Dr John M

cardiac electrophysiologist, cyclist, learner

  • Home
  • About
    • About Me
    • About the Blog
      • General Cardiology and Internal Medicine
    • Six Reasons why I Blog
    • What’s Electrophysiology?
    • ICD/Pacemaker
    • Electrophysiology Column / Medscape
    • Contact
  • Afib
    • AFib
    • AF in Athletes
    • The best tool to treat AF
    • Know your CHADS-VASC Score
    • 3 non-warfarin anticoagulants
    • AF ablation
      • 13 things to know about AF
      • Atrial Fib Ablation -2012 Update
      • Gender-Spec results of AF ablation
    • Female gender and stroke risk in AF
    • My AF Story
  • Heart Healthy
    • Heart Disease (by DrJohnM)
    • Healthy Living
    • Exercise
    • Nutrition
    • inflammation
  • Policy
    • Policy
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Reform
  • Doctoring
    • Doctoring
    • Knowledge
    • Reflection
    • General Medicine
      • Does your cholesterol level matter?
    • General Cardiolgy – Medicine
      • What is a normal heart rate?
      • Cardiology/Internal Med
      • General Cardiology
      • Athletic heart
        • The ECG of an athlete
      • General Medicine
      • Stroke
      • Statins
  • Cycling
    • DrJohnM on Cycling
    • How I became a bike racer
    • My top 12 Likes on Cycling
    • Cyclocross
      • A CX-Primer
    • Fitness
    • Athletic heart
    • The Mysterious Athletic Heart

As a novel communication tool, Social Media will improve doctoring.

April 12, 2013 By Dr John

Wendy Sue Swanson (or @SeattleMamaDoc) is a pediatrician, mother, wife, patient, caregiver and blogger.

In the embedded video below, she speaks about the online revolution and the power of social media to enhance the good that doctors can do. I am a believer.

What if you could read a post/tweet every time your doctor had an idea about a new study, a new medicine? Why shouldn’t [many] patients learn from the whiteboard presentation that just occurred in the exam room with one patient?

Some patients get only 15 minutes per year with their doctor. That’s not much. No wonder 80% of folks go to the Internet for health information.

And it is more than just informational; our presence on social media can transmit empathy and understanding–our humanness. Dr. Swanson uses the example of vaccines. My example might be AF. A patient coming to see my can find out that I had AF–and it sucked.

Yes, this is a special time we live in.

This TEDx talk is worth 9 minutes of your time.

Congrats Doc. Beautiful talk.

JMM

P.S. Another great example of the future: my colleague here in Louisville, Dr Kathy Nieder, a primary care doctor, has an outstanding online presence.

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Reddit

Related posts:

  1. Joe Kraus — Powerful words on the downside of social media
  2. Doctors and Social Media — Increasing the good we do?
  3. ICD recalls, Social Media and Preventing Heart Disease
  4. Social media figures prominently in the current debate on gene testing in Cardiology

Filed Under: Social Media/Writing/Blogging

John Mandrola, MD

Welcome, Enjoy, Interact. john-mandrola I am a cardiac electrophysiologist practicing in Louisville KY. I am also a husband to a palliative care doctor, a father, a bike racer, and a regular columnist at theHeart.org | Medscape

My First Book is Now Available…

Email Newsletter

Search the Site

Categories

Find me on theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology

  • Electrophysiology commentary on Medscape/Cardiology

Mandrola on Medscape

  • My Medscape column on general medical matters

For patients...Educational posts

  • 13 things to know about Atrial Fibrillation — 2014
  • A new cure of AF
  • Adding a new verb to doctoring: To deprescribe is to do a lot
  • AF ablation — 2015 A Cautionary Note
  • AF Ablation in 2012–An easier journey?
  • Atrial Flutter — 15 facts you may want to know.
  • Benign PVCs: A heart rhythm doctor’s approach.
  • Caution with early Cardioversion
  • Decisions of 2 low-risk cases of PAF
  • Defining success in AF ablation in 2014
  • Four commonly asked questions on AF ablation
  • Inflammation and AF — Get off the gas
  • Ten things to expect after AF ablation
  • The medical decsion as a gamble
  • The most important verb in our health crisis
  • Wellness Requires Ownership

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.