Comments on: Healthcare providers in social media

By: alliejanson

alliejanson — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:57:42 +0000

@Andrea- I would have the exact same reaction as you to a FB friend request from a patient. Part of me can’t help but think that we shouldn’t completely shut these patients out though. With so few people who know what genetic counseling is, patients who are eager to connect on a non-clinical level might serve as a valuable resource and advocate for the profession as a whole and for our own personal practices. A personal facebook page is definitely not the right platform for this– but another platform might be? Maybe through something like LinkedIn?

@Jennifer- Thanks for your comment. The use of Sean’s pro bono services provide a very obvious boost!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:00:55 +0000

A really interesting post, Allie. The link between genetic counselling and marketing that you have created with the mere existence of your blog is very forward thinking. This post is a great example of why it works.

In my experience marketing people (and I am one!) can sometimes get rather tied up in our own little social media sphere…but looking beyond it, to see how social media is impacting things like the medical profession is where things start to get really interesting.

By: N/A

N/A — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:37:34 +0000

But not adding the “friend request” can lead you to developing a bad rep. Best to make sure that people are not able to search for your name. There is (or was) a way to sit your profile so it can’t be publically searched.

As far as blogging goes, it is a good way to develop a good rep.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:18:33 +0000

I have had two patients find me on Facebook and make friend requests. One was not even a patient I had met in person because she participated in a study on telephone genetic counseling. I felt extremely uncomfortable about it and “ignored” them. I have had a few run-ins on the street, but I just let the patient take the lead then, and I know that when we say bye, that’s it. On the web, though, it’s wierd to know they can follow my personal life.

I personally want to keep my professional and private lives separate. So embracing technology means it must allow me to do that.