Two doctors from Toronto speak out against it. Short-sighted advice.
Rather than saying “no”, academia needs to find constructive ways to embrace to medium. Blogging gives physicians a prominent voice in the health care debate, which will be essential as health policy changes in the United States.
Mainstream media regularly reads physician blogs, and they can be used to shape messages and provide rapid response to controversy.
Perhaps in a single-payer system like Canada, where doctors may be used to having no voice, issues like these are less relevant.
Furthermore, current crop of medical students grew up on blogging, Facebook and MySpace. Asking them to give up blogging to appease the ignorance of a backwards medical establishment is not a realistic agenda.
(via ZXC)
Related posts:
- Medical blogging podcast on HCPLive.com
- Physicians and blogging
- The ethics of medical blogging
- Nick Genes on medical blogging
- Sermo responds to privacy concerns
- My take: Mid-levels, health consultants, blogging
- Anonymous blogging
{ 6 comments }
Well, according to a Canadian government agent, freedom of speech is a United States concept, and irrelevant in Canada.
Never mind the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – that only applies to the ‘right kind’ of speech
There’s intelligent blogging and there’s nasty venting. Why vent for all the world to see when you have van talk to plenty of coworkers and associates who are in a much better position to understand and sympathize? I am still really appalled by the number of blogs I’ve run across that feature serious hostility and contempt toward patients as a regular part of the blog. For some reason, emergency room bloggers seem to top that list, with frequent rants against the elderly and the poor. From the viewpoint of a patient, I can say that these bloggers are not doing their profession any favors.
“There’s intelligent blogging and there’s nasty venting.” Yes,Sue, you are correct. And people have the right to do either. You and I have the corresponding duty to select what we read and what we agree with. Put simply: stop reading the blogs you find objectionable and allow others the same choice.
My liberty is only as safe as the liberty of my worst enemy, or the worlds biggest fool. Therefore, I defend the liberty of enemies and fools, even as I contend with their words.
Agreed. Blogging isn’t going to go away. Teach residents and medical students about appropriate “blog behavior”. Be proactive in this technology filled world not extinct with the dinosaurs.
There is a lot of venting on the internet – on all kinds of sites – sometimes it’s healthy (better than drinking or drugging or road rage) sometimes it’s not. The venting is a symptoms of the larger problems in medicine – the squeeze that certain specialties are feeling. ERs are getting hit pretty hard – finding docs to admit patients, rising malpractice, sicker patients than ever just to name a few. Blogging for these guys is the voice of the street.
I have to admit, after seeing what Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn went through in Canada, I have to wonder how “free” their speech can be.
Good luck trying to stuff the geni back into the bottle. Blogging is here to stay. I think it’s pretty pompous to tell bloggers to stop writing because their ideas are “offensive.” It’s all about free speech, and readers have the right to click their mouse and move on to another website that is better suited to their needs.
Love the post, Kevin. Keep on blogging.
MJ
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