Pauline Chen goes social media on us in a recent column.
Focusing on Twitter, she recalls a patient with Buerger’s disease who tried to quit smoking. Unfortunately, the patient wasn't successful, and had to have multiple amputations.
Dr. Chen wonders if like Twitter, blogs or Facebook had existed back then, would the patient "have felt a little less isolated and perhaps been able to quit smoking if [she] texted ...
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Like everyone else, the medical establishment is increasingly using Twitter these days.
Over at Better Health, Bryan Vartabedian gives some sage advice for physicians who may not be used to the technology. Like every other social media platform, Twitter can be used to both help, and potentially harm, a doctor's brand. And with that brand being essential to growing a practice, that means Twitter can yield tremendous influence.
So ...
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Does the media accurately report medical news?
According to a poll from the ACP Internist, most respondents don't think so. Some of the problems come from the academic medical center PR departments, which either "overstate results or don't include important caveats when pitching study results to the media." Often times, these press releases make their way into the media and disseminated to patients.
In today's competitive environment where newspapers ...
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Traditionally conservative hospitals are opening up on social media platforms.
For those who follow this blog, or are on Twitter, you'll probably notice that more and more medical institutions are having a Web 2.0 presence. Facebook groups, Twitter, blogs, or YouTube webcasts, for instance. Indeed, there's even reports of academic centers using Facebook to recruit for difficult to fill clinical trials.
A recent article in The NY Times outlines the phenomenon, ...
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A few days ago, we talked about how Scrubs was a relatively accurate portrayal of medical life.
Let's talk about the other end of the spectrum, namely, Fox's House M.D.
As an emergency physician notes, the doctors in the House-universe seem super-human. Indeed, "the docs on that show are not only walking encyclopedias of rare diseases, but they are ...
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The intersection between physicians and the media will be the topic at the my next Live Q&A.
Val Jones will be answering your questions. She is the President and CEO of Better Health, a network of prominent health bloggers (of which I am a member of).
She is a member of the National Press Club in Washington D.C., and has appeared in the USA Today, ...
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Believe it or not, some say it's Scrubs.
Aside from the goofy and absurd moments, I've always found that the anecdotes in the show hit the right notes of medical training. Far more than, say, House or Grey's Anatomy.
Slate agrees in this essay, and explains why: "Scrubs . . . is mostly about what happens at hospitals between ...
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The following is a reader take by Rahul Parikh.
We've become accustomed the notion that media violence is bad for children, and that exposure to it can lead to all kinds of problems, including violent behavior. Those us who remember Columbine in 1999 will certainly recall reports that the killers played the videogame Doom and listened to Marilynn Manson before ...
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The following is a reader take by Rahul Parikh.
Where is the line between true and false advertising? And should we be more careful when the claims an ad makes has potential health consequences for children and communities?
Let's ask newspapers that question about big adverts they've printed from Generation Rescue, an autism advocacy group, the one headed up by Jenny McCarthy, who regularly ...
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Here's your chance to ask me questions about the past week's events, such as the swine flu outbreak, my USA Today op-ed on cancer screening, the Craigslist Killer, or anything else that crosses your mind.
Just click the window below on Sunday, April 26th at 10:30pm Eastern. I'm looking forward to answering your questions.
