So, I'm sitting on twitter, as I often do, and I get this @reply about going to a meeting at the Yale University School of Nursing. Now, of course, I think that this is a joke. I mean, who would ever want to invite me to Yale for anything serious? And, by the way, what is "HealthCamp" all about. I checked out the site for HealthCampCT - it uses the hashtag #HCCT on twitter - and it really looked intriguing to me. Thanks so much to Mark Scrimshire for the invite.
HealthCamp Radio is an internet radio show hosted by Gregg Masters. Their latest episode was last night. They talked about the recent HealthCamp San Diego and the upcoming HealthCampCT. Also joining into the call were Mark, Matthew Browning (fresh off his win of the shorty award), and Alex Fair from FairCareMD.
I thought about calling into their show last night, but I did feel a little intimidated. I mean, these are the HealthCamp superstars, and I'm the newbie. Matt & Mark gave me a shout out at minute 15. And after that, I knew that I had to call in. I come into the call at around minute 25. But, it's not until the end of the show, like minute 44 when I really start going. I do my thing talking about physicians and social media and pretty much take over the last 15 minutes of the show. Kind of feel bad about that.
But anyway, if you have never been to a HealthCamp before, or not entirely sure what an "unconference" is - a great example of this concept is this show. You can listen in the player below (apologize for the ad when you hit "play" below) to the discussion and the banter among the people on this show. And, we're all focused on the same thing - trying to come up with innovate ways to better deliver health care in this country.
I heard that they'll be video streaming portions of it. You betcha, I'm gonna try to be in front of some camera somewhere trying to talk to all of you out there in real time. By the way, if I get the opportunity to talk about stuff in - like - a session - I'd like to as you - my friends - What should I talk about?
Grand Rounds Volume 7 Number 27
I'm honored to be hosting Grand Rounds for the fourth time. This is not the GR theme today, but I did want to mention that it's Doctor's Day tomorrow in the United States. Doctor's Day was first observed on March 30, 1933. Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles Almond, decided to set aside a day to honor physicians.
The red carnation is commonly used as the symbolic flower for National Doctors Day. In 1990, law was passed designating March 30 as "National Doctors Day." Big shout out to all my physician colleagues out there!
These are the best 31 posts that the medical blogosphere has to offer this week. In my editors picks, I wanted to highlight what I thought were the most interesting posts of the week. There is also a short excerpt from each of my picks this week.
My Pics Of The Week
Anessa, a 2nd year osteopathic medical student, from the d.o.ctor blog writes the post "Mary" in which she learns more than medicine at a recent visit to a nursing home and rehabilitation center. Here's a quote....
I had been assigned to help out with the Bingo game. This was not a job to be taken lightly. Bingo is serious business at that particular nursing home. Some residents had lucky chairs, and if they found someone else mistakenly sitting in their spot, well all hell would break loose. I'm talking outright name-calling, hair-pulling, face-slapping scenes straight out of a Jerry Springer episode. Fortunately, those were rare occurrences.
Linda Pourmassina, Internal Medicine Physician, from the Pulsus blog writes "Unspoken Gratitude: A Lesson For Me From An Unexpected Source." I can so relate to this story...
Sometimes appreciation can feel sparse in a field that is built on trying to fix problems. Sometimes a kind word from a patient can lift us up during a challenging day. I have had many patients who have done just that. But on this particular day, this patient’s silence was the most touching and heartfelt expression of gratitude.
Kimberly, a medical student, from the Future Of Family Medicine Blog writes about the "Hazing Of Family Medicine." Does it happen? You bet it does. Read on....
Every one of us who practices family medicine has had to defend our chosen profession against a myriad of antagonists. [W]e are sometimes told that we are too smart to pursue family medicine. Other topics range from salary comparisons between specialties to scope of practice. I’ve been told on many occasions that I should specialize for many different reasons but am rarely commended for choosing primary care. Luckily, most of us are unphased by such comments. However, I believe that there are students who are pulled from primary care because of what I like to call the hazing process.
Jay Lee, Family Physician, from the California Academy of Family Physicians blog writes "#FMRevolution = Family Medicine Revolution" which is a rallying post for Family Physicians and other primary care providers to change the current US health care delivery system...
I would also argue one of the main reasons why folks are so darned uncomfortable is that the vector of our health care delivery system has begun to shift away from fragmented, volume-based to integrated, value-based care. My question for you, dear colleague, is: "Will you choose to sit on the sidelines or will you compete in the game?"
The Rest Of The Medical Blogosphere's Best Posts Of The Week
Kevin Pho from KevinMD writes "Guiding Patients Online Is A New Physician Responsibility For The Digital Age." Physicians not only need to know about online resources, they need to engage patients in exploring the information found on these resources.
Ramona Bates from Suture For A Living writes "Following Instructions." Medication instructions are sometimes subject to interpretation.
Julie Rosen from the Bedside Manner Blog writes the post "Offline vs. Online Patient Conversations" stating that physicians should ask their patients how extensively they use the internet to facilitate better communication. The post reports two surveys stating that patients are going to the internet for health information.
Sarah Beth from SarahBethRN writes "Social Medical And Privacy In Healthcare" stating that in social media, finding the balance between protecting patient privacy but still trying to connect with patients - this will be the challenge moving forward.
Zoe Brain from the AE Brain blog writes the post "They Mean Well (Part 1)" talking about the complex nature of gender and sexual identity and the emotional complications of intersex surgery. I also invite you to read the comment sections of parts 1 & 2 as well.
Dr Ves from the Clinical Cases and Images: Casesblog writes "86% Of Australian Doctors Report High Rates Of Job Satisfaction." You'll be surprised on the reasons why. Also check out how the writer incorporates twitter comments into the blog post.
Doug Peredina from The Road To Hellth blog writes the post "Motivation and Healthcare Performance - Part 2" in which he explores self-determination theory, which is the the psychology behind pay-for-performance programs, and why this thinking doesn't really work in the health care industry.
Henry Stern from the Insureblog writes "Birthin' And Such" stating that the United States spends over $50 Billion a year on child birth related expenses? But, what does that really buy us? Good points made here.
Elaine Schattner from the Medical Lessons blog writes "Crowd-Sourcing A Medical Puzzle" where she states that a prominent website posted a medical mystery and asked their readers to come up with the already known answer. "Why we don’t have this sort of crowd sourcing for tough, unsolved medical cases?," she writes. Good question.
Fisher Qua from the Healthiest States Blog writes "Health Care Isn't Fair." Did you know that the US healthcare system is setup to be unfair? This post explores this and what now need to happen.
Beth Renzulli from the Happy Internist blog writes "the dying game" where the writer goes to a local senior center and explores the end of life through this creative exercise. An interesting way to sort through these type of issues.
Mary Pat Whaley from the Manage My Practice blog writes the entertaining piece "A Perfect Day In Your Medical Practice: The Efficient And Well-Run Medical Office." If all these bullet points happen at her office, I'm going to work there.
David Harlow from HealthBlawg: Health Care Law Blog writes "Who Owns Patient Data? (The Walgreens Edition)." Can "de-identifying" health information be repackaged to "re-identify" patient records? Hmmmm...
ACP Internist Blog submitted "Office-Based Doctors Are Economic Powerhouses." Did you know that the economic impact of office based docs compare to the hospital industry and is more than nursing homes and home health?
ACP Hospitalist blog submitted "Life At Grady: Control" A poignant post by a physician about a patient encounter.
Jennifer Middleton from The Singing Pen Of Doctor Jen blog writes "Exceptions To The Rule" stating that quality medicine should go beyond whether you have good quality numbers on reports.
Melissa Arca from "Confessions Of A Dr. Mom" writes "Crashing Down" in which she remembers a story, before she as a mom herself, as a pediatric resident in the ICU.
Pat Jonas from the Dr Synonymous blog writes "Family Medicine: End Of Lice To End Of Life, We're There. What Do You Think?" A keen insight into a day in the life of a family doc. Man, I can relate to this post.
Jacqueline from Laika's MedLibLog writes "A New Safe Blood Test To Diagnose Down Syndrome" describes a promising new method to screen for Down syndrome, possibly moving on from the amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.
Chris from HokieMD Weblog writes "Hospital Time." Did you know that time inside hospitals moves faster than it does outside? This medical student shares examples of why that is.
Steve Wilkins from the Mind The Gap blog writes "Patient Satisfaction And Doctor Requests - What's The Score?" Are physicians afraid that saying no will impact their patient satisfaction scores?
Mark from the Live In Underserved Medicine blog writes "The Social Contract" which outlines and analyzes societal expectations of physicians, physicians expectations out of society, and how they interrelate.
Jeffrey Seguritan from the Nuts For Healthcare blog writes "When Primary Care Says No To Insurance" which outlines a retainer based primary care model which the author states is an "evolution" of the patient centered medical home concept. Interesting.
E-Patient Dave from E-Patients.net writes about "The Salzburg Statement On Shared Decision Making" urging patients and clinicians 'to work together to be co-producers of health.'
Paul Auerbach from Healthline writes "Whooping Cough & Immunizations." Good practical information and tips.
Ed Pullen from DrPullen.com writes the post "Rickets" which is a great review of this almost forgotten about disease.
Dean Brandon from Pediatric Dentistry wrote "Apollo 13, A 'Successful Failure'" and applies the lessons learned there to his orthodontic practice.
Ryka Galbraith from the Expat Doctor Mom blog writes "Top Three Reasons Diets Fail."
I also invite you to check out the entire "Family Medicine Rocks" website, which is new for me. I was formerly blogging at The Doctor Anonymous site until recently. There is also a podcast associated with this new site. Thanks again to Dr. Nick Genes, Grand Rounds Founder, for the opportunity to host again.
It's always a lot of fun to put this together. I hope you have fun reading all these great posts. If you're not already, please follow @GrandRounds on twitter, and also "Like" the Grand Rounds Facebook page. Next week, Grand Rounds will be hosted over at Emergiblog. Enjoy!
Future For Grand Rounds?
Tomorrow, I will proudly host the Grand Rounds blog carnival for the fourth time. It's always a good time putting that post together. As people have seen from my past hostings (is that a word), my style is pretty practical and no-nonsense. I've always thought that everyone else's posts should be the star, and not necessarily the GR host - but that's me.
Something interesting I found is that the number of submissions have decreased since the last times I've hosted, and, it looks like in general. I even had to ask some people to have their post included. I remember when I first hosted, I made some people mad since I did not include their post in GR that week. Plus, I remember that I had to wait months before I could host GR. Oh my, how things have definitely changed.
This post will has tough questions, and, hopefully, you will have some honest feedback. And, this isn't the first time tough questions have been asked. I remember when Emergiblog posted "Grand Rounds: One Blogger, One Voice, One Opinion." This was the week before my first hosting duties in 2006. Great discussion among the community with lots of comments back then on the state of Grand Rounds.
As far as me thinking back, I remember when I started blogging "back in the day" that getting included in Grand Rounds was kind of a first sign that you "made it" as a medblogger. I mean, for those starting out, the traffic for that day or two would skyrocket. Grand Rounds was seen as a definite marketing tool for new medical bloggers. How about now? Is it still seen that way? Has Grand Rounds lost influence and excitement as the years have gone on?
I also remember when the mark of a good post was the number of comments. Some of my first Grand Rounds hostings received (for me) a lot of comments, if for anything else comments said, "Great Job." Now, with so many ways to have feedback with twitter, facebook, disqus, etc - It's getting more and more difficult to gauge the reach and the impact of a certain post or GR posting.
In a post from last week called "Creation Vs Curation," I ask the question whether content was still king in the social media world. People can make a name for themselves without creating content at all. By being a good evaluator of the overwhelming information that's out there, you can become "internet famous." Grand Rounds is a celebration of long format blogging. And, even people like KevinMD say that there will always be a place for the long format blog. But, is that role diminishing - especially in the age of microblogging twitter, youtube, and facebook.
So, here is the question for the medical blogger and medical social media community in general? Has Grand Rounds in its current format - run its course? Was Grand Rounds the best format to display the best bloggers - in 2005 - and not so much now? With so many ways to get content out, is GR even needed anymore? Would a change in format (I don't know what that would be) help bring back the influence that Grand Rounds once had? Or, is it time for Grand Rounds to be recognized as innovative for its time, but now it's time to ride into the sunset....
Ohio State Med Assoc Mtg 2011
I'm very excited to be presenting at the upcoming Ohio State Medical Association Practice Management Symposium on April 1, 2011 in Columbus. My topic is, of course, social media. The title of the presentation is "Engage Online Or Risk Being Left Behind."
Something very cool is that I've been told is that all the sessions will be recorded. So, I'm hoping at some point, that I'll be able to post the prezo here on the site. Plus, if I can figure it out, I'll place my slide on slideshare. But, I don't know how helpful they will be as I don't write a lot of words and I use a lot of pics. I guess I have a little pet peeve about writing a lot - or even any words on slides. I'm weird like that.
I've been told that the crowd will probably not be that familiar with social media. So, I have to make sure that I don't talk too much above their heads. As you can probably imagine, I get excited about social media, and I can easily get carried away with intermediate or advanced concepts and ideas. This isn't good if it's a beginner-type audience.
Did you know that the OSMA has one of the first guidelines published for physicians using social media? If you haven't had a chance, I encourage you to check it out. Thanks again to the OSMA for the opportunity to speak. In addition, for the OSMA members out there, please register for their annual meeting which includes business sessions for policy writing and legislative advocacy. Let your voice be heard!
#OhioAFP Conference
After last night's bummer loss of Ohio State in March Madness, I have the distinct honor today of presenting at a Ohio Academy of Family Physicians meeting called the Ohio Family Medicine Symposium on Research and Education. Of course, I'll be presenting on Social Media and Family Medicine.
For those attending the conference (and for you out there on the net), I'm going to be tweeting out using #OhioAFP. I realize that I'll probably be the only one tweeting out today. I'm really excited about this presentation today. And, I admit that I'm letting the competitive streak out in that I'm really gunning for the best presentation award for the mtg. Plus, I'm gonna try to do A LOT of social media stuff at this mtg.
This is also interesting in that this is the first of four presentations in the next seven days - including a talk at Yale University at Health Camp Connecticut and at the Ohio State Medical Association annual meeting. The topic? Of course, social media and how much I LOVE it!
Conferences are always fun in that I get to catch up with people whom I haven't seen in a long while. I'm also looking forward to catching up with @EndoGoddess this weekend. In my opinion, Dr. Jen Dyer is the most wired doc in Columbus - so cool. Have a great weekend everybody!
Creation Vs Curation
Shout out to @DanaMLewis for pointing out this post from Mashable entitled, "Why Curation Is Just As Important As Curation." When people are starting out in social media creation, whether it be blogging, or podcasting, or whatever - the phrase always comes up - "Content Is King." But is content really king anymore?
Now, I certainly wasn't the first physician blogger, but I would probably consider myself "in those early days." I mean, starting in 2006 was a few years ago. Back then, writing every single day was imperative. And, the way that you were judged were the amount of comments that you received. I mean, this was in the days before facebook and twitter, when the comment section of the blog was the only way to give feedback publically.
Back then, the way to make a name for yourself was to have the home base of the blog, and that's how people knew you. Now, with so much content out there, people are overwhelmed and just cannot read everything that they want to read. I definitely can relate to this.
Now, many people are becoming "internet famous" by just sharing through their twitter or facebook stream - the items which they think are important. Maybe, sometimes, not even creating a bit of content on their own. Does this make them a second class citizen in the social media world - not anymore.
I agree with the assertion that being the "information maven" - meaning evaluating social media information - meaning being a curator - instead of a social media creator - this will be very important in the days ahead. Am I wrong, let me know in the comments below - or on twitter, or on facebook, or other social media way...
Family Medicine Rocks Podcast 2
I invite you to join me this week for Episode 2 of the Family Medicine Rocks podcast. My guest will be Family Physician and author Chip Teel, MD. He is author of the book "Alone and Invisible: Averting Disaster in Aging America." He is from Damariscotta, Maine and has been a champion for the care of older Americans.
In his book, Chip not only chronicles what he did in his own community to advance the care of elders where he lives, but also he talks about how he went beyond that to look after the overall health and wellness of his community. Chip will also discuss how he has used technology solutions to help achieve these goals. I also encourage you to check out his Full Circle America website where he empowers older Americans to take and keep control of their lives.
Family Medicine Rocks Episode 2 will be recorded live on Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 3pm Eastern Time/Noon Pacific Time on BlogTalkRadio. There will be a live chat room for you to take part in the conversation (although I encourage you to register at the BlogTalkRadio site beforehand so that you can participate in the chat room).
Even if you cannot join us live, you can always download the archived podcast later and listen at your leisure. I also encourage you to check out the video above. This will be a great discussion about Elder Care in America. I hope you'll be able to join us!
Update: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Dr. Teel had to cancel his appearance on the show. But, don't worry, we'll reschedule for the near future for our discussion on the state of elder care in America. However, the show will go on as scheduled on Thursday. I will have some commentary on some recent items in the news and in the medical blogosphere - like the hosting of Grand Rounds on this site next week!
Paging Doctor Rob
In a conversation the other day, someone mentioned @Doc_Rob (aka, Rob Lamberts, MD). I think it was December 30, 2010 when he announced on his blog, Musings Of A Distractible Mind, that he was going to be "Unplugging." Just because I was curious, I tried to access his blog. But it looks like the entire thing has been deleted. Hmmmm.....
Now, I could be wrong, but I believe that he was also the creator and the "keeper" of the Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics - which I think was a good idea. I had my own issues with it, but it was really interesting seeing the people who proudly showed the logo on their website.
I did a quick search for this home site as well, and it looks like it was deleted as well. Now, I never thought that I was on the "inner circle" of any kind of "blogger drama." But, it seems to me that it is a pretty big step to not only stop blogging, twittering, etc - but also to delete these sites from the internet. (Shout out to Highlight Health for still having record of the Code on their site)
I have and will continue to wish Dr. Rob the best. I hope he's doing ok these days. And, for all I know, he's laughing at us still in the social media rat race - while he's probably on some beach somewhere. Here is toasting you and your llamas, Dr Rob - Cheers!
Grand Rounds Coming To FamMedRocks
Thanks to Better Health for a great Grand Rounds post this week. Yes, kids, that's right! I will be hosting Grand Rounds for the fourth time next week on Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Don't know what Grand Rounds is? Well, I'll just pull the quote right from the official GR Website...
Grand Rounds is a weekly summary of the best health blog posts on the Internet. Each week a different blogger takes turns hosting Grand Rounds, and summarizing the best submissions for the week. Grand Rounds was originally established by Emergency Medicine physician, Nicholas Genes in September, 2003.
His concept was to highlight and capture the best medical blog posts in one place each week. The rotating nature of the hosts for Grand Rounds promotes community awareness of new bloggers, and encourages cross linkage to more content.
This will be the fourth time that I will be hosting Grand Rounds (this will be Volume 7, Number 27). I encourage you to check out previous posts from November 21, 2006 which was GR Vol 3 No 9, November 13, 2007 which was GR Vol 4 No 8, and March 2, 2010 which was Vol 6 No 23. It's always fun putting together the best medically related blog posts from the week.
Submitting Instructions: So, if you would like to be considered to be a part of my edition of Grand Rounds, please follow these instructions. The deadline for posts will be on Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 10pm Eastern Daylight Time (0200 UTC) which is at the completion of the weekly #HCSM twitter chat. Please use the "Contact" button above to submit your blog post. Also, please put "Grand Rounds" in the subject line. Finally, please include a brief description of the post along with your name, blog name, and specific blog URL.
Just to let everyone know, I will be highlighting "Doctor's Day" which will be Wednesday, March 30th. But, I wouldn't call this a theme. All posts will be considered. Plus, the earlier you submit, you'll be rewarded with more favorable placement verses the late submitters. And, as always, my picks will be the lead for the Grand Rounds post. I hope people have fun with this. Thanks so much!
Beyond Social Media
Over this past weekend, I got to re-connect with someone that I first met a few years ago in the planning of a social media event. And, through the years, we have exchanged messages over twitter and facebook. But, with our schedules, we never really had the opportunity to meet up in a while.
So, almost in a whim, I contacted my friend @Brandice and set up a meet up last weekend. And, it was great. Fellow geeks, we talked about our latest gadgets. We're also in health related fields, so we talked a little bit about work as well. I invite you to check out her tumblr blog as well - called Sundown Social Work.
Following our chat, I had dinner with her and her husband - and I had a great time. Too often, I just get wrapped up in the daily life of work, work, work. Yes, social media is cool. But, there really is nothing like chatting with someone right there in front of you. I need to do a better job of re-connecting with old friends and connecting with new people - in real life. How about for my social media peeps out there? How tough is it for you to go Beyond Social Media and meet people in real life?