I’ve been thinking about LinkedIn’s new recommendation feature.  Those of you who use LinkedIn probably understand that you can ‘endorse’ the activities of those in your network.  It’s a social vote in favor of a certain skills.  Initially I wasn’t sure about it but as time passes I wonder if it may get us closer to a way to socially review doctors.

This post on EMR and EHR by John Lynn covers the issue nicely.  Looking at his LinkedIn endorsements, they begin to take on the look of a cloud.  I can start to see a collective picture of who he is and what he does best as determined by those who know him.

This would represent an interesting way for the the public or peer professionals to grade physicians.  Every doctor could have a cloud that defines how they are seen.  This socially determined skill set could be visualized in some creative ways.  And if endorsements could number in the thousands, it would also become more difficult over time to game the system.  To be successful a system like this might need to offer granular options specific to what doctors do or abilities important to patients.  Using The current LinkedIn categories are too broad to offer actionable information.

Physician reviews are notoriously unreliable.  I wonder if a simple system like this would get us closer to a system that’s helpful and based on wide participation.

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