Top Medical Social Media Stories of 2011: Month by Month December 30, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Cancer, e-patient, Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, List, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Pharma, Slideshow, twitter, Video, Web 2.0, Webicina, Wikipedia.5 comments
2011 was a very intense and exciting year regarding the developments and new insights of the relationship between medicine/healthcare and social media. Here are my favourite stories from 2011 selected and featured month by month.
January
I had the honour to be included in the Advisory Board of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media; I wrote about how a Samsung Galaxy Tab changed totally my online activities, how Google Translate can be used in medicine and featured HealCam, a medical alternative of ChatRoulette.
February
Facebook diagnosis by surgeon saved a friend; there was a lively discussion whether pharma companies can edit Wikipedia entries about their own products, it turned out Wikipedia can be a key tool for global public health promotion; and Scienceroll won the Best Medical Technology/Informatics Blog category for the third time in a row in the Medgadget’s Weblog Awards.
March
The new semester of the Internet in Medicine social media university course was launched, pregnant women could text their due date for free weekly advice during pregnancy on Push, Baby Push; Webicina was featured by the Kairos Society on Wall Street, UCSF Medical Center installed a robotic pharmacy in order to remove medication errors from the system; and here is my video message for Stanford about the importance of digital literacy in medical education.
April
Jay Parkinson summarized his story of being the first online doc, the Webicina iPhone app won the 2011 Medical App Awards; Al Jazeera called me Dr. Twitter after I described how Twitter can be used for medical crowdsourcing, and in the fight against AIDS a time lapse video of a woman with HIV/AIDS was published.
May
Blogger announced own death after battle with cancer which shocked people, then a woman managed to find a kidney donor through Twitter, The Social Life of Health Information Pew Internet report was released, and top doctors described how a medical professional should start using social media.
June
I co-authored a medical textbook about medical communication in social media; Google Health was announced to be closed, a cancer patient who blogged about his hospital treatment was threatened with legal action by an NHS trust; Doctors 2.0 and You was the event of the year; and here are some disasters in social media and what we should learn from them.
July
ePatient Dave rocked TED; Mayo Clinic launched an online community in a perfect way, Pfizer’s Facebook page got hacked and they reacted badly, I listed the reasons why I like Google+ even in medicine; mobile apps got regulated by the FDA; and it turned out iPhones can be used for obtaining ECG.
August
I published a story about how Twitter can be used to predict epidemics; even waiting rooms can be redesigned to improve healthcare; I described why I’m happy that patients use the web; started managing the social media presence of a huge medical portal; I stated what you write only is forever; and pharma had hard days because of comments on Facebook.
September
Using hashtags is crucial in medical communication on Twitter; I talked about the future of health 2.0 in Europe; organized a virtual medical consultation in the virtual world on World Heart Day; this is how creativity can be used in healthcare; and I presented the best apps of a physician at the Doctors 2.0 and You conference.
October
Nobel winner died days before award announced; I shared a social media love story about a bone marrow donor; an app let us run figures on maps; Google+ was used for case presentations; and Mayo Clinic launched the Know Your Numbers campaign.
November
I published the 7 Features of the New Generation of Physicians; my open access success story; a summary about the Games for Health conference; hardcore campaigns about men’s health; and revealed why the most viewed medical video on Youtube got millions of hits.
December
Winners of the Webicina social media story contest were announced; WHO featured Webicina; the launch of a global medial social media course was announced; I described my time management tools and tips in medicine; the open access set of social media guidelines for and about pharma was published; and finally found the cutest story of 2011, parents got insulin-pump tattoos to support diabetic child.
I’m going to post my predictions for 2012 tomorrow and I hope you will stay with Scienceroll.com next year as well!
From DIY Diagnostic Tests to Mobile Health Competitions December 11, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Hospital, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, twitter, Video, Web 2.0, What's on the web?.3 comments
In a letter published in the Journal of Emergencies, Trauma, and Shock, physicians in Scotland described the use of a webcam, Skype, and an iPhone 4 to connect a provider in Calgary to an expert over 200 miles away in Aberdeen for assistance in performing a pulmonary ultrasound.
The idea behind most diagnostic tests is simple: Identify a telltale chemical and look for it in a blood sample. The PSA test for prostate cancer is the best-known cancer diagnostic, but diagnostics exist for other cancers too — ovarian and colorectal to name a few. And while the tests are not infallible, they can help find hard-to-detect, early stage cancers and monitor treatment.
Dave deBronkart, “e-Patient Dave,” was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer in 2007. The median survival time for his condition was 24 weeks. Thanks to the help of an online network for patients with his disease, he quickly learned about treatment options and found support for his recovery. The treatment was successful, and now e-Patient Dave is cancer-free and has found a higher calling: empowering patients to have access to the best health care possible — by connecting with resources online.
eyeforpharma believes that the pharma industry must pay more attention to patient needs across the board, and that teen cancer patients are a great place to start. To this end, the organization is hosting its first annual Mobile Health Competition. The competition aims to highlight new and exciting mobile apps that help teen cancer patients better manage their conditions and improve their lives.
You cannot afford to take a “wait-and-see” approach or you may soon find yourself trying to catch up with competitors. Even if you do not currently have an active social media presence, your employees and customers are already using social media. Start now, start small and measure progress. Take precautions: develop a policy to govern your employees’ use of social media. Also use social media to monitor, enhance and protect your brand/reputation.
Hashtags on Twitter September 1, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Medicine 2.0, twitter, Web 2.0.14 comments
I’ve recently realized how important it is to use hashtags when sharing content, ideas or links on Twitter. When I started using hashtags massively again, I got into more discussions and got more feedback. So if you don’t know which hashtag you should use at the end of your tweets, here are the most famous ones in medicine and healthcare.
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.
“Get Fit” Twitter Campaign by GE Healthcare June 3, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, twitter, Web 2.0.2 comments
GE Healthcare has recently launched a Twitter-based campaign focusing on health tips against cancer. People can share their own health tips on Twitter by using the #get_fit hashtag that has over 200 country-specific forms. While the initiative is great (that is how a huge company should motivate people to share interesting health tips in order to fight cancer), I think creating multiple hashtags for different countries was a mistake as it might lower the rate of participation (I have to look for my country’s special hashtag first).
That’s why at GE Healthcare we’re running an online initiative to encourage people to “Get Fit” and join the fight against cancer. The “Get Fit” project aims to inspire people all around the world to seek healthier lifestyles by exercising, eating well and engaging in other activities that foster health — and share their choices using Twitter.
Game on! We’re hosting a global competition to see which continent’s population can “Get Fit” fastest. The more people who tweet about how they are getting fitter, using their country’s designated “Get Fit” hashtag (see below), the faster the cells hovering over their continent (Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Australasia, and the Middle East and Africa) will turn from “risky red” to “healthy green” on the competition’s interactive map. The continent that “goes green” fastest wins.
How to start social media as doctors? May 27, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, twitter, Video, Web 2.0.4 comments
My old friend and mentor, Ves Dimov, MD at Clinical Cases and Images shared some great instructions about how to start using social media as medical professionals.
- Start on Twitter, expand to a blog as natural progression.
- Input your blog posts automatically to a Facebook like/fan page.
- Listen to the leading physicians, nurses and patients’ voices on Twitter, and reply.
- Comment on blogs.
- Do not be afraid to share your expertise.
- Comply with HIPAA and common sense.
Howard Luks addresses this issue:
Also here is what Ves thinks about using Twitter.
I have published a series of similar entries on my Medicine 2.0 page.
Finding a Kidney Donor through Twitter May 23, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health 2.0, twitter, Web 2.0.6 comments
NBC’s Today show described a story of a Mayo Clinic patient with kidney disease who received a life-saving transplant after her daughter made connections with a volunteer kidney donor through social media, notably on Twitter.
Health 2.0 News: From Pharma to Health Games May 12, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Pharma, twitter, Video, Web 2.0, What's on the web?.1 comment so far
Among FDA’s TOP three “normal” surveillance activities was “complaints submitted by industry competitors.” In fact, Gray said “we have found that industry competitors tend to be some of the best sources of information about potentially false and misleading advertising.”
Digital Pharma caught Bayer posting a Tweet – via its @BayerUKIreland Twitter account – that seems to violate new social media guidelines published by the UK’s Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), which oversees the self-regulatory code of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).
Tweet_Fit tweets while you do exercises May 8, 2011
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, twitter, Video, Web 2.0.2 comments
Tweet_Fit is an amazing idea that is similar in nature to Kickbee. Here are the details:
Developed by a UK design student, the connected gym accessory attaches to the end of a standard dumbbell and sends updates to your Twitter account when you start and stop your workout. Take it offline and it guides you through the perfect curl. Tweet_Fit’s designer points out that it offers a novel way for trainers to keep track of their clients, and can be used to spur healthy competition between friends.
