Remo AguilarNot long ago, a group of Filipino physicians ventured into blogging and made available to the public, their personal thoughts on almost every conceivable topic. The now defunct Blog Rounds gave us a sneak peek at the human side of being a physician. A few continued and some concentrated on engaging the public to address issues that affect health care in the Philippines. Some readers gave feedback that these blogs help shape their health views and decision making process .
Blogging is an example of social media platforms that engages readers to act (or not act) on issues like health policies and laws. It is an example of emerging technology that impact public health because of its widespread use, accessibility and varying of levels of engagement. Other social media platforms that more popular these days are twitter, facebook, instagram, pinterest and Google+.
Despite being branded as the “social media capital of the world”, the Philippines plays catch up globally in adapting to these emerging technologies. With a social media presence, it is not uncommon nowadays to get health queries from Google empowered patients, both in the clinics and online. Yes, there are some movers and pushers, but most Filipino physicians remained lukewarm. Email and sms has been here for awhile and even these emerging technologies needed more push to be maximally used as a tool to enhance physician practice and patient engagement in the Philippines.
Why?
That’s one question we will try to answer in the upcoming #HealthXPh– a Google Hangout on Air. #HealthXPh is like a mini TV show, broadcast online – Google + Hangout and Youtube, with all the participants discussing physician and patient engagement to effect change in Philippine health care.
A core of panelist , experts on their fields and the pushers and movers of emerging technologies are assigned to discussed predetermined topics that impact the Philippine health landscape.
This will be a collaborative effort between healthcare leaders or experts and patients, and staged by social media mavens, to engage the public on health issues. Pionering core panelist include:
- Dr. Iris Thiele Isip-Tan, an internist-endocrinologist, medical informatics and social media expert who blogs at The Endocrine Witch. (twitter, facebook, Google+)
- Dr. Gia Sison, twitter maven, Filipina doctor and breast cancer survivor, who blogs at Sand and Stone: Medical Thoughts on Life, Love and Happiness (twitter, facebook, Google+)
- Dr. Remo- Tito Aguilar, a photo blogging orthopedic surgeon and social media evangelist who blogs at The Orthopedic Logbook. (twitter, facebook, Google+)
How can you join?
- Follow us on twitter and FB with hashtags #HealtheXPh and join this Google+ community.
- Be a physician or patient panelist on chosen topics. We have lined up interesting topics on emerging technologies (like social media) as well as medically inclined/patient engaging topics that will impact Philippine health care . Just join the community and we will approach you once we’ve determined you are a maven on the topic.
- Be the interactive audience. Add us and tweet/chat/hang questions on the hangout!
- Be a partner. Help us realize this online engagement! You can volunteer technical help (on Google Hangout, tweetchat, crowdsourced data management and site development).
The first #HealthXPh Google+ Hangout on Air will be on December 28, 2013 at 10 AM PST. Discussions will run on introductions (first), how to go about this mini TV show-the technical side of it and the laying down of collaborative framework and topics for #HealthXPh.
Remember this is not a one time event. The community will grow and broadcast topics until there are speakers who will talk on relevant topics! We will roll out the schedule once we fix it and you can choose which Hangout topic you want to join.
