Twitter has evolved it's own communities of people talking about disease. The problem is that it can be hard to find the channel you need. Doctors, patients and others engaging in dialog can fall into the the bad habit of home-brew hashtags. So some have been working to standardize the way we talk on Twitter. Or better put, we've been pushing the use of standard ... Continue Reading about Harnessing Hashtags in Digestive Health
When Data Meets Doctors
This week while serving on the GI consult service at Texas Children's Hospital I was asked to evaluate a child in the Pediatric Heart Failure ICU. When I walked into the patient's room, I found this: A massive wall-mounted touch screen at the foot of the bed with all of the patient's critical data beautifully displayed. As the cardiac intensivists round, all of the ... Continue Reading about When Data Meets Doctors
What Patients are Searching For
Last week I evaluated a child whose mother had found me through this Google mug post. The funny thing is that my site offered no information about her child’s perplexing celiac serology. While I didn't deliver what was searched, she found what she needed. When I began publishing ideas about technology and health there was no intent to attract patients. But ... Continue Reading about What Patients are Searching For
Waiting for Health
These are among the most powerful images I have ever seen. Delivered as a brilliant project intended to draw attention to the world's medically underserved, the Waiting for Health Project is worth your attention. The goal of the Waiting for Health Project is to 'break through the noise and put humanity back at the center of the conversation.' The photographer of ... Continue Reading about Waiting for Health
Doctors and the Google Threat
You may have seen this image floating around. The funny thing is that this is something I would have expected in 1997. At the the time we were adjusting to the idea of information as the 3rd party in the exam room. Patients had a heady sense of power; doctors had to adjust to a shifting relationship. Patients now seem to have a more mature relationship with ... Continue Reading about Doctors and the Google Threat
Negotiating IT in the Exam Room
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