October 16, 2008

• Healthcare blogging: not for the faint of heart

  Thought I would take a break from studying to go over a pretty important issue that came up in grand rounds this week. (Grand Rounds being a weekly roundup of the best of the medical blogosphere)

  This week in grand rounds a rather important topic came up several times, namely the risks involved in health blogging. Most of this discussion has stemmed from the fact that one of the more prominent healthbloggers out there recently was subopenaed to testify for a comment made on his blog. The lawyers assumed (and we all know what happens when we make assumptions, right?) that he somehow knew the commenter, or the case, one thing led to another, and this poor doctor ended up becoming involved in a lawsuit in which he really played no role whatsoever in patient care. The entire experience pretty much soured him on the idea of blogging.

  Now while some of you may visit my site solely for my good looks and charm, I am guessing the majority of you come here because you are curious about the behind the scenes life of the medical world. Perhaps you like hearing about my patient experiences, or observing the evolution in thinking of a wide eyed idealistic med student into a slightly more wise almost doc, or maybe you even come here looking for medical advice-though I always preface anything on here with the disclaimer that you should rely on your real doctor.

  Yet while I never disclose patient names, and do my best to adhere to all HIPAA rules and regulations so as to protect patient privacy, the fact remains that nothing on the internet is truly private, and everytime I post something, I put myself at risk. Does this mean I should stop posting? Should I not be allowed to have an opinion once I receive my degree?

  The Canadian Medical Journal believes that online blogging is not a viable option for physicians. In fact, the article goes so far as to say “Telling personal stories about individual patients poses the risk of eroding the public’s trust in the particular physician involved, as well as in the relevant department, hospital and university, and in physicians in general”
  
  so the first question I pose to you folks is-is that the way you feel? I would think health blogging would bring the patient closer to the physician, as you can see we our real people with thoughts and feelings too. I know that writing these experiences down certainly helps to remind me that my patients are real people, not just, for lack of a better word, patients. One great example of that was over at dlife.

  Other complaints seemed to center around the idea that there are people out there who expect every medblog to have proper citations, and follow guidelines as though I was writing for some fancypants journal. But that’s not why I write, nor do I intend it to be. In fact, that’s exactly what I hate about research-its dry, dull, and boring. I write my stories and post comics and things here because they reflect my own personal, evolving thought process. I dont care if I am peer reviewed (except for comments from my fellow xangans ) because ultimately I am doing this for myself. I do my best to disseminate only true information, and will correct any mistaked pointed out to me when it comes to factual errors. Beyond that, if I want to tYp3 liK DiS, its my own damn business.

  Another excellent point, brought up by both Kevin MD and Buckeye Surgeon is the subject of the anonymity most medbloggers, myself included. Both of the above feel that hiding behind pseudopnyms goes against the whole point of medblogging. Of course, I am summing up very simply some excellent articles on disclosure you should go check out, but the gist remains. As I prepare to move from Almost Dr J to Actual Dr J, these are some of the issues I need to consider, because in less than a year, I become legally liable, and privacy issues become very real concerns.

  Does this mean I intend to stop blogging? Of course not. In this era of wikipedia medicine, webmd, and patients who google their own symptoms rather than take a trip to the doctor, those of us who maintain an internet presence will have a stronger voice than ever in health 2.0

  It is however, a sad state of affairs when a hobby, an activity I do for stress release, becomes yet another possible avenue of danger because of some unscrupulous lawyers and overbeaurecratic regulatory boards.

  To my fellow medbloggers on xanga (Grssh and FreakforJC come to mind, plus any others) what are your thoughts on this?

  -Almost Dr J
  

  • 2:28 am
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