Thursday, April 14, 2011

Slideshare Love & Some Social Media for Doctors

I woke up this morning to the familiar buzz of the phone alarm, and as always, on dismissing it went to check what emails awaited me at the start of the day. I saw a plethora of emails with Slideshare in the subject message. One of my presentations “Facebook for Doctors and Medical Practices” was featured today on Slideshare. :)

An educative presentation which is also available on Wirelysis, it focuses on explaining “the Why and the How” of using Facebook Pages by Medical Practioneers.  I am happy to see that Slideshare’s editors have liked it and they have found the material beneficial for others. Lately there has been a surge in the number of Articles and Presentations being written and shared on topics related to “Using Social Media in Health Care”. Hence I am happy that my 3 month old midnight piece got featured.  

Social media is for everyone. It’s about all people, networking on things they like, whether they are videos, conversations or information.  Doctors are also a subset of this highly engaged group of people.  Tons of them participate in social media; personally, professionally or both.  And as always they have a lot to say

Using Social Media in Health Care has several advantages. It’s a cost effective way to use something you do for fun to help out your patients, by spreading information, providing support as well as in a providing a quick piece of advice.  It’s also a great way to get feedback.  

But take this next bit with a pinch of salt. If you do plan to bring in a professional aspect to your Social Media life, understand that you are now in the public domain. While you will gain publicity, you are now also exposed to being more abused. Don’t be oblivious to the fact that we have a Wall Feed where we will enjoy reading what you post.  With great power, come great responsibilities.  Be responsible and don’t do things which you wouldn’t do in public at a party.

A number of doctors had emailed me today asking me about Twitter and how they can leverage it for themselves. My reply: "Get on it, converse and engage: We'll talk more in a week, hopefully on Twitter".  Well, besides the simple gyan on “the Why and How”, I have something cool coming up.  I have been researching practically and building algorithms and processes related to Twitter as well as other aspects of Social Media, on how they can be leveraged effectively by the Health Care industry. The main onus being on how Social Media can be used to:
  • Help provide accurate information faster
  • Help patients interpret information more effectively
  • How physicians and hospitals can leverage these algorithms to improve patient care, patient safety and patient comfort
  • How physicians and hospitals can bring in more patients as a reward for being concerned about them
A lot of my work has pointed towards “unique forms” of collaboration and creation of information ecosystems.  I feel I will take a few weeks to share my work in the public domain as some of the results have not been vetted and processes finalized due to constraints on my time and pocket. Within a few weeks I should be putting out an effective guide on Twitter use for both Physicians as well as Hospitals. In the meantime, I will recommend this simple yet beautiful post by one of my favorite blog authors Scott Hanselman titled  Subtle but Very Important Twitter Tips and Techniques You Should Know (cause no one will tell you)

Useful Links:

The Facebook Pages presentation on Slideshare
 

Websites For Doctors  : This is where you must contact to get Social Media profiles made and managed for your self or practice

Follow me on Twitter: @nrip

Follow Plus91 on Twitter: @plus91
 
Note: 

A number of doctors in India and a few from the United States have contributed by either sharing the statistics from their Social Media Data and Profiles with me, while some have done so by actually getting on it and trying out what I’ve been asking them to do. 

Any doctor who wishes to help out may simply contact me via emai or Contact me via Plus91  :)

1 comment:

Dr Aditi Sharma said...

Hi Nrip, I'd like to get on Twitter Can you help plz.