December 19th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
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Let’s say you’re a doctor and you have an idea, opinion, or a new way of doing things. What do you do with it?
It used to be that the only place we could share ideas was in a medical journal or from the podium of a national meeting. Both require that your idea pass through someone’s filter. As physicians we’ve been raised to seek approval before approaching the microphone.
This is unfortunate. When I think about the doctors around me, I think about the remarkable mindshare that exists. Each is unique in the way they think. Each sees disease and the human condition differently. But for many their brilliance and wisdom is stored away deep inside. They are human silos of unique experience and perspective. They are of a generation when someone else decided if their ideas were worthy of discussion. They are of a generation when it was understood that few ideas are worthy of discussion. They are the medical generation of information isolation.
I spoke with a couple of students recently about Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
December 12th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
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I spoke to a group of academic physicians recently. Afterward I was and asked, “Shouldn’t my hospital be responsible for my digital footprint? I don’t have time to look after that sort of thing. And wouldn’t it make sense for them to promote my research?”
4 thoughts:
1. Online reputation management of academic physicians should be an individual, not institutional, responsibility. The question reflects a belief that your reputation is the job of “the marketing people.” No institution will ever be as invested in your future as you are. While there are hospitals that do a good job supporting their faculty and staff, you can’t assume it to be the case. No one looks after you like you.
2. Dig your well before you’re thirsty. That’s the name of a brilliant pre-digital book written by Harvey Mackey. He suggested that the time to invest in relationships is before you need them. Medicine is changing fast and you’ll never know how long you’ll be where you’re at. Better yet, you never know what opportunities could come your way when people find you. And if you want to experience the land before time when people used colored pencils, Rolodexes, and rotary phones, read Dig Your Well. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
December 7th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
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I know this woman – a physician. She spends a lot of time on Twitter. She has a Tumblr presence but it’s sparse and not very memorable. All day long she polishes her Twitter presence. She’s everyone’s friend. And to her credit she’s a wonderful curator. We caught up recently and she wanted to know how she could bring herself to the next level. Despite her time and investment in the latest real-time social tools she felt that her ideas didn’t get the traction that they deserved.
Here’s what I suggested: Twitter works for interaction and dissemination. But ultimately you have to create the stuff that defines you. Retrievable text, video and audio is where your ideas will live.
It’s about content, not Klout. You can share and engage, but it’s what you make that lasts.
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
November 25th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion
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This is my 3rd year participating in The Engage with Grace Blog Rally. Engage With Grace is a movement designed to help advance the conversation about the end-of-life experience. It began with a simple idea: Create a tool to get people talking. Their tool is a slide with five questions designed to initiate dialog about our end-of-life preferences. I originally heard about Engage with Grace from Paul Levy and he’s at it again this year.
This campaign has forced me to Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
November 19th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories
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It’s funny what we remember. As a 3rd year medical student rotating in surgery I remember quite clearly sitting in my attending’s office at Worcester Memorial Hospital. He was a vascular surgeon. I don’t remember his name. On this particular day I had followed him to his office after rounds. He had just received his new pager and placed a call to whomever had sent him the device.
It seemed there was a problem. The device lacked the latest pager feature: vibration. His current pager only beeped. The dialog centered around his on-call demands as a vascular surgeon and his love for the symphony. With a buzzing pager he Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
Let’s say you’re a doctor and you have an idea, opinion, or a new way of doing things. What do you do with it?
