I love my podcast. I believe that it may become one of my greatest accomplishments in life. A podcast is like a talk radio show. The difference is that it is broadcast over the internet instead of on the radio. Podcasting is a fast-growing form of entertainment and educational media.
I started podcasting a few months ago and I am starting to build a significant audience. I now have regular listeners …
As physicians and particularly surgeons, we deal with consent all the time. The process can be complex particularly for pediatric surgeons because we obtain it from the parents and the participation of the child in that process varies. For example, it is not unusual to be confronted with a parent who wants their child to undergo an elective operation. Yet that child, being 15 years-old, may have zero interest in …
Recently someone asked me how I started my blog, Brave Enough. The person, a physician, wondered how I made the jump from safe, traditional academia into the world of social media and blogging about women empowerment.
“Did you have one moment? Did something happen? What was it?”
The conversation made me reflect, as I have been, for several weeks. Like most things, my introspection ended up as words in my journal. Then, words in a …
The power of social media is clearly evident in cases such as the Russian influence on our election and Mark Zuckerberg‘s realization of the need for transparency on his powerful platform of Facebook. However, maybe not so evident, is the transformative power of social media on health care trends and misinformation.
A popular new term for the misinformation regarding medical topics has arisen: pseudoscience. It has run rampant on sites such …
Recently, I attended a conference on social media. The conference was geared towards health care professionals who had a product they wanted to perfect and promote. In speaking with some of these participants, many of whom were physicians, I realized they had no clear marketing plan. Although a clear and concise marketing plan would help sell their product, I understood that they were working full time and their product was …
In early April 2017, a cover of The New Yorker depicting four medical providers sparked a movement within surgery. Women surgeons claimed this illustration as a rallying cry; recreating it proudly with colleagues in the operating room and sharing their images on social media tagged with #NYerORCoverChallenge and #ILookLikeaSurgeon.
We were in our fourth year of general surgery residency when we became the …
After an orthodontist blogged about an emergency visit where his patient broke her retainer after watching Michael B. Jordan in the blockbuster hit, the Black Panther, the young woman identified herself as the anonymous patient after learning about the story via Twitter. Though she was initially quite embarrassed, she was ultimately good-natured about all of the unexpected publicity. The natural question for many health care providers was …
Fear of exposure
I hear from a lot of my professional friends, especially the doctors I’m in touch with regularly, about the fear of diving in — of starting out on their own social media journey. They’re watching us all swim around them, paralyzed by the thought of even dipping in their feet. It’s OK to feel that way. We all start somewhere, and many of us have experienced the same …
I have a colleague who is a pediatrician in private practice in the suburbs. He has a great practice and loves his patients. One day, he walked in 15 minutes late to a 7:00 a.m. meeting we both attend. “Moms are calling early today.” Parents in his practice have learned to bypass their elaborate phone triage system. They have learned that if you press “1” for emergency, an actual doctor …
Patients have a lot of choices when it comes to physicians. Making sure your online profile is up to date, complete, and contains these five items will improve the chances that a website visitor will become a patient.
Create a personal connection. Having good rapport with patients is important, and that process starts before patients ever walk in the door.
How often have you seen a physician bio that only contains a single, …
Early this month, Joanna Gaines, co-host of HGTV’s popular Fixer Upper, shared her pregnancy news with the world via a baby bump photo and an ultrasound, both posted to Instagram. The congratulations began pouring in from excited fans. But the conversation took a dark turn when a physician commented that the ultrasound appeared to …
There is a movement afoot. I can feel it. I can see it. Women in medicine are no longer going to tolerate the subtle and not so subtle discrimination that has stymied their career growth. They are not going to be complacent while their male colleagues are paid higher salaries, offered speaking engagements and research opportunities and promoted at a greater rate. Women in medicine are pulling together in an …
#Tweetiatrician is a common hashtag used by pediatricians as a way I assumed to find advocates for children’s issues.
Recently, I used this hashtag to start a new Twitter account. I sought educated dialogue on Medicaid, health care reform, vaccination, and other pediatric topics.
I am a pediatric emergency medicine physician and consider myself a strong advocate for children and seldom agree with any political party. My advocacy work in many forms …
There was an interesting piece published in the Style section of the New York Times this weekend; I was tipped to it by Bryan Vartabedian. If you’re a health care geek, that section may not be on your “must read” list (I know it isn’t; will explain below), so let me bring you up to speed. On July 29th, Katie Rosman published a piece entitled, “A Doctor …
Recently, I learned that YouTube star Stevie Ryan completed suicide. As she found her fame via social media, her death has also been the focus of the virtual world. Her death spawns a tremendous amount of questions that are left unanswered regarding why and how did this happen.
In case you missed the details of the story, Stevie completed suicide by hanging. She had tweeted the day before that, “The man …
Recently, Twitter exploded with angry commentary directed at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) after the organization actively attempted to censor what was posted on Twitter during their annual sessions in San Diego. The fiasco began when an attendee posted a picture of slides on Twitter — in an attempt to “live Tweet” during a session on the recommended #ADA2017 hashtag. The @AmDiabetesAssn Twitter feed then …
Attendees at the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions in San Diego this year — many of them young researchers who are active on social media — were surprised to be greeted with the following: “Thanks for joining us at #2017ADA! Photography isn’t allowed during presentations — we’d appreciate it if you’d delete this tweet.”
For many, the essence of gathering at conferences is the sharing of scientific information, a peek at …
Physicians have always been teachers, educating patients and families in the exam room, sharing handouts, hanging posters, and sometimes writing magazine articles and self-help books. Today, we have another communication tool, one that is far-reaching with significant impact: social media.
Americans use social media to consume massive amounts of digital content. The problem is much of it is misinformation, which is why it’s important for physicians to jump in and lend …
Innovative technologies and shifting public expectations are altering the practices of many industries, particularly those that provide a service. Medical practices should take heed and recognize these trends or risk losing patients and market share to others more open to adopting new strategies.
How does one differentiate a high-performing medical practice from another that’s falling behind? And what are the forces that drive the discrepancy? What strategies can your practice implement …
At a time when physicians are feeling besieged on all sides, it hardly seems fair to write about the lack of civility demonstrated by some members of the profession on social media in Canada.
But it’s still an important issue that needs to be addressed — with the caveat that no profession or segment of society is blameless and the focus is due to the focus of this particular blog.
The post …
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