Medical Admission Note

Social Media exists and will not go away, it's time to start participating As health professionals we have a duty to participate in public discussion about health.  If we don't the chiropractors, celebrity health hacks and snake oil salesmen of the world will answer our patients questions for us.  Our duty of care is always to our patients To discuss a case, take away the patient. Instead of posting about an '89yo lady with a renal abscess', ask twitter what their experiences in the management of renal abscess are (tag a nephrologist and an ID physician for extra learning). Don't mention the date. Say 'I once saw a patient', not 'I saw a patient today'. The date adds nothing to your story but is an identifier. Remember that patients as well as health professionals will engage. Don't use demeaning terms 'old people' or 'GOMERS' or 'opiate seekers'. Imagine youre presenting to a conference that has patients with the dise

Our presence as doctors online is no longer optional. This is a lesson the college of obstetricians and gynaecologists (RANZCOG) learnt on January 2. The Australian Doctor posted this, and the internet exploded: Unfortunately, as RANZCOG had no media presence and very few actively tweeting fellows, there was no one to rebuke the claims that the college was 'sexist, misogynist and ignored trainees human rights'. RANZCOG is actually the college that allows the most flexible training regime for doctors becoming parents - but on twitter, as in real life, you can't defend yourself in a conversation you've declined to participate in. The best summaries of the events are here by Dr Eric Levi and here by Dr Nikki Stamp. We've all seen the dangers of using of social media, but to me this highlights the risk of not using it. Whilst there are many 'guidelines' available, very few do anything to convince doctors to join the conversation. A few of these