Time to prove medical crowdsourcing works: Please join! #medCR February 23, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Medicine 2.0, twitter, Web 2.0.add a comment
I used Twitter for crowdsourcing for medical purposes several times when I was looking for a rare diagnosis and it always helped. Now I came across the blog post of a Swedish fashion blogger and mother who described his son’s condition and is looking for help, experts or patients from around the world who might have the solution for the kid’s problem. Based on the symptoms, it’s clear this is something rare and unique, but hopefully people who can help will comment on her post.
This is my son, Mio. He has barely been to school the last couple of months. And he has almost not played with his friends. Cause he is always sick. He’s got pain behind his right eye. Every day. Sometimes he vomits. I feel so sorry for him and feel powerless. What can I do? What’s wrong? How long will this last? Should we just accept that life does not work? And that he’s always in pain? And above all – is it something dangerous?
Dear friends on Twitter, use the #medCR hashtag to discuss the potential diagnoses.
Lucien Engelen: Crowdsource your health February 18, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Ted Talks, Video, Web 2.0.add a comment
A TEDx talk from my friend, Lucien Engelen, who described an amazing area, crowdsourcing in medicine through social media.
The E-Patient becomes a patient February 13, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in e-patient, Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Video, Web 2.0.2 comments
E-patient Dave deBronkart has been the most important and amazing voice of the e-patient movement for years now after surviving a kidney cancer years ago. When I asked him to comment on how medical students should become doctors who are aware of the e-patient movement, he sent me and my students this message.
He announced a few days ago that he has skin cancer again.
An odd consequence of speaking at medical conferences is that sometimes my face is displayed, real big, on monitors at the front of a room. That happened in November at the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) annual meeting in Washington.
At the end, Lisa Letourneau MD, MPH of Maine Quality Countsraced up, pointed to my jaw, and said “You should have that checked. I think it’s a basal cell.” (That’s the least serious type of skin cancer – see Wikipedia: “Basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common type of skin cancer. It rarely metastasizes or kills.”) A few days later I took the picture at left, and started watching.
And now here is the newest piece of the story, Dave approaches the issue from a different angle:
I’ve decided to explore my options by doing what companies do when they’re shopping for a solution: they write a Request for Proposals, and let vendors reply. But in this case what I published isn’t cast in stone – I invite discussion and suggestions. And, significantly, I start with the context: partnership; participatory medicine -
I cannot wait to see how the industry and the healthcare system respond to such innovative approach.
What about HealthTap? February 11, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Community Site, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.1 comment so far
I guess you have heard about HealthTap, I even saw Ron Gutman’s talk at Stanford a few months ago. I’ve never thought that letting patients ask questions and letting physicians answer these questions without providing clear credentials, without knowing or seeing the patient in person is a good idea. To be clear, I think it’s a very dangerous idea, because people will probably use the service and while this Q&A approach would work in all areas, medicine is an exception. Practicing medicine happens in person, through real doctor visits, or even when online communication between doctor and patient is encouraged, a first real meeting is required (remember the model of Jay Parkinson,MD?).
I just found a great article covering this issue. An excerpt:
[U]sers post questions and doctors post brief answers. The service is free, and the doctors aren’t paid. Instead, they engage in gamelike competitions, earning points and climbing numbered levels. They can also receive nonmonetary awards — many of them whimsically named, like the “It’s Not Brain Surgery” prize, earned for answering 21 questions at the site.
So far, so good. But there’s more. The professional credentials of the physician answering your question, such as a board-certified specialty, are not available on the site. Instead, you get a crowdsourced “reputation level” built up by accumulating HealthTap awards, by clicks of approval from other doctors and by other measurable activities at the site.
The advice itself is limited to 400 characters, a length the Times worries is “hardly well-suited for providing nuanced answers to some medical questions.”
I would love to hear what you think!
The Power of Global Collaboration on Clinical Cases: Podcast today February 9, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Interview, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.add a comment
For the invitation of Eric Glazer, I’ll tell my stories about global collaboration on clinical cases through social media today in a podcast. Please see the times below. I hope you register and will listen to our discussion.
| Date and time: | Thursday, February 9, 2012 4:30 pm Europe Time (Berlin, GMT+01:00) Change time zone |
| Thursday, February 9, 2012 4:30 pm Europe Time (Madrid, GMT+01:00) |
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| Thursday, February 9, 2012 7:30 am Pacific Standard Time (San Francisco, GMT-08:00) |
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| Duration: | 1 hour |
Google Correlate shows what correlates with weight loss February 7, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Google, Medical Search, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.add a comment
Google Correlate is a tool on Google Trends which enables you to find queries with a similar pattern to a target data series. The target can either be a real-world trend that you provide (e.g., a data set of event counts over time) or a query that you enter. I found a slightly good correlation between weight loss and wedding checklist. Is it surprising?
Try other medical conditions as well.
Pocket.MD: A Directory of Pharma and Medical Mobile Apps February 7, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Mobile, Web 2.0.add a comment
POCKET.MD is the first and only online directory specifically focused on mobile applications created by healthcare companies. It was launched by Fabio Gratton.
POCKET.MD is the world’s first and only online service focused exclusively on providing the most comprehensive directory of mobile applications created by phamaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies.
Sherpaa: A New Initiative in Healthcare February 7, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Health, Web 2.0, Medicine 2.0, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Innovation.add a comment
You all know the story of Jay Parkinson, MD who launched the first online GP service years ago in New York. After it became a “franchise”, he left and started a new company, The Future Well. A few months ago, I met him at Stanford, asked about his new projects and he mentioned the Sherpaa idea. Well, here is the official launch and the concept of Sherpaa.
To me it seems that Sherpaa tries to help patients when there are easier solutions for a health-related problem compared to using the traditional healthcare system. They give a specific example, what happens when you cut your finger:
- You call your Guide
- We ask you to snap a photo of the cut and email it to us
- We look at it and it looks like something that can be handled outside the ER
- We give instructions on what to do in the meantime as we schedule a stitch up
- We call Dr. Sung (our plastic surgeon)
- You are free to meet Dr. Sung in his office in an hour
- You are on the road to recovery
—without sherpaa
Cost in ER: $4000
Time in ER: 8 hrs—with sherpaa
Cost in Dr. Sung’s office: $1000
Time with Dr. Sung: 30 min
I believe the idea is timely and the structure is well-designed knowing Jay’s enthusiasm and proficiency. The only concern is how the healthcare system will look at their machinery. What do you think?
Ambulance crews tweet ‘working life’ February 6, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.1 comment so far
It seems tweeting during work hours in order to give some insights about that specific job is quite trendy these days. A few days ago, I read a BBC report about the North West Ambulance Services that started to use Twitter while working so people could feel themselves closer to the crews.
Five North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) crews from Liverpool, Burnley, Kendal, Crewe and Manchester will take part in the week-long project.
NWAS Director of Emergency Services Derek Cartwright said each crew would tweet for one day.
He said the tweets would not reveal patient details, but would show “the human side of the service”.
Then a friend from the UK informed me on Twitter (where else?) that London Ambulane has been doing the same thing for some time.
As I think this is a great idea and locally it can have a huge impact, I would love to see other examples from other countries and I count on you in collecting these examples.
Use Of Mobiles, Video And Social Networking By Physicians: Infographic February 6, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Infographics, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.add a comment
I’ve recently come across an amazing infographic dedicated to the use of mobiles/smartphones, video and social media by medical professionals. A few interesting snippets and questions I raised:
- 81% of physicians are expected to own a smartphone by 2012
- 73% search the web (only 73%?)
- More physicians watch videos on WebMD than on Youtube?
- 86% of physicians use Facebook (certainly not for professional but personal reasons)
What do you think of these and the rest of the data?
