Last evening I followed a live Twitter event that Baylor Scott and White Health conducted around a heart transplant. You can see the stream at #HeartTXLive. Rethinking live events in health care While I’ve not been a fan of live Twitter events, this one made me think. Social health events once conceived in dry, 3rd person narrative have evolved. High def images ... Continue Reading about Health Care and the Visibility-Value Continuum
Weekend Medicine
It’s remarkable that hospitals still keep weekend schedules. On Saturday and Sunday, things stop. They don’t stop, but they really do. ORs operate with emergency staffing. Routine diagnostic imaging is held until Monday morning. Saturday and Sunday schedules are a throwback to a time when the tempo of health care was set by the doctor’s rounds and the hands of a ... Continue Reading about Weekend Medicine
Yes, Doctor
Not long ago I cared for the child of a family from a distant country. When I walked in, they stood up. When I walked out, they stood up. It was like The People’s Court. They agreed with whatever I said. Their obsequious nodding whenever I spoke made me feel brilliant. They treated me as though I knew it all. The problem was that the family’s insistence on ... Continue Reading about Yes, Doctor
When Hospitals Engage by Megaphone
Last fall while teaching at the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media Residency, I sat with an hospital admin who asked me about her facility’s twitter and Facebook feeds. I told her it was a remarkable coincidence that everything created and shared was about her facility. She suggested it was because so many remarkable achievements came from her ... Continue Reading about When Hospitals Engage by Megaphone
Why Hospitals Fail to Connect with Their Audience
I spent some time this fall at meetings with professionals who promote hospitals and health institutions. I like to peek at what they’re doing with regard to their Twitter, Facebook and other feeds. It seems that if you work with a hospital or even a medical school, you have a couple of options regarding the way you connect with the public: Talk about your ... Continue Reading about Why Hospitals Fail to Connect with Their Audience
Passion: What Hospital Blogs Should Seek
At a meeting recently a communication professional asked what skill she should look for when recruiting doctors to write for her hospital’s blog. I didn’t hesitate. ‘Passion,’ I responded. Blogging over the long-term is a slog. You capture an idea, sketch it out, write, add links and tags, basic search optimization, post, promote and hope that it makes a small ... Continue Reading about Passion: What Hospital Blogs Should Seek