Cast & Curious

Tag: blogosphere

  • Nurturing Safe and Braves Spaces on Social Media

    Social media has been a “comfortable” space ever since I joined most of these platforms. This is not just because I’m comfortable with computers and the internet, but mainly because I tend to gravitate and collaborate with people that allow me to grow in this space. In other words, I felt psychologically safe to grow in some groups I am with in social media.

    Two presidential elections and a pandemic drastically changed that “comfortable, safe” social media space. Sometimes, social media is so toxic I had to belabor curating my feed. Add to the difficulty is the changing algorithm of social media feeds, which is getting out of our control more than ever. Now I have to really do social media sabbaticals just to save my sanity from the milee.

    I (and I guess a number of others) wanted at east to reclaim this safe space on social media. And we cannot do it alone. I remember my coach telling me, “if you want a safe space, make one for others first”. This is the topic of our #HealthXPh chat this Saturday June 11, 2022 9PM Manila time.

    Psychological safety is defined as the

    belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. A shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking

    -Edmonson 1999

    Today we will be revisiting the safe and brave spaces #HealthXPH as well as other #HCSM group started for other healthcare professionals to grow their networks on social media. We would seek advice from our colleagues on social media how they did make “safe and brave’ spaces t grow on social media.

    According to Clarke (2020) there are four stages of psychological safety in an environment- Inclusion Safety, Learner safety, Contributor safety and Challenger Safety. Let’s discuss how you can contribute to creating these stages of safe spaces.

    T1. How can you promote inclusion safety on social media?

    This stage simply meant all people in your social media group felt welcomed and included. I remember when we first formed #Healthxph, it was so informal and I felt very much welcomed even though we’re miles apart and very diverse persons at that. Some of us don’t know a thing about social media platforms. We included them first then helped them along the way. And we tried all platforms first to see what worked for all of us!

    T2. How can you promote learner safety on social media?

    Learner safety means “being able to ask questions, give and receive feedback, experiment, and make mistakes”. #HealthXPh is a very learning group. We assured each other we’ll help in everyone’s learning “the ropes” in social media. We have been doing this with our various summits and workshops since 2015. Here every time I speak in front of summit attendees, I often ask “what if I’m wrong”? One would answer, well we will know and learn together. Just go and do it”

    T3. How can you promote Contributor safety on social media?

    Contributor safety means “being able to participate as a member of the team, contribute ideas and suggestions, and raise threats and risks using members’ individual talents and abilities to contribute to the team without fear”. At #HealthXPh, each one contributes his or her best abilities. And even in areas where you have very minimal abilities, your contribution builds the overall program of the group. And since none were mainly an expert on everything in social media, we tried to contribute what we learned along our journey.

    T4. How can you promote challenger safety on social media?

    Challenger safety meant “being able to challenge the way the team works, come up with new ways of working, behaviours, and challenge the ideas of others – even the ideas of senior members” . We had some very controversial discussions at #HealthXPh, and even on twitter. We provide and hosted topics that were rather unpopular or divisive. #HealthXPh in some ways been able to diffuse the tension and made the discussion safe for everyone to contribute or challenge. This is what I later learned as increasing the ” academic tension but decreasing the social tension”. Social media feedbacking is very important here and we have tackled that in so many tweetchats before.

    Psychologically safe space is the “underpinning of high performing teams, bringing out creativity and innovation in teams” says Amy Edmonson in Fearless Organization. In one recent workshop I attended I heard one speaker mention ‘bravespace” for safe space. Indeed, if in the last stage of Psychological safety meant we are “safe” to challenge status quo in social media, then “brave space” would be an apt term.

    I am inviting you once again to join #HealthXPh tweetchat this Saturday June 11, 2022 9PM Manila time. See you all!

  • 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.

  • Do you want your healthcare professionals or healthcare institutions to have a social media policy?

    Yesterday I started a survey  asking healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses and allied medical professionals) if their healthcare institutions have a social media usage policy. (If you’re a healthcare professional you can still vote and comment in that post. ) Now its time to ask our clients, the Filipino patients:

    Do you want your healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses allied medical personnel) and /or healthcare institutions (hospitals, clinics) to have a social media policy?

    Philippines, the social media capital of the world!

    This question is important and highly relevant. Why? Philippines is the social media capital of the world and there’s a surge of content sharing in these social networks. That is according to this report by the Global Web Index. Sharing health related patient information on these social networks threads dangerously on an already greyed (if there is/was) privacy and health information laws here in the Philippines. Without enforced laws or governing policies, a breach of patient’s privacy and confidential information have consequences that pose a threat to the mutual trust between patients and his/her physician or that of his/her healthcare institution.

    The other reason is about enhancing patient communication. Social media is  an alternative, revolutionary way in which healthcare professionals or institutions communicate or interact with their patients.  Social media (though research data is lacking on this) could be  a venue for positive reinforcement of actual clinical consults and follow ups. A recent survey also shows that social media is now gaining ground as source of health information in first world countries. The absence of policies regarding its use defaults the interaction to a “free for all” and often negatively affect the overall outcome of these patient-physician  or patient-healthcare institution interactions.

    So again, I’m asking you, Filipino patients, or anyone since obviously you are the ones will be ultimately affected by this policy.

    Do you want your healthcare professional or healthcare institution to have a social media policy use?

    Please vote below and comment (in the comments section) if you wanted to explain your answer. Should you want to maintain anonymous, just email me privately thru this contact page and I will assure you of your confidentiality)

    [poll id=”3″]

  • 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!

  • 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!)