When I start a visit I ask the patient if they’re okay with some occasional typing while we talk. This morning when I asked, my teen patient replied holding his phone, ‘That’s fine so long as I can type as we talk.' To his point, we assume information engagement in the clinical space is only for providers. At one time, in fact, we prohibited cell phone use in ... Continue Reading about Negotiating IT in the Exam Room
Google Flu – Urine on the Google Flu Grave
Celebrating the failure of Google flu trends has evolved as a full-contact sport for digital health watchers. The world celebrated Google's potential and then its failure. This piece from Wired shouldn’t be missed. A civil and properly-penned postmortem that sees Google’s predictive potential beyond our shallow schadenfreude. ... Continue Reading about Google Flu – Urine on the Google Flu Grave
Periscope as a Medical Medium
Doctors are increasingly sharing procedures on Periscope. For the uninformed, Periscope is an in-line Twitter application that facilitates live, personal broadcasting. Most recently, an achilles tendon repair from Ohio State was ’scoped'. I thought it sounded pretty interesting, but I got there too late. The party was over and the video was gone. The use of ... Continue Reading about Periscope as a Medical Medium
Consumer Lab Testing: Will the Doctor be Out?
Health care’s race to the consumer was met with some chatter last week with the announcement that LabCorp will allow patients to order their own diagnostic testing through their consumer lab. This is good, but consumer lab testing can be a tricky proposition. Numbers and results devoid of context are only numbers. Outside of the body from which the number comes ... Continue Reading about Consumer Lab Testing: Will the Doctor be Out?
The Problem with Human Communication
Here Sherpaa founder Jay Parkinson riffs on why video may be an overrated health communication tool. Traditional asynchronous text dialog, he argues, is perhaps our best option. His discussion sparked dialog since it flies in the face of what seems to be an inevitable trajectory toward telehealth. The problem with human communication is that it’s nuanced. ... Continue Reading about The Problem with Human Communication
What if Health Communication Was Like Buzzfeed?
Not long ago I was reviewing a piece of patient education material that was due for revision. It was long, dry, and read like my seventh grade health ed textbook. It didn't work. Then I thought to myself, what if this were written like some of the successful websites that I visit every day? What if our education material had the flair of Buzzfeed, Mashable and ... Continue Reading about What if Health Communication Was Like Buzzfeed?