I don’t like to put people on the spot, even when I think that they are wrong. That altruistic spirit, I believe, was what steered me into the field of medicine in the first place. What better place to interact positively with another human, and make an impact on their lives in a truly significant way? There’s very little out there that can replicate that.
The longer I dabble online, however, especially in the digital and entrepreneurial innovation circles, the more I recognize that to impact change, we need to be more vocal. And sometimes – no, many times – more straightforward.
The longer I dabble online, esp in digital & entrepreneurial innovation circles, the more I recognize that to impact change, we need to be more vocal. And sometimes - no, many times - more straightforward. Click To Tweet
This instance was no different.
Some background: I had pushed out an ad, through Facebook, marketing the physician thought leaders here in this space, in a new LEARN section, in which they’re making time to deliver free live lectures to the world.
Here’s the ad, for context:
Someone challenged the ad, posting a comment underneath that said:
Fair. I don’t think the public at large necessarily understands the implications of keeping our interactions locked up behind closed doors.
I replied. I think it’s important to throw this important discussion out there. how else do we spark meaningful conversations?
The reply:
While I can’t be held responsible for every doctor’s motive, I can tell you that, as a whole, we are looking to make positive changes in how people get healthy. And we believe that it can happen in more than just the traditional medium of exchange.
It is not out of greed that we join everyone here, in the online space. It’s simply where everyone now “lives”,
It is out of the need to protect our patients, to take back the healthcare relationship by its horns (because it’s truly a bull!), and to ensure that decisions are made at the pure level of physician and patient.
I will cover this in greater detail over the next few weeks.
Some of the reasons I will cover include:
1. Stepping out ensures that a doctor builds up their own intellectual property. That a health system can’t assume “ownership” over the work that WE create over the years. It is not THE DOCTOR’S clientele in todays world. It is the hospital system’s. Therein lies the problem.
2. The reach of the online world is exponentially greater than a one-on-one interaction behind a closed door. Why not build spaces where doctors can share their experiences, and pass on their knowledge? Wouldn’t it be great, for example, to follow the work of a doctor (on a topic you’re particularly interested in) from across the world who you can’t otherwise see?
The reach of the online world is exponentially greater than a one-on-one interaction behind a closed door. Why not build spaces where doctors can share their experiences, and pass on their knowledge? Click To Tweet
3. Why shouldn’t doctors engage online? Is there something we should be afraid of, if we merely report on health topics in general, and not give out specific, personalized medical advice? Would you rather read work about health from a journalist, or from the doctors themselves? In case your answer is the doctors, here’s a great online outlet of articles written by doctors, where you can find that (*ahem* – it’s ours).
4. People are googling their symptoms anyway. And diseases that they’re diagnosed with. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to be able to find a list of doctors that are creating online about those topics, in quick and seamless ways?
People are googling their symptoms anyway. And diseases that they're diagnosed with. Wouldn't it be refreshing to be able to find a list of doctors that are creating online about those topics, in quick and seamless ways? Click To Tweet
Wouldn’t it be great to land inside a reliable source, and know that the person you’d be following is a human who’s earned a real medical degree, rather than an improperly educated one, making unreliable claims? Or a bot? Or the person who paid the most money to show up first on your feed?? Because that’s how it works in the world of today. Here’s the DOCTOR Databank that we are slowly building out. In it are real humans who have earned real medical degrees. It is slowly being built out because it is a hand-created effort to bring you quickly in touch with the doctors of today.
5. It is not greedy to want to market intelligent thoughts and knowledge. It is smart. It does a service to the world at large, and we should each be thanking individual docs who are willing to bravely do it.
Please support doctors who push past traditional norms.
Please embrace the content they create, in their free time.
These doctors (who we amplify on social media; hence our name, “Doctors on Social media”) are looking expand education, make meaningful connections, and impact on a grander scale.
