Social Media in Healthcare: A Collective Presentation from HealthWorks Collective

Cleveland Clinic ( in partnership with Johnson and Johnson) recently organized the third annual Patient Experience Empathy and Innovation Summit on May 20-22 at the Inter-Continental Hotel & Conference Center on Cleveland Clinic's campus in Ohio. The attendees (from 34 states and 28 countries) represented hospitals, healthcare systems and businesses.This physician/hospital led event strives to bring the missing 'human' touch to medical care.

The topics discussed ranged from use of internet tools in healthcare, personal technology, patient experience, service excellence, physician communication, search engine marketing and more . As expected, Digital / Social Media use in healthcare was an important (and inaugural) session of the conference.It highlighted how healthcare providers can mobilize the power of digital media to make healthcare better, faster, more personal and affordable. It also explored the latest social media technologies and their roles in patient care, research and education.

From the conference, here is presentation from Robin Carey, Chief Executive Officer, Social Media Today. It dissects and quantifies physician use of digital media like cellphone apps, blogs, Facebook and twitter. Also included are some tips on best practices.

You can find many of the presentation posted on their post proceedings page.

Download Free eBook: Internet For Doctors

Over the past 2 decades, the internet has changed the way the world functions. This is specially true for knowledge intensive professions like medicine. From emails to news alerts, networking to evidence gathering : Medical practice is no more what it was 20 years ago.
For newbies, here's our effort to make your first steps online easier.

Just fill out the form below to download our latest flip-book 'Internet For Doctors'. This flip book will introduce doctors to the internet and lists a number of websites they will find useful in their practice. 

Fill out my online form.

Also See:
Doctors' Use of Email and Social Media : Guidelines

Financial Malpractices and Ethics among Doctors in India : A Survey

It's now slightly more than a week, 8 days in fact, since the scathing interview of the Medical Council of India chief by Aamir khan on national television. The 4th episode of Satyamev Jayate targeting corruption and malpractices amongst doctors in India has ruffled quite a few feathers in the medical profession.



While many have praised the show for daring to take on the 'mighty' doctors, many others have severely criticized the tone and content of the episode. A mulitude of physician organizations have jumped on a band wagon demanding an apoplogy from Aamir Khan.

At Digital MedCom Solutions, we conducted a very short survey (5 multiple choice questions) amongst Indian doctors about what they thought of the "Anti-Doctor Episode". This survey was filled in by 87 doctors. It is meant to take a snapshot view of the immediate thinking in the medical fraternity (n=87) within the first few days after the television show.

• 81% of the doctors who participated in the survey had seen the TV show. 
• 45% felt Aamir was unfairly targeting doctors. 
• 56% doctors knew a professional colleague who indulged in such activities.
• 40% doctors think Aamir Khan should shut up as he has no idea about a doctor’s life.

The story is still unfolding as the clamour from medical associations demanding an apology is still growing. A few placatory and balanced interviews of well respected doctors by Aamir Khan have also now appeared in the media. As Aamir now clarifies that he didn't intend to tar ALL the Doctors with the same black brush, the dust has far from settled. Be ready for a round two soon.

Why Doctors Love To Hate Electronic Health Records

Doctors love to hate electronic health records. Over the years, many surveys have tried to pinpoint the physicians who are more likely to be satisfied by their EHRs. Surveys have found that those in primary care or Internal medicine are generally more satisfied with their EHRs than their colleagues in Oncology or Ophthalmology. Also, solo physicians were the most satisfied and that satisfaction decreased as the practice size grew to 50 physicians. Physicians in 100% productivity-based practices were more satisfied than salaried physicians. 

So what are the top reasons doctors love electronic health records?

1) An electronic record forces documentation of many steps which might be otherwise missed. More thorough documentation of clinical visits leads to less leakage of revenue.

2) In medicine, patient data is the source of all decisions. EHRs make data retrieval easier and thus quality of patient service is enhanced

3) Doctors are no longer tied to their desks and can work from anywhere anytime.

As many doctors will be quick to point out, EHR adoption also comes with a lot of pain-points.

1) There is no guaranteed improvement in productivity. In fact, there could be a loss of productivity in the short term.

2) Some EHRs are badly designed and require too many steps/ clicks for relatively simple documentation procedure, for eg. CPOE.. Sometimes, important data maybe difficult to find.

3) The omnipresent computer monitor and keyboard is not a very likeable third party in the examination room. It is an obstacle to one-to-one relationship building between doctors and patients.

Nevertheless, electronic health records are used widely and are here to stay. Insights into the reasons some EHRs are preferred over others can be an important advantage for many companies in this multi-billion-dollar industry.
You can read the original AMA article here.

Also see:
-How Poor Health IT Implementation Can Hurt Patients : Electronic health records can improve care, but doctors should also be mindful of some health IT obstacles that can be detrimental to patients.
-How To Ease EHR Frustration : EHRs can slow physicians' practices to a crawl, but evidence suggests they ultimately pay off.

The Medscapeindia (MSI) Awards 2012 Nominations Are Open

The Medscapeindia was established as an "foundation pursuing a socio-scientific aim" in the year 2010. Medscapeindia serves as a platform that unites doctors for discussion and debate on relevant subjects. And now the inaugural MSI Awards "Recognizing excellence in Healthcare" nominations are open.

Today, the healthcare and medical sector faces myriad problems unique to this niche in India. Ethical guidelines need to be evolved around sensitive subjects such as doctors' communication with patients, pharma-industry sponsored continued medical education (CME), female foeticide, new regulations for fire-safety etc and many more. The Medscapeindia looks to bridge the gap between healthcare professionals and policy making.

Dr. Sunita Dube is the President of The Medscapeindia Foundation.