The mere mention of Jenny McCarthy gets an immediate eye roll from many physicians.   The closer their practice is to autism or immunology, the more likely the eye roll turns into a lecture on why Ms. Playboy should focus on what she knows. The problem is that "Ms. Playboy" is kicking the medical profession’s behind on thought leadership.  Jenny McCarthy has become a – if not the – leading voice regarding ...

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I sense a movement in health care circles from, "no way we’re doing that social media," to "ok, we get it social media is important, now what?" This is good to see. But like all things new, we’re experiencing some growing pains. Some health care providers take to social media easily and find ways to leverage it to educate, inform and grow practices, while others make efforts but can’t seem ...

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Back in 2004, after I was accepted into Stanford University, a friend of mine at the university took me around on a campus tour. He showed me the building he lived in (Donner), his cafeteria (Stern), Hoover Tower, and all the usual sights. When it came time for him to tell me more about his classmates and dorm buddies, he promptly pulled up a webpage on his computer. "You have ...

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In the course of doing research on the future of social media in health care, and hearing from a group of doctors who believe there isn’t one in their practice, I also talked to a few future physicians. Three to be exact, from different parts of the United States, a third year student, a student on the verge of enrolling in a US medical school, and the one ...

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I started my first blog, Chick Lit MD, in December of 2009. By the time I began filling out my medical school applications I had been actively blogging for approximately 7 months. As someone interested in the intersection between medicine and media, the use of social media was integral to my exploration of both fields. As such, I included my adventures in social media in my application ...

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Social media holds a lot of potential for the health care professionals.  Is fear of the medium inappropriately leading to professionals avoiding this "social situation"? Have we created a social media anxiety syndrome? We are aware of the social anxiety disorder or social phobia.  Among its many features are (this is a convenient list for the purpose of this post and not a strict definition):

  • Avoidance of interaction with others
  • Fear of being in a ...

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Last summer, I joined millions of others in the deluge of social media. I committed one year of effort to see if social would enhance or distract from my pediatric practice. That was my goal, just one year. At that time, I wanted to dip my foot in the pool, and see if it made any ripples. The unexpected consequence was how much social media has changed my medical practice, and ...

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In general, educators are often trying to find unique ways to engage their students. This is certainly true of medical educators, given that little has changed in medical education in the past 100 years, and for that reason there have been many recent efforts to change this. Similarly, there is often a generational gap between teacher and learner, and thus teachers look for ways to connect with the younger generation they ...

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Twitter, like most social media, is evolving rapidly. Even though most physicians are not directly familiar with Twitter, more are building an awareness and curiosity each month. This post is written mostly for those of you new to this tool or giving it consideration. The AMA recently posted an article entitled Physicians on Twitter and here is a synopsis of their study: "The study focused on 5,156 tweets ...

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I delivered a keynote presentation a few weeks ago entitled "Personalized Medicine: Tailoring Healthcare in the Information Age" to a group of parents who had taken their kids to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Science Horizons summer science camp. Aside from the jolt the parents received from my presentation regarding anticipated changes in 21st century healthcare, especially involving the myriad ELSI issues that would confront medical practices as a ...

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