I invite you to join me for Doctor Anonymous Show 200 tonight! Can you believe it's been 200 shows already? My guest will be Dr. Jennifer Dyer from Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She is a pediatric endocrinologist and is in the midst of writing up a research paper on how she utilized text messaging to communicate with patients. We'll also talk about her thoughts about medicine and social media in general.
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.
There have been a few stated excuses why physicians are hesitant to utilize social media services for things like peer to peer communication and for discussion of clinical cases. The statements that are made are they physicians are concerned about issues of security and privacy. Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with these statements.
It's just that organizations, especially physician membership organizations, have been trying to come up with the answer of how to build a site by which physicians can feel "safe" to discuss these type of issues.
My professional organization, the American Academy of Family Physicians, announced on their Facebook page yesterday that they are introducing a platform on their website that is "safe" and "secure" to encourage family physician members increased communication.
The name of this service is "AAFP Connection," and I give a brief review of this service in the video above. Visually, the interface is nice. There is no doubt that one of the things that they wanted to do is to make the user interface fairly easy to navigate.
AAFP Connection has the equivalent of twitter/facebook updates and the ability to store photos. Something interesting is the ability to upload documents and share these as well. I wonder how much this feature will be utilized by users.
Of course, the big question is this: Will AAFP members use this platform? My initial gut feeling is no. I have been a member of the AAFP for a number of years now, and the in the "communication generation" before this one, there was promotion of the use of e-mail listservs. What happened there was it was popular for a number of months, and then people didn't utilize as much. For me, there wasn't too much real dialogue, and a lot of people used it for their own self-promotion - thereby giving it a "spam" like feel.
The failure of AAFP Connection is not going to be because of the AAFP. It's just that for those who use twitter and facebook, how can a busy physician check another social network? For those who are not even on social media, trying to explain the concept of a social network will be difficult. The good part is that their huge AAFP Committee Cluster meetings will take place at the end of this month. Maybe some good brainstorming can take place to see how to effectively roll this product out....
In his first day on the job, newly sworn in Ohio Attorney General (and former US Senator from Ohio) Mike Dewine stated his intent to join the lawsuit filed by other states with regard to last year's health care overhaul legislation. He is fulfilling a campaign promise that is outlined in the video above. The core of the lawsuit states that the federal government does not have the authority to require Americans to purchase health insurance.
Last year's health care debate was so confusing, I don't know if anyone really knows what is all in there. But in some discussions recently with physicians, they are encouraging the health care repeal legislation to go through "so we can get rid of all this nonsense electronic medical records." Now, I don't entirely disagree with this statement.
However, from what I understand, the electronic medical records legislation passed the House days following the president's inauguration in January 2009 and was signed into law a month later. This was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and it's HiTech Act.
So, correct me if I'm wrong. But, the path toward an electronic health record is still there and not going to be a part of this health care repeal legislation. Now, I don't disagree with EMR implementation. But, in taking steps to try to integrate them into practice, it has been difficult, and I think the time lines that have been set out by ARRA are too aggressive and will lead to mistakes that will be blamed on the health care system (meaning I'll be blamed for it), and not blamed on this bad piece of legislation.
One of the things that I have always wanted to do is to highlight docs doing interesting stuff away from the job. Recently, I was in our local emergency room (the people "in the biz" and the cool kids call it the emergency department), talking to one of the docs. He is a veteran of the war in Iraq and wrote a short story with an interesting premise.
It's pretty obvious that the United States is pretty dependent on energy like electricity. What would happen if terrorists attacked the energy grid of this country? What would be the impact of such an action? How easy would it be to do? Well, this doc has written a fictional story about how possibly this could be done.
The story is entitled "1111" which means the date of January 1, 2011. The story begins on the day before. It's definitely an interesting read (read below or click here). In the video above, there is an interview with the doc on our local terrestrial radio station. It's really interesting listening him tell the "story behind the story." This story will make you think. Enjoy!
The tragic events in Tucson, Arizona over the weekend has sparked another debate involving gun control, mental illness, and "how can this be allowed to happen again?" The latest information from over the weekend states that they believe that it is a lone gunman who killed 6 people and wounded 14 others during a meet-and-greet session with the local US congresswoman.
In a statement issued Saturday night, Pima Community College said Loughner was suspended after a series of run-ins with campus police between February and September, capped by the discovery of a YouTube video in which he accused the college of operating unconstitutionally. Loughner quit school after the suspension, the college said -- and it warned him that to return, he had to present a doctor's note stating that his presence would not be "a danger to himself or others."
Man, this sounds really familiar, doesn't it? All too familiar. In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings back in 2007 (has it already been almost four years since that happened?), I wrote a series of posts outlining my opinion about mental illness, gun control, and the lack of society's responsibility to finally fix the problem.
Of course, people are outraged by this situation. I'm outraged by what happened. But, I've seen this too many times. We are shocked by what happened, we mourn the victims, we blame whomever we need to blame for what happened, then we go back to our apathy until the next tragedy happens. Well, I'm sick and tired of this useless cycle. Instead of outrage turning into apathy, let's turn outrage into action. And, I'm not talking about knee-jerk reactions...
Um, uh, wait a minute. As I think about things now, I'm thinking about what realistically can happen? Would it mean a radical change in American culture? A culture that celebrates violence? A culture that makes celebrities out of people like Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and Cho Seung-Hui. Unfortunately, this is a culture that shirks at the idea of accountability. A culture that believes that it's someone else's job to fix the problem. A country and culture that feels no personal investment to fix its own problems. Am I wrong here? Please tell me I'm wrong...
I'm happy to announce (in the video above) that I have been asked to be a contributor to the Healthcare Marketing and Communications Newsletter from Ragan Communications. Thanks to Jessica Levco, the Editor of the newsletter, for the invite. I met her when attending the 2010 Swedish Health Care Symposium. In the newsletter, I will be summarizing stories that I read in my own unique style. If you have never checked out the newsletter before, I strongly encourage you to check it out - especially if you are involved at all in the medicine, healthcare, social media, and marketing industry.
You may have seen today's report from CNN.com entitled "Doctor Defends Retracted Autism Study." The physician states that he received money not only from the British Medical Journal, but also the Sunday Times of London - where he has been employed since the early 1980s. This physician was stripped of his medical license in May.
I, along with other people, are trying to get people to let go and move on from the false assertion that vaccines are linked to autism. But, what will be the long term impact of not only this fraudulent study, but its affect on the public? On a daily basis, the press hammers physicians for accepting as much as a pen from pharmaceutical companies. Oh yeah, accepting even a pen is against the law. Maybe that's why I haven't seen anymore pharma pens around. Hmm...
This false study will not only help perpetuate the false perception that vaccines are linked to autism, but also will hamper announcements of any future medical studies, as the question of bias and "Who paid the doctor and research team?" will come up. Convincing an ever growing skeptical public will be tomorrow's challenges. And, unfortunately, will make taking care of patients for me and other physicians more difficult...
This first week of January is full of news reports of giving advice on your new diet and exercise program to help you lose that weight that you have always wanted. In a previous post and video, I talk about some "Dos and Dont's" when planning for your New Year's Resolution.
In the video above, I talk about some medical issues to keep in mind before starting your program. For example, is there a family history of medical problems like high blood pressure or diabetes? Well then, you may want to schedule an appointment with your personal physician before jumping on the bandwagon. If you find the above video helpful, I invite you to check out other of my TV interviews at MikeSevilla.TV. Enjoy!
Staying in tonight? Why not join me tonight, with your friends, right before midnight (eastern time) to bring in 2011. We'll be having Doctor Anonymous Show 199 and we'll be taking a look at the year past and looking ahead to 2011.
If you've never checked out the show before, there is a live chat room, and sometimes a live webcam and you can see me do the show right before your eyes! I did a NYE show last year, and we had a great time there! Hope to see you for the show!
Probably the most common New Year's Resolution I hear year after year is the one to lose weight. I mean, hey, even I tell myself that I'll feel better when I'm able to drop some pounds. But how is that done? I get asked all the time what is the best diet out there and what piece of exercise equipment should people purchase to get the job done. And, oh yeah, how soon can I see results?
Losing weight is not easy - duh - a doctor doesn't need to tell you that. But, in the video above, I talked with our local TV station about some practical "Dos and Don'ts" when it comes to trying to lose some weight as your New Year's Resolution. As a rule, I tell people to start off your plan slowly when it comes to eating better and incorporating some exercise. If you find the above video helpful, I invite you to check out other of my TV interviews at MikeSevilla.TV. Enjoy!
