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MDLifeSucks: Share Your Story September 2, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Fun, Medicine, Web 2.0.
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Of course, there is a reason why doctors become doctors (I have my own – to become a geneticist), but sometimes MD life is really not like what we expected. MDLifeSucks collects these negative stories and encourages you to share yours. A few examples:

I made the mistake of buying an MD license plate. Now, every time I go to the mechanic for a simple oil change, they find something new wrong with my car.
I put back a patient’s gown in the scrub dispenser machine and now my scrub machine privileges are revoked and the security camera picture of me doing so is plastered on the wall for all to see. MDLS.
I had to do a rectal exam on a 79 year old patient. She moaned. MDLS
Just realized I won’t make any real money until I’m 30. MDLS.
See more stories on the site…

Japanese Medical Resources in Social Media September 2, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, PeRSSonalized Medicine, Web 2.0, Webicina.
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We launched PeRSSonalized Medicine to help patients and doctors keep themselves up-to-date easily. It is a simple, free medical information aggregator that lets you select your favourite resources and read the latest news about a medical specialty or condition in one personalized place. It is now available in 14 languages!

The Japanese selection is the newest one in which the platform is in Japanese and the blogs, news, Twitter users and peer-reviewed journals are also the best ones in that language. Please let us know if you want to see PeRSSonalized Medicine in your language. Click on the image below to access the Japanese version!

Some reasons why PeRSSonalized Medicine is unique:

  • You can search in the database. It means you will find medical information only from a quality selected portion of the world wide web.
  • You can personalize any of the sections.
  • You can also receive the newest Pubmed articles focusing on your search term. Just insert your field of interest, a therapy, a condition, etc. and click Search. Then you can add the newly created box to your personalized medical “journal”.
  • It is a community-based project. Please let us know which quality resources should be added to the database.

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Health 2.0 News: Doctors using Google, Hospital Blogs being Blocked September 1, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Blogging, Health, Health 2.0, Hospital, Medical Imaging, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Prezi, Slideshow, Video, Web 2.0, What's on the web?.
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It’s not just patients who turn to Google or other search engines to research medical information. According to Google, 86 percent of doctors say they now use  Internet on the job. Of that group, the majority start at Google, which they use as a source to look for general information about diseases and drugs, writes pediatrician Dr. Rahul K. Parikh in a special piece for the Los Angeles Times.

  • MAD MMX – Opening Title Sequence

You may want to think twice before your next visit to the doctor’s office. According to Dr. Barbara Starfield’s now-famous study, iatrogenic deaths (those resulting from treatment by physicians or surgeons) are the third leading cause of mortality in the United States, resulting in the loss of 225,000 lives per year. Of that total, nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections kill 80,000, physician errors claim 27,000, and unnecessary surgery results in 12,000 deaths.

Personalized Genomics on Slideshows August 31, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Genetic testing, Genome, Personalized medicine, Slideshow.
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When preparing for this year’s Researchers’ Night (details below), I was trying to collect some information and updates about the consumer genomics market for my presentation and found great slideshows. Enjoy!

If you thought that research was all about lab coats and Bunsen burners, think again. Like everyone else, researchers come from numerous backgrounds, have diverse interests and pursue a spectrum of hopes and dreams.

One thing they all have in common is a passion for research – and they want to share it with you. The European Commission’s ‘Researchers in Europe’ (RIE) initiative allows citizens to get closer to our researchers and gives a face to European research.

Parkinson’s Disease: Web 2.0 Resources August 30, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, PeRSSonalized Medicine, Web 2.0, Webicina.
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The world wide web is really rich in Parkinson’s disease related content such as blogs, podcasts, community sites, mobile applications, Twitter users, videos or slideshows, but selecting the most relevant resources takes time and effort. Fortunately, Webicina.com just published the newest, Parkinson’s disease and Web 2.0 collection.

If you also want to follow easily these selected resources in a personalized way, here is PeRSSonalized Parkinson’s disease, the simplest medical information aggregator.

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Here is table of contents:

Feel free to share any of these resources and let us know if you think others should be added.

iPads vs Tablet PCs in Healthcare: Infographics August 30, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health 2.0, Healthcare, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Mobile.
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Some weeks ago, I wrote a review about using iPads in healthcare (pros and cons), later I also featured potential applications (in speech therapy, glaucoma or operations). Now the Power of Data Visualization blog published a great infographics focusing on the comparison of the possible roles of iPads and Tablet PCs in healthcare. Click on the image below to access the full material.

Doctors Unplugged August 27, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Video, Web 2.0.
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I write a lot about how doctors and empowered patients should and could use the power of world wide web in order to make healthcare better, but I don’t often mention what the real life of doctors looks like. Mike Cadogan at Life in The Fast Lane presented Doctors Unplugged:

Doctors Unplugged is an inside look at medicine and how it affects the peeps on the street. Humorous and politically incorrect at times but with great reverence for the concept of helping as many people as possible! This is medical podcast for the non-medical public.

Here are a few episodes:

Sign Language Over Video August 27, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health 2.0, Interview, Medgadget, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Mobile.
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Medgadget reported a new development achieved by the University of Washington engineers. They focused on enabling deaf and hard-of-hearing students communicate via mobile phones with sign language. It seems they could bypass the hardest issues and barriers.

The problem with directly streaming video is that today’s technology often isn’t fast enough to provide high resolution at 30 frames per second, let alone bandwidth costs and drain on the battery. To overcome this, algorithms inside the phone identify hand motions and focus on transmitting those at the expense of the rest of what’s on the screen.

Danish Medical Social Media Resources August 26, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, PeRSSonalized Medicine, Web 2.0, Webicina.
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We launched PeRSSonalized Medicine to help patients and doctors keep themselves up-to-date easily. It is a simple, free medical information aggregator that lets you select your favourite resources and read the latest news about a medical specialty or condition in one personalized place. Here is the 13th national version!

The newest one is the Danish selection in which the platform is in Danish and the blogs, news, Twitter users and journals are also the best ones in that language. Please let us know if you want to see PeRSSonalized Medicine in your language. Click on the image below to access the Danish version!

Some reasons why PeRSSonalized Medicine is unique:

  • You can search in the database. It means you will find medical information only from a quality selected portion of the world wide web.
  • You can personalize any of the sections.
  • You can also receive the newest Pubmed articles focusing on your search term. Just insert your field of interest, a therapy, a condition, etc. and click Search. Then you can add the newly created box to your personalized medical “journal”.
  • It is a community-based project. Please let us know which quality resources should be added to the database.

webicina newsletter

Truth On Call: Doctors Answer Questions via Text August 26, 2010

Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Mobile.
2 comments

Truth On Call has a really interesting business model. There are plenty of sites providing patients with answers from doctors on mobile phones, but this is different as this is aimed at the industry. Take a look at how it works:

  1. Industry Member Creates Question(s)
  2. Truth On Call Sends Question(s) To Physicians targeted by specialty and other characteristics
  3. Physicians Receive multiple-choice  Question(s) Via Text Message
  4. Physicians Respond To Question(s)  within 24 hours
  5. Industry Member Gets Answers  to their specialty specific questions within a few hours
  6. For every question answered, physicians receive $10 payable to themselves or to a charity of their choosing.

An excerpt from their mission statement:

Truth On Call asks pre-screened, verified physicians a multiple response question via their cell phone. Questions are posed by industry device or drug manufacturers, the media, and government, and are screened by Truth On Call. Physicians control the number of questions they receive every month and answer only the questions they want to answer.

Do you know of similar approaches in healthcare but focusing on patient needs?