 UTC)

I invite you to join me for Doctor Anonymous Show 190. Over the past few days, I have been in Philadelphia for the Digital Pharma East meeting. There is no scheduled guest tonight, but I will share some thoughts about my experience at this week's meeting. I refer you to a couple of posts I wrote before leaving Philly yesterday (See Post #1 and Post #2). In the video above, I was interviewed by the Pixels & Pills website that follows "New Directions In Digital Pharma." Thanks so much to them for interviewing me.

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

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 "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

Panel: Digital Pharma East 2010

I'm going to be leaving Philadelphia later today completing my time at Digital Pharma East 2010. I'd like to thank the organizers for asking me to be on a panel talking about the interface of pharma with physicians. The topic of this panel was similar to the discussion at Digital Pharma West this past summer.

It was a very good discussion with interaction from the audience. The bottom line is - as of right now - even though docs are using mobile and smartphones a lot, physicians are not on social media. The question kept keeping up as far as, "How can docs access pharma in the internet space?" The answer is that you just can't, because docs are not on social.

One point that was brought up was putting technology into the physician workflow. For example, putting things like pharma links into something like the EMR. In addition, wouldn't it be nice for me to see in the side bar whether the med I'm considering is on formulary or not on formulary. How about putting a link in my EMR side bar - that I can click - to get my patient a voucher for the med - instead of me trying to keep track of all the voucher cards or coupons in my office right now.

In my opinion, there is nothing that pharma can do directly that will get physicians on social media (at least right now). What I see in the future is pharma putting resources into a strategy that has worked in the past. The "Ask Your Doctor" about this med - The direct-to-consumer marketing strategy that has worked before - In addition to pharma exploring how to utilize the E-patient movement and patient advocates (Do you hear that E-patients?) - This means utilizing Consumer Directed Health Care - I see pharma pouring resources on these strategies instead of trying to get docs to access social.

Update: Digital Pharma East 2010

I'm having a great time here in Philadelphia at Digital Pharma East 2010. I'd like to thank the conference organizers for asking me to take part in the conference. I'll talk about the panel that I was on during a separate post. Usually during a meeting like this, I get to meet a lot of great people. And, I know that I'm going to probably offend someone if I don't mention everyone in this post. For that, I apologize.

However, for me, the highlight during the conference was meeting Berci Mesko, MD who is the founder of Webicina and ScienceRoll.com. He spent 24 hours traveling from Hungary to take part in the conference. I remember interviewing Berci in the early days of The Doctor Anonymous Show. And, he woke up at about 2 or 3am to talk to me live from Hungary.

We had a great conversation about social media. He told me that my blog and my internet radio show is a part of the curriculum for his Internet In Medicine University Course. We discussed me recording a video for his students about physicians in social media. He even told me that The Doctor Anonymous Show is a trivia question in his course. He is presenting today and he was interviewed at a session yesterday. I also invite you to check out Berci's update.

The highlight meet up that happened after the conference was with long time internet friend known as @LizzPiano. We started blogging at around the same time in 2006. In addition to reminiscing about those early blogging days, we had a great conversation about how we have seen the blogging scene change in just the past four years. The landscape of was was called "the medical blogosphere" then and "social health" now - has greatly changed with less pure story telling and more pure personal marketing of some who are seen as the leading voices in the social health space. I have a separate blog post in my mind on this topic. When will I write that post? Not right now...

Digital Pharma East 2010

I'm going to Philadelphia for two days this week to be a part of what is called "The Most Innovative Event In Pharma History." It is called Digital Pharma East put on by Exl Pharma. Back at the end on June, I was asked to attend DigPharm West in San Francisco. I definitely learned a lot by going to that meeting. I encourage you to check out my blog post of when I was there.

I'm going to be part of two panel discussions during this conference. The first one will be on Tuesday at 2:15pm. The title in the program is "Mobile Messaging To Health Care Providers." In this panel, will discuss "ways that mobile devices impact clinical workflow" and "how life sciences can use the mobile channels to provide value to the provider."

The second session will be on Wednesday at 9:30am. The title is "The Changing Landscape Of Pharma/Physician Relationships." I'm on this panel with none other than @Doctor_V. If you would like to see the full schedule, check out the link here.

One person I'm really looking forward to meeting at the conference is Berci Mesko, MD from the Science Roll website. I've been an admirer of his for a while. And, I actually interviewed him on The Doctor Anonymous Show in the early days of the show. He got up in the middle of the night to be on my show live.

One person I'm really looking forward to meeting outside the conference is @LizzPiano who lives in the Philadelphia area. We have known each other since I started blogging, and is a member of that group of people called "Bloggers Anonymous" that was jokingly started back in 2006 when I started blogging. So, needless to say, this will be a very fun trip!

Radio Rounds: Behind The Scenes

Yesterday, I was able to hang out at the studios of the Radio Rounds show/podcast on the campus of Wright State University in Dayton, OH. They broadcast Episode 410 live at noon eastern time and their guest was a recorded interview with Howard Dean.

In the video above, you'll see the what happens behind the scenes during a live podcast. It was so interesting seeing how the four co-hosts coordinated to make this show happen. As they talk about in the clip, this is the first time that these four have been in the same studio for a number of months. But, you'll be able to see the rapport that this tight knit group has.

I also invite you to check out the Radio Rounds crew from Doctor Anonymous Show 183 from a few months ago. You can download Show 183 how from the Dr. A iTunes page. I also invite you to check out the facebook page for my show. And, if you enjoy the video above, check out others from my YouTube page. Enjoy!

Twitter Mentor

I've had a lot of titles in my life. But, "Twitter Mentor" has never been one of them - until now. Over the weekend, I was asked to lead a discussion about social media with my friends at the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP). I've been involved with the organization all the way back to when I was a medical student.

The organization, lead by OAFP President Dr. Sarah Sams (pictured to the right above), has made it a priority this year to get involved and learn more about social media. This is where I come in. Not only was I asked to help come up with a strategy, Madame President asked me what twitter was all about and how to get signed up. In the picture above, Dr. Sams is tweeting for the first time.

This was also interesting, because in last night's HCSM twitter chat, question number three was this: You’re charged with setting a colleague/MD/exec up on social media. Who should they start following, listening to, and engaging with? Why? What comes first?

In the HCSM chat, they recommended finding a kind of social media mentor - which I totally agree with. I mean, hey even CEO's of companies are asking for help from the tech savvy set. Sarah has been great to work with on this. I encourage you to give her a follow @QuiltingDoctor - In addition, give a follow to the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians feed @OhioAFP. Thanks so much!

Show 189 Wrap-up

Thanks to my co-host Kat for joining me for Doctor Anonymous Show 189. Topics on the show included my travel from Seattle, some current news events, and me whining about the Ohio State loss last night. In the video above, we discuss a news story from the week talking about prescription drug abuse.

As always, you can listen to the entire audio podcast in the sidebar. Or, if you like, you can go to the show's iTunes page, download Show 189, and listen at your leisure. I also invite you to check out the show's facebook page and press the huge "Like" button at the top. Finally, check out my youtube page. Thanks for your continued support of the show!

Why Social Media Needs Physician Participation

One of the most common questions I get is this: "Why should physicians get involved in social media?" This past week, Swedish Medical Center in Seattle had a social media conference of which I was fortunate to be a part of (#Swedish100). I invite you to read more about the panel that I was a part of at this link here.

However, there was a lot of buzz this week generated by the presentation by Wendy Sue Swanson, MD who is otherwise known on twitter as @SeattleMamaDoc. She makes the best case of why docs should be involved in the social space during her inspiring program. Check out the video above. This should be required viewing by all docs and all those who doubt that physicians can make an impact in social media.