Doctors need to get involved with social media
posted in - Featured site, - Palmdoc, - Technology |I agree with Kevin MD that Dr. Bryan Vartabedian has made an important point, that is Physicians are Obligated to Participate in Social Media.
This means blogs, facebook, twitter and whatever is next to come.
Many of our patients already scour the internet or ask their contacts in blogs, forums, facebook for help when in comes to health issues. Googling is often not enough as the hits can be so varied and include information from scammers, MLMers and outright misinformation.
There are plenty of myths and fallacies which are spread on the internet - papaya leave juice curing dengue fever, LBA, quack surgery, ozone therapy are just some of the things we have highlighted in our Fraud watch category.
Fraudsters are making the most of the Internet and the new social media. Unfortunately most of our doctors are still in the 20th century and aren’t doing enough to combat the misinformation.
As Kevin says:
The role of the physician in the 21st century will be defined by its role in the social health space. As they say in Washington DC, if you don’t show up at the table you’re likely to wind up on the menu. And so far zealots peddling misinformation are eatin’ us for lunch.
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November 1st, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Many doctors remain averse to the internet. It is still perceived by many as uncouth and have thus dissociated themselves from it. Social sites like facebook are often perceived as a domain of idlers.
In contrary, social media can be a great tool for education and networking, not only for patients but doctors alike. Although ethics can be questioned when the lines of doctor patient relationships are blurred, times are changing and we may have to venture into sometimes uncharted territories.
Malaysia remains in the shadows of other countries when it comes to medicine in the information technology era. Censorship in a university hospital is a testament to the edgy mentality of administrators when it comes to the internet. Websites from social networks to politics have been barred. One would have thought that a university will be a place where the limits of imagination and knowledge is tested. Apparently not.
With these continuous restrictions, it cements the idea in many that the internet is a domain only of fraudsters and pornographers. Can we ever break out of this cocoon?