Blog

Missing in Action: A Call for Physician Leadership and Involvement in E-Health Innovation

A May 2008 American College of Physicians (ACP) report focuses on e-health. "E-health is an emerging field in the intersection of medical informatics, clinical practice, public health, and business," says the ACP in E-Health and Its Impact on Medical Practice. The ACP further describes e-health as "health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies." ACP uses its report to cover three major areas of e-health: telemedicine, patient use of the Internet as a health information source and personal health records (PHRs).

As health policy analyst Jane Sarasohn-Kahn writes in her blog, the ACP report demonstrates that physicians are embracing e-health. Interestingly, the report does not mention a new, powerful and emerging area of e-health: Internet technologies designed exclusively by and for physicians. Physicians' use of these technologies has already demonstrated a potential to improve patient care, as evidenced in research in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, and in an Information Week report, "Physicians Leaning More on Internet Technologies".

Social media, and more specifically, online social networking, is a technology trend that's just beginning to emerge among physicians. Tapping into the power of trusted relationships with the specific purpose of improving patient care, expanding knowledge, and sharing experience is nothing new. However, moving these initiatives online enhances the efficiency, scope and reach of our peer group. At ACP's annual conference Internal Medicine 2008, held recently in Washington, DC, I had the opportunity to speak with many of our physician colleagues about the increasing power of the Internet, social networking and the potential of physicians to improve information dissemination and collaboration within medicine.

The idea of building a trusted network and using that network as a resource for learning excited everyone I spoke to. The resounding opinion was that, as physicians, we need to continue to learn from our peers, even after residency. The traditional triad of hospital meetings, phone calls and infrequent CME events or self directed CME activities is inadequate for keeping up with medical knowledge, news and information. In the years ahead, technologically enlightened physicians will continue to use innovative, technologies and tools to reach out and connect with patients, colleagues and other players on the health care scene. Such connections will lead physicians to uncover new approaches to improved patient care and support colleagues in the practice of medicine.

Jason Bhan, MD Co-Founder, Ozmosis