injured kid..they evoke so much pain from injury largely not of their making
Of all orthopedic trauma cases I’ve worked on, my heart bleeds the most for pediatric patients. I don’t know but their helplessness and innocence always evoke this feeling of worry. Many pediatric trauma cases are often a result one adult, guardian or parents, gone remiss in guiding or understanding a child growing up. While many adults blame kids for crossing streets alone or unguided (thus running their vehicles over them), they too agree its the kids guardians or parents that really had an oversight. An irony?
Maybe. But the pediatric trauma patient is almost always a victim. Why? Imagine suffering an injury as a result of a road mishap only adults understands, or being blamed for violating traffic rules even licensed drivers rarely follow? And they wretch in pain for something they rarely know?
This is exactly why treating pediatric trauma patients entails stretching a surgeon’s patience more than you can offer any adult patient. Why adults busy themselves finger pointing on so many things, the child wretch in pain for an injury he or she rarely knew of. That is something pitiful than any other thing. Don’t you agree?
The short answer is yes, they should. Consider this:
The Philippines, a developing country, is the social networking capital of the world. It tops the list of nations who uses Facebook. Or before Facebook, Philippines also topped the list of nations using Friendster.
Social network penetration is incredibly high in the Philippines, reaching 95%. Facebook is the country’s most popular website, more so than Google, and has a penetration rate of 93.9%. The Philippines is also the eighth most popular country for Twitter use on a global scale, with a penetration rate of 16.1%. The popularity of photo sharing has increased by 46% in the country in one year, largely due to Facebook. Social networking is so popular among Filipinos, the country has been nicknamed “The Social Networking Capital of the World.” –The Ten Nations Where Facebook Rules the Internet | 24/7 Wall Street
Infographic from this site ( http://internacionalmagazine.com/2011/03/comscore-has-crowned-philippines-as-the-world%E2%80%99s-heaviest-users-of-facebook/1490/
Also, most of the other nations in the list are developing countries in Latin America and South East Asia. These social media platforms are good mediums for health education and should augment health drives using traditional media.
Medical information through the internet is readily available and fast. Most of informed patients nowadays get their medical information through the internet. Also, most of this informed patients (or their relatives, guardians etc.) also maintain a social media presence in facebook, twitter or in a blog. The multiplier effect of posting it on your facebook profile is just way beyond that can be achieve by traditonal means, like books.
Interactivity is fast, patient questions can be addressed rapidly and doubts can be clarified and , it is a good jumping off for a “real” clinic consult. The potential for improving physician-patient relationship and interactions using social media is enormous. Not taking on this opportunity simply deprive the already shortchanged health education in developing nations.
Is this enough reason for you to act now and have your social media presence be felt?
We love to write, no question about that. Like Doc Stef, most of us would love to write the Anais Nin way:
To write. To sit down with pen and paper, to think, and rethink, and put your thoughts in order…with nary a thought for whether your current piece is going to be “popular” or not –The Anais Nin Way, Last Minute Madness
If there’s one thing that brought us all in front of our computers and online, that is the urge to write. They have papyrus before, parchment papers and lately the mighty pen. Type writers became synonymous with writers in the 60’s and towards 80’s. We, we were borne in the age of the internet. Writers get stuck with writing, but
Blogging might have evolved into a microblogging platform like tweets and status updates. None has so far came near the huge space (and the Nobel Prize?) that blogging has to offer, inkeeping a (online) journal, as Doc Mel says.
Doc Ian has turned his blog into a “life’s time stamp and online picture frame”
..capturing and displaying snapshots of daily events and once in a lifetime triumphs. It’s a record of what has happened, events that may ultimately be forgotten if they were not written about..-Why I Blog?, So Far So Good
Something about anything, everything and sometimes, nothing (Like Doc Ligaya‘s first post).
I blog to voice out, rant, shout out and say to the unknown audience what I think about the things I write about and the world we live in.– I Blog Because I Am :Scrubbed Out
Often that something is about ourselves, our thoughts (I write because I think ), egos (right Doc Anakat?), frustrations (get off me!) or floating thoughts. We may not care if somebody reads or listens:
Because at times, we wanted our blogs to be our mirror- a reflection that wouldn’t punch us in our face when we call it “stupid”. No not the one we get on Facebook that invades our “wall”, our privacy. Sorry Doc Cherry, you can’t delete your blog.
Oh, yes we blog to the advancement of the human specie- environment, political, scientific or religious. We blog whats close to our heart, like Doc JA‘s pro life advocacies,
We felt we have a voice wanting to be read by the millions on the internet. Even if there’s virtually zero readers on your RSS feed, we still feel good because we thought we said something to advance a cause, or halt an avalanche of deviants. A Nobel prize? At least that, we can do in our blogs.
Why not on FaceBook? On Twitter?
..call me old-fashioned. Blogging is like being in a coffee shop with a friend. Communication is unhurried, you can both stay up all night, and go home to your respective places without one needing to know what the other person wears (or does not wear, perhaps) when sleeping…-Why Blog When It Is As Obsolete as MIRC: The Last Song Syndrome
Personal, but not too private. The blog is such a thing. You can build it to your taste, show it to everyone (if they wish to) but they should never, ever write on your “wall”.
I just realized then that my blog survived the ‘delete’ button because unlike everyone else, no one can create my posts, much less, immortalize my thoughts in here. In this page, I am the boss of me.- You Call It Narcissism If you Like : Merry Cherry, MD
I would agree. We love to write for a a myriad of reasons or none. We were born in the age of blogging. Our writing evolve in it. Revolutionary in the early days. Then we stuck with it even if it fades away. Why? We want it to be personal, without someone else tinkering with our privates, or our “wall”. No body wants someone else to write in his wall, like in this video.
Would you? I would prefer you’d write your comments below, and not on my wall!
(This is Blog Rounds: Voice of the Filipino Doctor Season 2 ,First edition. Whew, It was both fun and challenging! Thanks to you all who joined! And those that didn’t, join us in our next rounds!)
Blogging is expensive. The time, money and effort you invest on it, is capricious. On many occasions, I and a hundred or so human being would ask this writer, what good will blogging bring? Money?Fame?Better English?Save the world? If you’re following my blogs, you would know by now, that I have totally none , zero, nil, of those.
Yet, I still blog.
Last Blogger’s Day, a fervent writer doc, wrote an interesting post entitled “I’m not a blogger“. Of course the title caught my attention but what hit me most is this:
“…Someday I’d like to be a writer who happens to have a blog…”
Then I realized, with all honesty, I too, I’m a writer. A bad writer maybe, but yes, I’m still a writer.
“But what do you write, doc?”
I’ve been writing blogs since its inception years ago. Blogging is an emotional and experience outlet for me back then. I was so happy ranting out things that many bloggers nowadays would consider “too mushy”. In fact, many bloggers have taught me to be more “focused” on purposeful blogging, and blogging with finesse. The harder I tried those, the less I am happy with my write up, strangely. So I’m re learning emo-blogging, by heart.
After years of soul searching and writing for each of those niches (medicine, hiking, photography, sports, personal) I came to one basic realization common to them all.I write to reminisce an experience. The simplest experience can be so elaborate (or verbose) when you write it and musical when you read it. I relish reading my experience. Or those by others, when written nicely.
Sometimes, I write to shape a “dull” or fill an “empty” mind. That mind is usually mine or on few occasions, others’. The former is to educate mine, the latter, is usually to fill minds with laughter, of wanton bliss and rarely with altruistic intentions. I have few success with the latter’s “intentions” usually because, I too cringe when someone else tries “to shape” my mind. So I stick with my own mind filling garbage.
Still on very few occasions, I write to empty my mind. Yes, empty. Empty frustrations, guilt, desperation and hopelessness. I wish I can just empty it like that and press ALT + Ctrl + Del so it goes away, pronto. I’m successful at times, but often, those hopelessness and frustrations just go to “sleep mode”, like my mac would do when its bored with me. I’m already happy with that.
You see, I’m stuck with blogging right now. I happen to be a writer born on an age where blogging is the platform. I’m a writer on evolution, or revolution perhaps. When blogging will become cliche and it goes a way, I’m still stuck with writing, maybe on another platform who knows. But I’ll continue to write.
It is my passion. The blog(s), happens to be my yellow paper, like the canvas to a painter.
I'm stuck writing!(Photo from this site http://www.webunlimited.com/blog/search-engine-optimization/25-sure-fire-blog-headline-templates-you-can-use-now/)
Why are you pounding those keyboards on your computer to journal your thoughts , experiences and maybe, your wisdom? Are you stuck?
With the explosion of other more convenient and uber popular social medium like facebook or twitter, it’s common nowadays that I get annoying questions like “You still blog? Why not just shout it out in facebook or twitter?”
Yeah, I’m beginning to ask myself this: Am I stuck with writing?or blogging? Are we a dying breed? Or more importantly, why are we (still) writing or blogging instead of hanging out with facebook or twitter?
Those questions I will throw to you all my fellow doc bloggers for the first ever blog rounds second edition! I’m hosting it too here at The Orthopedic Logbook. This is my call for articles. I’m sure many of you have one reason or many, personal or commercial, emotional or political to stay on writing this thing we do. I’m sure would be very interested.
Again read the rules of engagement for the blog rounds here.
Invited docs are listed here in my links. I’m adding a few others and I’ll tag you by FB (Blog Rounds closed group) or twitter with hastag #blogrounds2
Deadline: Maybe Sunday May 15, 2011 at around 12 noon? Just give me a link to your post, by commenting below, as soon as you can. I’ll do the rest as the HOST.
Well, lets just say I miss the blog rounds. Are you all game???
I just realized then that my blog survived the ‘delete’ button because unlike everyone else, no one can create my posts, much less, immortalize my thoughts in here. In this page, I am the boss of me.- 
Again read the rules of engagement for the blog rounds