Cast & Curious

Tag: blogging

  • FAQ: Blog Rounds 3.0 Physician Creatives

    Three things about the previous editions (1.0/2.0) of Blog Rounds:

    1. It was fun!
    2. I met interesting, creative people there. Take a look at this bloggers list!!
    3. The no holds barred, long form blogging is sooo cool!

    I still have the archive list of the weekly blog rounds, but some of the links are not active anymore. 🙁
    But, just this month, TBR alumni wanted to resurrect the weekly blog rounds.  Looks like I’m not the only one who missed the weekly blog challenge.

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

    What is Blog Rounds 3.0- Physician Creatives ?

    This is a weekly * online, grand rounds of blogs authored by Filipino* physicians. There was 2.0 and 3.0 version of TBR in the past, basically with the same format of weekly blogging rounds.

    What topic(s) does Blog Rounds 3.0- Physician Creatives write about?

    Physician bloggers write weekly about a healthcare related , creative aspect (content) of being a physician. This is usually based on a theme decided by the designated host each week*

    Who may join the blog rounds? 

    If you are a Filipino* physician and have a blog * you may join the weekly rounds and be a host* blogger too.

    What do I need to do to join the blog rounds?

    First, write an introductory post on your blog indicating why you’re interested in joining.
    Second, join this Facebook group and place your web and introductory post link there.
    Third, choose your hosting schedule in the scheduling calendar here*. The rest of the guides are given as we grow in this fun writing activity.

    Who are the “host blogger” and what does he/she do?

    Host blogger is a designated weekly “moderator” of the online blog rounds. He/she has the privilege of choosing the topic for that week.
    Host bloggers are listed on schedule announced each week via the group page.
    Once the topic is chosen, the host blogger post the “call for articles/blog post” on her blog (and the link on the group page) by Sunday evening (11:59 PM) Manila Time.  T
    he host gathers / reads/distills/synthesizes all the participating posts by friday evening at 11:59PM same week.
    He or she then writes the grand rounds synthesis in a blog and post it before Sunday morning.
    The host blogger has the sole authority and responsibility of choosing the topic, announcing it, receiving the post contributions, distilling it, and posting his/her synopsis of each post as he/she deemed fit for his/her topic of choice.

    Who are the “participant bloggers” and what does he/she do?

    Participating bloggers writes about the topic for the week, post it in his/her blog and the link to host bloggers call for articles comment portion*
    He/she takes note of the deadlines- both for the call and submission.
    Writes one blog post entry per rounds.
    Recent posts between 500 and 1000 words are preferred
    Posts are to be written for a general audience and may be medical or non medical, depending on the category or topic chosen by the host blogger.
    Participating bloggers are encouraged to comment on each others blog posts.

    Key points:
    Keep your topics and post interesting for everyone.
    Be consistent. Participate each week. Comment. Share posts.

    Lastly:
    If you got questions, or if you want to host TBR, comment below! TBR 3.0 is continually looking for hosts blogger!

  • #HealthXPh is a Finalist to the 2015 Philippine Blogging Awards Health and Fitness Category

    Thats right! HealthXPh blog HealthXPh.net made it to the hall of fame (finalist) of this prestigious blogging awards. I saw the list on Bloggys.ph Hall of Fame page, but I only got the official letter just this morning.

    bloggys

    Announcement of the winner will be on the gala night November 21, 2015 in Manila. I will not be able to attend this awarding ceremonies as I’m stuck right here in my city because of APEC. HealthXPh co founders Drs. Iris Isip Tan and Helen Madamba will be there to represent the team! Kudos and congratulations HealthXPh

  • Jan 4, 2014 #HealthXPh Tweet Chat and Hangout on Air Topic Responses

    It was a happy day of surprises for the #HealthXPh community as it officially launched the tweet chat and Google Hangout as platforms for health collaboration. For a community less than a month old, #HealthXPh’s tweet chat’s upsurge of activity (we hit 560+ impressions!) delighted us to no end. Big thanks to our friends and colleagues at #hcldr and the Filipino physicians for supporting the launching of tweet chat.

    The live tweet chat started on time while a hangout (instead of the scheduled Hangout on Air) started some 45 minutes after because of technical difficulties. Once the conversations on hangout rolled however, it snowballed into one live, highly interactive discussion on emerging technologies. We actually went into overtime by some 30minutes or so!

    Since we’re utilizing all medium as a platform for collaboration,  I’m answering the questions/topics in a blog post, here in my blog.

    [box style=”yellow question shadow” ]

    T1. What is #HealhXPh for core collaborators?[/box]

    HealthXPh is an enabling platform of collaboration for all the healthcare stakeholders -physicians, patients, healthcare institutions, academe and policy makers in the Philippines. It will engage all of these stakeholders to take a more active role in owning issues that affect their health. It aims to give stakeholders a new tool to increase reach beyond what mainstream media can in the discussions about health.

    [box style=”yellow question shadow” ]

    T2. What emerging technologies do you find important and relevant in healthcare?[/box]

    The mobile sms because of its reach and widespread use in the Philippines is still on top of these emerging technologies. With adaptation and maximization of its use to further healthcare programs and discussions is of great potential for an archipelagic country like the Philippines. I currently use sms to remind some of my distantly located patients of their follow -up schedule and specialist referrals.

    Social media also plays an important role for me in my clinical practice. This is mainly for patient education and collaboration with fellow physicians. I get queries from potential patients on facebook, twitter and sometimes Google+. All my social media interactions are aimed at encouraging patients to see a physician personally for their health questions and concerns.  While facebook and twitter may have the farthest reach,  I’m particularly interested with Google+ and all the app services attached to it. It’s potential as a platform for use to health is enormous. Most of these services, is free. Of course, blogging is an effective social media platform to further healthcare discussions and raise awareness. I’ve been blogging since 2006 and that spurred my interest into social media as a platform for collaboration in health!

    I do not consider email as an emerging technology nowadays but for the past decade, it has been a great tool for me in health. Research, training, discussions, updates, and lately to communicate with patients has all been quite a success.

    [box style=”yellow question shadow” ]

    T3 What do you think are the obstacles to the use of emerging technologies in healthcare?[/box]

    Many healthcare stakeholders in the Philippines adapt slowly to emerging technologies when it comes to health. Technical knowhow seem to be an apparent stumbling block. However, if you observe the use of emerging technologies in other segments of our society- business, entertainment and politics, this stumbling block seem negligible. Socially this is can be tied up to a bigger, more fundamental reality to Filipino’s priorities. Health and all other services attached to it, remains low on our priority scale. This is the behavior we wanted to change. With social media as a platform, #HealthXPh could hopefully effect a positive behavioral change to all stakeholders for a collaboration on health.

    Closing Thought (CT): What’s one thing you’ve learned in todays discussion that you can take to your place of influence to help a patient or colleague tomorrow?

    Foremost in my intention is to enlighten interested colleagues and patients regarding social media use in healthcare. Enlighten primarily mean allaying fears of physicians regarding social media usage and issues. The other is to come up with simpler “1-2-3  how to steps” for adapting to some social media tools they can use.

    Thanks to all those who joined and supported #HealthXPh tweetchat and Hangout on Air launch. See you again next week!

    [box style=”green info shadow” ]#HealthXPh tweet chat and Google Hangout on Air happens every Saturday 10 am Manila time (UTC +8 hours). Join the #HealthXPh community on Google Plus, facebook group, like our FB page and on twitter discussions using #HealthXPh hashtag. Subscribe to the HealthXPh blog (www.healthxph.net)  for more updates on email  and your RSS feeds.[/box]

  • Changing times and changing my blog

    Over a span of several years, I’ve been blogging about almost everything related to my practice. That same time I “grew up” from a “grunt” blogger to one that takes positive insights to every bit of challenge hurled in front of me, medicine related or otherwise. This blog also “expanded”  its horizons from just relating personal experiences to some “serious” stuff about healthcare.

    the current blog theme

    Physicians still has the “authority” over medicine, but not without silent criticisms from “internet powered” patient. Patients gets medical information, validated or not, from the internet. That was years ago. The broad definition of internet sources it seems, is not limited to peer reviewed journals and strict professional medical organizations’ websites. Social media entered the picture and  is becoming a source of medical information. In fact social media, has been pushing boundaries and game changing healthcare as we knew. Healthcare couldn’t just shrug off social media nowadays.

    Thus most of the time, physicians just parry questions left and right, answering “yes that’s right mister” or “No mam that study you read on the internet is not accurate!”. In fact, physicians sometimes get into embarrassing moments when patients volunteer information from the internet none of us came across that data (because maybe, we are busy with doctoring and everything else other than googling). (Here’s one good guide on how to deal with the patients who surf the net made by Dr. Iris Tan)

    Healthcare it seems, is playing catch up on social media.

    In this set up, I began to rethink about this blog evolving role in social-media-healthcare-catch-up sort of thing. Five years into blogging, there still not that many physicians grabbing the opportunity of using social media as a healthcare tool. In the business sense, a social media strategy to aid in his practice or just healthcare for that matter.

    [pullquote]I may not have campaigned, but the real score probably is this- we’re damn too busy. If we have break, we surely don’t want to bring up healthcare issues right in the coffee table, much worse online. It’s just taboo.[/pullquote]

    I thought of providing information about orthopedics or general medicine. But over the years providing such scientific informations per se are better done  by sites related to professional medical organizations and peer reviewed journals.

    Which brings me to what I’m probably changing a bit about the tone of this blog.

    I like writing on a more personal level, presenting an information and then nitpick an idea to go deeper into how I’d be able understand it. It’s more of summarizing, injecting personal thoughts and giving a whole lot of personal touch to understanding medical information. There’s more of trying to reconcile experiences with whats the journals says. Most of the time, it’s the “bone of contention” or the question/ dilemma that needs to be decided or answered  which keeps the information interesting and the interaction lively.

    Thus, I’m gunning for a more personal, meaty content, on health care.

    Note the blog theme is changing. Minimalist. More on content. And the title.,

    My bone of contention…

  • Blogging up there, somewhere.

    I’m publishing this blog post a bit late. I can’t stand not writing about a blogger friend and defy her preference for “slipping away” silently.

    Goodbye blogger friend. We will miss your blog posts, your writing and your knack for demystifying music to us, cold souls.

    Goodbye fellow bone doc. Even if we rarely had a chance of actually doing bone surgeries together, we shared the same tenacity for fishing out the medical absurdities of our work.

    I hope you did take the “wave and smile” I made during your induction to the fellows fold a warm welcome and congratulations.

    Not a farewell, I hope.

    By for now blogger, fellow bone doc.