“It is our duty to remember at all times and anew that medicine is not only a science, but also the art of letting our own individuality interact with the individuality of the patient.” Albert Schweitzer (1875-2965)

Word-of-Mouth is the world’s most effective marketing strategy. As the old ads used to state “Friends tell friends and so on and so on….” Medical blogging has the potential to convey a provider’s/ physician’s sense of caring and knowledge about medicine. If used as a tool to improve communication to your patients/customers, medical blogging could be part of a plan to make you known as the most famous and friendly doctor in the community.

First a short story:

Two weeks ago, one of the physicians I work with was walking a patient to the reception area after seeing her. They walked right past my door and I could hear the patient asking the doctor for some advice on things she could do to improve her health status. The doctor responded with two brief suggestions and then stated, “Why don’t you visit my blog. I’ve got a number of other helpful suggestions there.”

Evidence and clinical research data seems to suggest that the
patient-provider relationship can influence treatment adherence and health outcomes in a variety of different disease states.

In fact a study by Felicia Trachtenberg and colleagues (2005) at the New England Research Institute published in The Journal of Family Practice , found that increased levels of trust in physicians is associated with greater willingness to seek care, to follow recommendations, and to grant physicians decisional authority over treatment. Additionally, higher trust in a specific physician is strongly associated with greater reported adherence to treatment.

In the days of 10-15 minute physician appointments, the patient-provider relationship is tenuous, at best. How could any sense of trust be built in such a short time? Doesn’t trust building require finding some commonalties between two people?

I would venture that given the current system, many patients feel that physicians are interchangeable. That’s just a travesty. Most providers go into healthcare because they really want to help people. However, the system they work in has squeezed the bedside manner and art of caring out of most work days. How can anyone be passionate about their job if their customers view them that way?

I would pose that medical blogs, while an investment of precious time, can be a tool to foster patient-provider relationships. Blogs are supposed to be a bit personal. However because of today’s climate in healthcare I avoid using an identity-type blog (Mommy blogs, or web diarys) as a communication tool with patients. Instead, perhaps utilize a more fact-based tone where key concepts and best clinical practices are emphasized with personal examples.

Example: Lets say you want to give some detailed information on how patients can fit more activity into the day. Instead of just writing down a list of ideas, you could frame the list as “6 things I’m trying this month to increase my activity level.” You are giving the same information, but you are adding a personal tone to it.

So how is this going to help?

In closing, I’m not claiming that blogging is the only tool needed in a healthcare marketing toolbelt. However, it can have some time-saving benefits and can help patients take a more active role in their healthcare. I also believe it could possibly make you the most-likable Doc in your community!

“The treatment of a disease may be entirely impersonal; the care of a patient must be completely personal.” Francis Weld Peabody, MD, Harvard Physician (1881-1927)

Carol is the Vice President of The Promedica Research Center. She has a masters degree from Mercer University in Health Policy and Administration and currently teaches a master’s level course on Health Care Organizations for the University of Phoenix (Online), College of Health Sciences.

In October 2005, Carol started a blog for her continuing education company to help to provide a value added resource to the programs her company provides. Starting in December 2005, she began consulting with physicians help them determine a blog strategy for their businesses. Carol is also a co-writer with Marketing Diva, Toby Bloomberg of a Medical Marketing column that appears at http://www.healthvoices.com. In the future, she hopes to use her knowledge about adult, professional, and patient education to promote and implement new blogs as customer-oriented marketing tools for the healthcare industry. Drop by Carol’s Blog to for further contact information.

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The number 1 killer in America? Heart disease. Number 2? Cancer. Number 3? Iatrogenesis.

Have you ever heard of iatrogenesis? The word doesn’t even sound that harmful. It comes from two Greek words - iatros - meaning physician, and genesis - meaning created. Yes, the number 3 killer in America is death by doctor.

Did you know this? Wasn’t it plastered all over the newspapers? Unbelievably, it was not broadcast on cable news channels, daily newspapers or on the radio.

This might make you suspect the origin of my claim. Did it come from some crazy tabloid? Some off-the-wall Website?

Well, that depends. It depends on whether you consider the Journal of the American Medical Association as a crazy tabloid. I really don’t think it is. These statistics were published clearly and convincingly in the most esteemed medical journal in the world.

I’d like to venture into how and why doctors kill, and give you some alternatives to consider.

First, let me qualify my statements. I do not consider doctors to be bad people. As we’ll examine in the next few minutes, it is the system that the doctors are forced to operate within that causes all these deaths.

How many deaths are we talking about? Death by doctor kills over 200,000 people each year. Cancer takes over 500,000 lives, and heart disease takes 600,000.

Death by doctor includes several types of problems:

• unnecessary surgery, resulting in death
• medication errors and other types of errors
• fatal drug reactions
• infections from hospitals

Essentially, each of these causes was separated from the cases where the patient would have died anyway. For instance, if someone was dying of a heart attack and a medication was applied that quickened the patient’s death, it’s not fair to say the medication was the killer. That would be like saying someone who fell off a cliff died of a heart attack that they suffered mid-way down.

But hospitals are dangerous places. The primary reason for people dying unnecessarily in a hospital is the pharmaceutical drug. This is a strange thing to hear. We know that drugs have saved many lives, and we tend to hold the drugs in great esteem. But there is a flipside. Many of the most commonly prescribed drugs are also terrible killers, due to bad patient reactions and the possibility of human error in administering the drugs.

Pharmaceutical drugs are immensely powerful, in a good way and a bad way. Take the right drug at the right time and it will help your illness in a dramatic way. Take the wrong drug at the wrong time and it will kill you on the spot.

I’ve said we have great respect for pharmaceutical drugs. Maybe our problem is that we don’t respect them enough! These powerful, dangerous pills should really be something we handle gingerly, almost like a bomb. How many bombs killed 80,000 people since 1999? Vioxx did.

It seems to me that our best solution is to find health practitioners who treat drugs with as much respect as they deserve. A practitioner who uses pharmaceutical drugs as a last, best resort, who tries everything else possible before they prescribe these powerful, dangerous substances.

Some people think that doctors like this don’t exist. I used to think so too. But once I looked a little harder, I found lots of them. In fact, I believe there is a revolution going on. Doctors are switching to a better, safer path for their patients, and they are tired of being “the number 3 killer.” Wouldn’t that grate on your nerves too?

I think you should seek out “alternative-tolerant” doctors who will use the safest, cheapest, effective remedies first, and only then move you on to the expensive, dangerous pharmaceutical drugs.

Safe, cheap solutions might be exercises, herbs, vitamins, acupuncture, bodywork, dietary changes or other types of healing.

I know this may sound a bit odd to some of you, but please consider the alternative. Using pharmaceutical drugs as a “first resort” got us where we are today. With so many problems in the existing system, aren’t we obligated to search for a better way for our own health and the health of our families?

I’d like to ask you to consider switching to one of these doctors as your primary physician. I realize it might be a longer drive or perhaps cost a little more per visit. But can you afford to be a statistic? Can you afford to die at the hands of the number 3 killer in America?

The only way we’ll reduce the number of deaths by doctor is to change the way we use doctors. Send the medical system a signal that you want better, less dangerous care, and that you want to live!

Daryl Kulak is the author of Doctors of the Future, a book containing eleven profiles of Central Ohio doctors who use alternative medicine in their daily life with patients.

He is also the author of Health Insurance Off the Grid, a guide to help you afford the holistic lifestyle.

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