Health Bloggers as Wisdom Creators

If you've looked at medical blogs at all, you've probably run across Kevin, M.D., written by a primary-care physician, Kevin Pho, who works in Nashua, N.H. He's a perceptive and often funny writer who takes on issues ranging from the Avandia scare to why some people get cravings to eat ice.

Cary Byrd at eDrugSearch has a nice mini-interview with Kevin focusing on the nature of health blogging. "I try to give my posts an air of controversy to spark debate," says Pho. "By doing so, it will bring attention to important healthcare issues that mainstream media may ignore or minimize."

A good health blog, whether it's by a patient advocate or a medical professional, also transmits real information of the sort that doesn't make the health headlines on TV or in your local paper. (Like the ice thing -- apparently it means the person is lacking iron. Who knew?) Kevin Pho is lucky in that his employer has no problem with him using his real name and photo on his blog. Many other health bloggers cloak their identities, either to protect patient confidentiality or their own jobs.

Comments

[Trisha Torrey]

Interesting comment about using real names. Only those of us who are independent of a provider's paycheck can tell the truth as we see it.

Sadly, so many of those on the front lines would tell the truth, too, if only they could. I hear from them almost daily. They can't afford to blow the whistle on their employers, yet their consciences nag at them. So they contact me instead and ask me to write about a wrong.

Trisha Torrey
EveryPatientsAdvocate.com