We're entering an age of individual responsibility in medicine. It used to be that our role as physician was well-defined. But medicine and the context of care are changing fast. As physicians... We need to teach ourselves. Technology and our defined roles are changing faster than med school curricula and CME can keep up. No one will do this for us. We need ... Continue Reading about Individual Responsibility in Medicine
Doctors on the Record
During a clinical encounter recently the mother I was visiting with reached down to the phone sitting on her chair and discreetly hit a red record button. Increasingly, parents are interested in recording their encounters with me. Sometimes one parent can’t be present for a visit. Perhaps the mother of an inconsolable 6-week-old wants to remember what her ... Continue Reading about Doctors on the Record
What Should Medical Students Know About Social Media?
As you may or may not know, I am responsible for fashioning a new curriculum in digital literacy and professionalism for medical students at Baylor College of Medicine. I’ll offer more details over the coming weeks. Until then, I need your help. Concerning digital communication tools and the growing public space for dialog, what the things that you believe a ... Continue Reading about What Should Medical Students Know About Social Media?
Doctors Using Social Media: No Longer New
This week marked the departure of blogger Mike Sevilla from public view. Operating as Doctor Anonymous in the earlier years of medical blogging, his colorful contributions to the big conversation will be missed. The thinking surrounding his decision is here. I have a couple of thoughts about Mike’s silence and how the world turns. Things aren't like they used ... Continue Reading about Doctors Using Social Media: No Longer New
Doctors as Victims of Technology
This post on Wing of Zock by Jason Franasiak is worth a peek. Perspectives of this type make deterministic assumptions about technology: Technology shapes us and we follow. This reflects a view among physicians that we’re the victims rather than the beneficiaries of technology. We cling to the belief that things were better way back when. We blame technology ... Continue Reading about Doctors as Victims of Technology
Should Doctors be Paid to Use Social Media?
The question of physicians and renumeration for social participation makes great cocktail party, or Twitter, conversation. If you cornered me around a plate of hors d'ouvres, here’s what I might say: I think we have a responsibility to be part of the conversation. All of us should be participating in some way. Optimally we should be making the stuff that starts ... Continue Reading about Should Doctors be Paid to Use Social Media?