When I look on Twitter here's how I see physician authority and influence: Authority - These are the true leaders in medicine with deep knowledge, experience and credibility in their domain. These are the leaders among physicians. The power hitters. And not necessarily academics. Influence - Those with lots of followers or influence as determined by social ... Continue Reading about Physician Authority and Influence Online
Should Twitter be Regulated at Medical Meetings?
The organizer of medical meetings in Milan recently made an appeal (tongue-in-cheek, it would appear) to attendees to avoid status updates and mindless backchannel banter. The social side of any conference is important, and Twitter, being part of the social media, will naturally show that side. There is, however, a danger that the orchestra’s symphony will be drowned ... Continue Reading about Should Twitter be Regulated at Medical Meetings?
Lockstep Medicine – Marching in Time with the Past
In medicine we are obsessed with lockstep medicine.... We idolize leadership but promote management. We marginalize vision while rewarding process. We worship list makers. We’re trained as responders not initiators. We propagate a culture of permission and seek to breed a generation precisely like the last. We believe that thought leadership and ... Continue Reading about Lockstep Medicine – Marching in Time with the Past
Doctors and the Endemic Culture of Permission
Recently Richard Smith, editor of the BMJ, called out the NEJM for failing to publish critical letters. His post in the BMJ blog network calls out NEJM as elitist. If electronic space is unlimited, he asks, why limit letters? Good point. Buy why assume that conversation is controlled by the NEJM? This is a great illustration of what I have come to call ... Continue Reading about Doctors and the Endemic Culture of Permission
Public Doctors. Public Thinking
I’ve been thinking about doctors who think out loud. Public thinkers. Public doctors. What I’m referring to is doctors creating content and having conversations in areas where everyone can see. Writing blogs, creating videos, creating e-books, or curating links on Twitter. It’s a term that involves not just social dialog but the individual creation of retrievable ... Continue Reading about Public Doctors. Public Thinking
Doctors and the Permission to Speak
Let’s say you’re a doctor and you have an idea, opinion, or a new way of doing things. What do you do with it? It used to be that the only place we could share ideas was in a medical journal or from the podium of a national meeting. Both require that your idea pass through someone’s filter. As physicians we’ve been raised to seek approval before approaching the ... Continue Reading about Doctors and the Permission to Speak