Comments on: Are Physicians Obligated to Participate in Social Media?

By: miramar puntarenas lots costa rica

miramar puntarenas lots costa rica — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:16:25 +0000

Hi!! its hard to be agree every have a different opinion the social media can be a great tool for education and networking, not only for patients but doctors alike. Although ethics can be questioned when the lines of doctor patient relationships are blurred, times are changing and a lot of people is using it
I hope it give us just good experiences

By: Karen Rocks

Karen Rocks — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:25:43 +0000

I think this is good start and a positive article from a doctor that values social media as part of their overall marketing. Lately when talking with doctors they want to jump into social media, because being competitive by nature, they want to keep up with other doctors.

I like your three points. Slowly, the structures are starting to come into place that will support physician involvement in social media. But from what I have seen, the motivation needs to be there, and it needs to be more than the usual desire of using social media to "Get more patients".

By: Stewart Gandolf

Stewart Gandolf — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:44:11 +0000

This is a good post, and frankly, it surprised me.

When I first saw the title I thought, "This must be by another run-of-the-mill marketer trying to get business. I wonder if he even KNOWS any doctors."

To say that most doctors (especially PCPs) are insanely busy and disinterested in the Internet for all kinds of reasons (including liability) is an understatement.

I was very pleased to find it was not only written by a doctor, but the idea of using social media to combat disinformation is terrific.

This is a truly unique and noble vision about a complex subject.

BTW I will cover this post on my blog, GandolfsMarketingMagic.com, and will follow you on Twitter.

Nice meeting you.

By: buy cheap viagra

buy cheap viagra — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:55:22 +0000

No, social media is just another way of take our money.

By: James Logan

James Logan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:48:53 +0000

There will always be misinformation out there. It's the price we pay for having free speech + the internet. And I think it's a fair price.

No matter what doctors say, or how well organized we are, there will always be patients who are either passively or willfully ignorant of the evidence. Even patients who are genuinely savy and open-minded may be confused by all the contradictory information they find.

That's why they need to see a doctor - to help them sort all this out. I don't think all the plethora of incorrect information one can find online in any way threatens our profession. If anything, it makes us more invaluable than ever before.

By: X- Generation Docs

X- Generation Docs — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:27:26 +0000

With or without quality information, the misconceptions and miseducating websites would still be there. No point asking all doctors to interact via social network if that is the case. Social network and misleading sites are two different issues which may be misunderstood to be from the same source: Internet.

Perhaps one should understand that social network is something more akin to a telephone, and those webs with misleading info is more akin to a tabloid with sensational news. These two different media exist together but would never solve the problems faced here.

What is more important is for the physicians to recommend what web (even Wikipedia holds more truth than those bogus claims) should the patient refer and spend more time in educating the patient's misconception should it arises. Just creating a website or social media to disseminate knowledge as such does not serve any purpose to rectify the issue, but to create even more confusion. That is why there is a need for a personal touch from physicians in addressing such issue.

Writing an article or two a year in hope to "clean" the Internet of those junk information is not as easy as it is, and not an easy way out to replace the doctor's efforts to communicate with the patients. It might be easy to think that it works like an antibiotic on bacterial infection, but reality may not be as simple as it seems.

By: DrV

DrV — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:42:15 +0000

Dr George – Thanks for your comment. I have to say that I disagree with the outsourcing of social media to a third party. This is like hiring someone to go to a cocktail party on your behalf.

By: Eduardo Alvarado

Eduardo Alvarado — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:24:55 +0000

I absolutely agree. If physicians know that Internet is full of low quality info, it would be so silly to close our eyes to this reality! Patients will not stop searching on Internet… Doctors do not have time for patient education… So the solution is Being an active player on social media

By: Dr. George

Dr. George — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:50:55 +0000

I agree doctors need to have an online presence if they want to succeed today. If they don't have time or knowledge to handle social networking there are companies that will do it for them.

By: Gregg Masters

Gregg Masters — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:33:30 +0000

Also agree Dr V. Way too many Mc Allen's out there; need more Mayo's, i.e., physician owned, and both clinically and financially integrated, at risk delivery platforms.

The only hope to contain the rapacious appetite of a volume incentivized delivery system, is by prudent, skin in the game docs who collaborate with their patients to make a difference.

Maybe social media will be the catalyst for the conversations that scale the silos and moats that keep these two parties from collaborating?

I applaud your courage and appreciate your voice - only physician early adopters and champions in the space can steward the needed transformation.