I’m happy that patients use the internet August 5, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in e-patient, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.4 comments
Recently, I’ve had an interview with a national newspaper and the woman who performed the interview told me she was surprised that I seemed to be the first doctor in her life who was happy about patients using the internet. Well, she surprised me with this statement as I’ve never thought about that before. But she must be right. There are many doctors who get upset when they find out the patient tried to find information online. They are frustrated as they don’t even know how to use these online tools and have no idea how to help the patients in this perspective.
Myself, I’m pretty much happy about it. I love to hear patients
- use mobile apps to track their health;
- use Webicina.com and Honcode for assessing quality online;
- write blogs about their health management
- or discuss their problems in online patient communities.
I believe such patients can become informed and really equal partners in the treatment.
Dear e-patients, please keep on going and using the web efficiently.
Dear doctors, at least know more about the internet-related issues and be able to answer the specific questions of e-patients.
Mayo Connect: That’s how you launch an online community site August 5, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Community Site, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.2 comments
As a member of the external advisory board of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media I was happy to see the Mayo Connect community site from the first moments and I knew it was something special. Now The Online Community Guide posted a case study about this and had the same feelings:
It’s a good community concept. The Mayo Clinic has a clear target audience who have a motivation to interact with each other. There is plenty of room for improvement, however. If they were a client, here is what we would recommend:
1) Optimize the journey
2) Confirmation e-mail
3) Platform design
4) Discussion area
5) Social aspects.
Mayo Connect is one of the better online communities launched in recent months. It has a great concept and a good chance of success. Like most communities, however, it leaves plenty of room for both technical and social improvements.
Genetic Music Project August 4, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in DNA, Fun, Music, Web 2.0.2 comments
Some months ago I wrote about Alexandra Pajak, a graduate student at the University of Georgia, who released an album of music based on the DNA of HIV. And now here is the Genetic Music Project, an open source genetic art project combining music and science where everyone is art and everyone can be an artist.
Since all genetic information can only come in the language of four nucleotides (A Adenosine C Cytosine G Guanine T Thymidine) it is fairly easily conveyed in musical form. Another way of thinking about it is that each and every one of us and all life on this planet is made of music.
Redesigning Waiting Room in Healthcare August 3, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in eHealth, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Innovation, Medicine, Medicine 2.0.12 comments
I’ve recently come across fuelfor a company focusing on redesigning the common processes of healthcare. They just launched a project in which they aim at creating a new concept for waiting rooms:
Waiting is a common pain point in many health systems. As resources are increasingly overstretched, some degree of waiting is inevitable for most healthcare services. And yet hospital waiting rooms tend to be some of the most uncomfortable spaces to spend time, both physically and emotionally. Research shows that a well designed waiting experience has the potential to improve the overall perception of a health care service and to optimise care delivery processes. Gathering insights through site visits to several hospitals and clinics and discussions with care givers and patients, fuelfor has created a system of furniture, interior design, service and signage concepts that aim to make the experience of waiting in healthcare positive, effective and comfortable.
A few pictures below, and let me know if you want to know more about it.
New Medical Communities: Medcrowd, Doctors Global and Comp’act Onair August 2, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Community Site, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Video, Web 2.0.add a comment
There are now over 65 biomedical community sites in the list I’ve been updating for years. Here are the 3 new additions:
- Doctors Global: Doctors Global intends to facilitate physicians to collaborate across all boundaries, to share views, experience and learn new things from colleagues across the world every day in a secure environment.
- Comp’act Onair: An evidence-based practice bases clinical decisions on the best available evidence.
Doctors Go Digital in the 21st Century: Infographic August 2, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in eHealth, Infographics, Medicine, Medicine 2.0.add a comment
There is a nice infographic about the digital device and mobile app usage of doctors.
Predicting Epidemics via Twitter? August 1, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in twitter, Video, Web 2.0.3 comments
Do you remember when Google Flu Trends was announced to be able to track and predict flu outbreaks in US states based on the search queries focusing on flu symptoms? Do you remember when a study pointed out although it was interactive and neat but was not as useful as CDC national surveillance programs? Well, now Twitter is meant to fill this gap. If you ask me, it won’t.
From Lady Gaga and Facebook to MD Celebs and Twitter August 1, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Fun, Pharma, science, Video, Web 2.0, What's on the web?.add a comment
- A great post about how to get Beyond Bullet Points in Medical Education
- Although the British Medical Association has recently warned against patient Facebook requests, here is a story about how Facebook saved a boy’s life
Slate has a dramatic story of how a mother’s Facebook network helped spot – rapidly – Kawasaki Disease, a rare auto-immune disease that the family’s doctors had initially missed. Her social network contains some medically knowledgeable people. (Do you have any docs, nurses, etc in your Facebook circle?) Note that friends’ availability is sometimes far greater than a doctor’s office.
- Interviews about Pharmaceutical communication in a multi-regulatory world
But what’s crazy is that number of Facebook page likes is strongly correlated with the total number of citations a journal has received (r = 0.78, p = 0.001)!
- Phil Baumann’s 140 Healthcare uses for Twitter slideshow:
- And the best blog entry of the week award goes to: Social Media and Pharmaceutical Self-Promotion; A Bad Cocktail or Public Health Service?
We want a radical rethink of what pharmaceutical companies should be doing as part of their social media strategies.
It’s not enough to blast posts and promos to your facebook page and call it social media.
It’s not enough to stream press releases and stock prices to your Twitter accounts.
It’s not enough to build another patient support community and then stifle the “conversation” with moderation.
It’s not enough to continue the PR-broadcast mentality and call it “social media”
