Cast & Curious

Tag: blogging

  • Do you have a social media policy in your healthcare institution?

    Philippines ranks first in the global social media penetration according to a February 2011 market survey by Global Web Index. In this survey, it was also pointed out that asian countries do more ‘content sharing‘ than sharing messages as in other countries (UK, Canada). What is the implication of this survey results to Philippines’ healthcare system?

    Philippines tops social media usage globally! (Infograph from Mashable by Global Web Index)

    Possibly huge. Possibly positive. Sometimes, menacingly negative.

    For Filipino patients, the surge of content sharing and social media usage puts a huge stress on prevailing (or lack of) Philippine laws that govern patient information confidentiality. The lackluster enforcement of such laws, if there is/was, is/are sporadic. One does not need to look further. The gruesome photos (trauma, surgical, etc) that somehow lands on your Facebook wall is a testament to this breach. It’s also not uncommon to read patient blogs, tweets and comments on Facebook that cast doubts on healthcare professionals or or institution’s credibility. Some even lead to sensational malpractice suits.

    To healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, allied medical professionals) the responsibility is even greater. In first world countries, there are stringent rules of engagement for healthcare professionals on how they relate to their patients and to healthcare institutions on social media. Such policy govern healthcare professionals employed in healthcare institutions and who’s social media usage directly or indirectly affects that of his or her employer. In the Philippines , while majority of healthcare professional and institutions  does not seem bothered  yet,  catastrophic consequences still hangs in the future . How many times have you encountered photos on Facebook that are in one way or another health patient or institution related? Too often?

    For healthcare institutions, this surge is promisingly positive should they take advantage of social media usage. This study by the Global Web Index for example is a market survey for business entrepreneurs. This could be an area for healthcare institution to reach out, communicate to their clients and improve the institutions online visibility. This is what the Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai hospital for example is doing crafting their own social media policy to enhance patient – institution communication.

    Filipinos spend one fourth of a day on social media network.(Thanks to Dr. Iris Isip Tan for posting this infograph)

    But without a policy to govern such social media practices by their employees (internal) or their patients (external), the healthcare institution risks running into so many potential negative social media issues aside from economic ones (employees using social media at the workplace).

    As an afterthought, let me share another info graphic about use of health related IT technologies in US (source). Take a look at the social media usage. To think, Philippines is ‘ahead” of US in terms of per population social media usage. I don’t know if Philippines has have similar figures in terms of health related social IT. This should be an interesting research for healthcare markets.

    Health related IT technologies usage in US (source)

    So to answer this post title-question, I’m making an informal, non scientific survey here. This is open to all medical and allied medical professionals. Please answer the poll and please comment below if you need to explain your answer.

    [poll id=”2″]

    Thank you for voting!

  • Should health care professionals in developing countries have a social media presence?

    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.

    1. Philippines
    > Facebook: 93.9%
    > Twitter: 16.1%
    > LinkedIn: 1.9%
    > Internet Use: 29.7%

    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?

  • It’s personal but not too private: Why Are we stuck with writing and blogging? (TBR:VFD II First Ed)

    Inoxcrom?

    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 as my platform

    their platform evolve, if you believe what I say:

    I happen to be born in the age where blogging is the platform..- Stuck with Writing, in the Age of Blogging, The Orthopedic Logbook

    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, in keeping a (online) journal, as Doc Mel says.

    ..it remains true to the ideals of keeping a paper journal…-WHY ARE WE STILL BLOGGING? (Got my cross-hairs on the Nobel Prize), The Philippine Daily Idiot

    What about blogging then?

    Cebu MD's "house" online

    It’s very personal if we ask Cebu MD, “it is like my house, online”.

    I can do whatever I want with it and put my personality with it. I can choose the layout that I want. I can put the widgets of my choice. I can even monetize my blog..-Why I’ll not stop blogging even when there’s FB and Twitter, Cebu MD.com

    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

    Wanna Say Something?

    We blog because we wanna say something.

    I felt like I had something to say- Words and Life, An Adventure Called Life

    I Blog therefore I am

    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:

    I don’t care if I have a loyal following on this blog. I’m not doing this for any audience- Blogging for my Ego, The Saga Continues

    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,

    To give a show of support to a cause very close to my heart: the pro-life movement.-Why I Blog the Way I Do? Ripples from the River of My Thoughts

    Yes, maybe.

    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!)

  • Stuck with writing in the age of blogging.

    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.

  • Why am I stuck with writing?Or blogging?: The Blog Rounds Season 2 starts!

    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???