Sunday, April 8, 2012

Disseminating the Message

I have had a blast the past few weeks.  I enjoyed a great vacation with my family.  I was privileged to give a Grand Rounds presentation on how doctors can use social media responsibly to improve education and health in general.  What a great opportunity, capped off by several across the country watching the live stream and others live tweeting specific points from the presentation.
Today, a segment on physicians using social media is airing on the radio show Sound Medicine.  I have to say that doing this segment was simply a phenomenal time, and an honor to work with the incredible people from Sound Medicine.  Nora Hiatt, Barbara Lewis, and of course, Dr. Kathy Miller, are complete professionals, who left me wanting to come back as soon as possible to do another show.  The radio show that is Sound Medicine is an example of what is good in medicine, and how we can educate not only other health care professionals but also patients and families.  Click here for more information about Sound Medicine.
So what’s the point of this post?  Disseminate the message.  Make it simple.  Social media can really help medicine and ultimately, patient care.  Doctors should not blindly jump in without a plan, but should definitely consider joining in social media to deliver information, ideally for the betterment of patients.  It is an opportunity to provide factual content to a place where many of the patients currently exist: on the internet, looking up health information.  We have an obligation to our patients to educate them how they want to be educated: let’s make good on that obligation.

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