So this is going to be a short review, ladies and gents. 

In the spirit of medicine 2.0, I wanted to highlight one blog in particular – The Health Care Social Media Monitor. Voted one of top health blogs of 2012 by healthline.com, this blog’s motto is “monitoring the pulse of health care social media”.

It’s most recent post, “Why doctors should participate in TwitterChats”, reviews the benefits that doctors get out of participating in the live online chats. 

One such doctor the blog quotes is Dr. Matthew Katz who recently participated in #HCHLITSS, or Health Communication Health Literacy & Social Science. In this chat he talked about how Chats are ways “to listen in on patient concerns”, “participating in #bcsm* gives me insight into some of the fears and concerns my patients may have but don’t voice”, and “#bcsm and other Tweet chats have made me a better listener”. 

Fascinating! TwitterChats are making physicians better at their jobs?

While not generalizable perhaps, it is indicative of something… something larger… something bigger. It’s indicative of the changing modalities of communication between the health provider and health consumer that are driven by social media. 

It’s just a review of one post. But it’s good. And the blog is full of interesting points. I recommend you check it out.