Comments on: Why Are Doctors Slow In Catching The Social Media Wave?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:14:11 +0000

A G-chat I just sent in regards to this post: it’s funny how nail salons will jump on technology faster than some of the smartest industries in the world

By: Jaime

Jaime — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:03:32 +0000

It TOTALLY would! .-= Jaime´s last blog ..Literal Definitions: Nerdom =-.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:59:32 +0000

Yes Liebchen, whether it’s something basic like patient forms or more advanced like online medical records- I’m surprised physicians haven’t done more. I know they are scared of a lot of privacy issues but think about how much is already online in other areas of our life.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:58:31 +0000

Good that he’s a social networker- but wouldn’t a website tell you when he’s actually in the office be helpful as well?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:57:49 +0000

You make a good reason, probably all the more reason to have an office manager or front end employee take care of the web business. You also see that I’m not asking for them to start blogging or getting on Twitter- simply having a website with information is something so basic I can’t believe more of them haven’t done it yet.

Sure you can go through the phone book but when there’s hundreds of names on a list how is a physician going to stand out? By making sure he’s on the top of the list when somebody goes online- and you know more people go online that use the phone book.

Thanks for reading Brett!

By: Liebchen

Liebchen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:07:12 +0000

I’ve had to google my doctors multiple times…mostly because I forget the address or phone number. (Yes, I’ve finally written it down.) But I’ve been generally pleased by the information they’ve offered on the sites. If only all of them offered the paperwork, too.
.-= Liebchen´s last blog ..Take me home tonight =-.

By: Jaime

Jaime — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:44:02 +0000

I just Googled mine, and the office doesn't have their own website. That makes me sad. He DOES, however, have a Linked In profile and is mentioned in all those physician search sites. .-= Jaime´s last blog ..Literal Definitions: Nerdom =-.

By: Brett

Brett — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:42:03 +0000

I think the short answer is this: they do not have time. Health care professionals are overworked, so they don’t necessarily have the time to devote to social media or even to web sites.

In terms of doctors and their relationship to the Internet, the bare minimum probably should be some sort of website that has the basics (i.e. information about their practice, address, phone number, e-mail address, business hours, and the like). I don’t think they should be obligated to do much more than that.

Sure, searching the Internet is what a lot of people do for a lot of things, but if you need to find a doctor, there are other ways, potentially more reliable than doing Google searches. That’s right, I’m talking about the Yellow pages (which I guess you can search that online too if you can’t be bothered to thumb through the physical phone book).