Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Medical blogging captures healthcare changes


Westby G. Fisher of the Dr. Wes blog
Westby Fisher, MD
I believe it's because blogging takes time, passion, and commitment. And with all of the changes these past years, most of us are finding less and less time for social media as new pressures mount to produce. Oh sure, a few make real money at this endeavor, but most do not. The reality is that "google ads" just won't offset what a doctor's day job produces. And as doctors are pushed toward more production with more computer screen time than ever, something has to give.
Physician blogger Westby Fisher laments, as he queries Is the medical blog-o-sphere slowly dying?  Life in the Fast Lane staff have a formidable list of their favorite medical blogs, which very much suggests that `no is the answer to that question.  

Still Fisher is on to something that may have wider impact on medical bloggers, especially given how the Affordable Care Act and the consumer-driven, value-based treatment impose major changes in healthcare.  Time constraints and ongoing pressure are par for the course, I'm sure, among physicians, but I sense that many in the industry are trying to get a grip on these changes.   

I'd say the irony of what Fisher laments about all the more makes blogging - and social media, too - a crucial means of sharing experiences and lessons.  Blogger en masse have a collective pulse on whatever is going on around us, which journalists proper cannot necessarily keep up with.  So blogging is a vital platform for knowing.

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