Does Foursquare have application in medicine or health care?

I'm an avid user of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I've been a late adopter of Foursquare but a few weeks ago, I decided to take the plunge and see if I could see whether it made any sense to try Foursquare. I often speak at conferences about social media, so it would only make sense for me to get on Foursquare and use it for a while. I have to admit that I've been pleasantly surprised by some of the things I've seen so far and I think I could make an argument that the medical and health care community could learn quite a bit from this rather simple social media app.

Here's how foursquare is described on their site:

foursquare makes the real world easier to use. We build tools that help you keep up with friends, discover what’s nearby, save money and unlock deals. Whether you’re setting off on a trip around the world, coordinating a night out with friends, or trying to pick out the best dish at your local restaurant, foursquare is the perfect companion.

Now, there are plenty of other apps that provide similar services. For instance, Facebook has the "check in" function. But, most people don't use Facebook to check in to places. On Foursquare, you can view who else is currently checked into a place. This can be both good and bad (it really depends on your comfort level with your personal privacy). When you check in using Foursquare, you're effectively telling the world (even though privacy settings can get adjusted).

Connected Health Symposium 2011 #CHS11 - focus on new, mobile technologies

I'm attending the 2011 Connected Health Symposium here in Boston. The theme this year is "New Technologies for an Era of Accountability." The focus around new technologies is very appropriate given what's happening in the mobile space. This year, mobile health or mHealth has been a very hot topic. As smartphones and tablets become more ubiquitous in health care,we're seeing broad application of these tools in hospitals and even rural health centers. We're also seeing a greater emphasis on telemedicine (but we still need to answer all the questions regarding reimbursement models for televisits). The new Apple iPhone 4S may support HIPAA-compliant video communication. Will you have video-visits with your patient on an iPhone?

Here at Connected Health, we're seeing presentations from mobile health companies like Airstrip Technologies, Nuance Communications, Wellbe.me, Zeo, Proxense, and others.

I'm excited to be speaking about social media this afternoon in the panel discussion titled, "Facebooking Health: Scouting Out the Latest Trends in Online Patient Communities and Social Media." Come and hear how social media is transforming health care!

"Like" Tarascon on Facebook and they will donate to Doctors Without Borders

Tarascon Publishing is pleased to announce the launch of a charitable Facebook campaign to raise money for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

For every person who "likes" the Tarascon Publishing's official Facebook page between Saturday, October 1st through Monday, October 31th, the company will donate $1 to Doctors Without Borders.

The Tarascon Facebook page acts as an extension of the Tarascon website and medicine blog. Updates include new product launches, promotions, monthly eNewsletter highlights, reviews, industry news and more.

Tarascon Publishing's ultimate goal is to raise more than $500 for Doctors Without Borders in the month of October, so get "liking!"

Please visit the Tarascon Publishing Facebook page to participate.

The most active users of mobile socialization are…

Women ages 35 to 54. Is that what you were expecting, or does that surprise you?

The most active users of mobile socialization are women ages 35 to 54. Out of the 600 million+ Facebook users out there, a third of them are accessing Facebook using the Facebook mobile app. Out of the 165 million+ Twitter users, half are using a Twitter mobile app.

Now, what about the medical community? Would we expect to see similar statistics? Or, is there a different demographic of medical professionals who are active users of mobile socialization?

What is Doximity?

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Doximity is a private social and business network for healthcare professionals with iPhones.

It’s like Facebook in that you can connect with other healthcare professionals that you went to school with, did residency with, or work with. I want to say it’s like Sermo, but it really isn’t. They are two different services and Doximity is worth taking a look at.

In addition to the social aspect of being able to connect with others, Doximity also gives you useful tools to help with your daily workflow.

For instance, the app has a feature called DocText. It’s a HIPAA compliant, secure and quick way of sending messages. Essentially, it’s a secure text message service.

What do we do currently when we need another opinion? We stop seeing patients, look up a physicians number, dial it, ask the nurse to speak with the physician, wait for the physician to get out of a patient’s room, then tell them your concern with expectations of an immediate [ and pleasant ] response.

Thanks @Epocrates for mentioning my blog in the Advocate Spotlight

Thanks to those at Epocrates for mentioning my blog in the Epocrates Advocate Spring Newsletter. MedicalSmartphones.com was featured in the Advocate Spotlight.

If you're an Epocrates user, sure to show your support by:

• Following @Epocrates on Twitter: http://twitter.com/epocrates
• Becoming a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Epocrates
• Watching Epocrates videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/epocratespr

How to Write a Smartphone App Review

This is a guest post by Greg Friese, MS, NREMT-P. If you're interested in submitting a guest post, please contact me.

How to Write an App Review 

Amazon book and product reviews have changed the way I shop. Instead of reading the publishers description I immediately scroll to reviews from other shoppers. I read the five and one star comments to learn the best and the worst about a product. Since smartphone apps require time to select, download, install, and learn a well written review helps me decide if an app is worth my time and effort which is often secondary to the negligible price of the app.

A smartphone app review is a good topic for your own blog or to submit as a guest post to blogs in your niche. Reviews tell readers about the apps you find useful. This is the format I use and recommend for organizing an app review:

Epocrates giving free Premium Subscriptions to clinicians heading to Haiti

Epocrates is giving free Premium Subscriptions to clinicians heading to Haiti. If you're a health care professional and you're heading to Haiti to provide relief support, contact Epocrates to get a free Premium Subscription to Epocrates.

How can you contact Epocrates if you're traveling to Haiti? Here are 3 ways to contact Epocrates:

• Connect via the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Epocrates
• Use Twitter and Reply @epocrates
• Or, contact Epocrates via http://www.epocrates.com/support

Thanks to Epocrates for supporting all those clinicians who are volunteering to help those in Haiti.

Become a fan of the Medical Smartphones Facebook page

I created a Facebook page for MedicalSmartphones.com and I invite you to become a fan! Thanks for showing your support!

Here's the link to the Facebook page: 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Medical-Smartphones/242000326850


Some of you know that I created a Facebook page for NonClinicalJobs.com last month and I did that primarily as a social experiment. Now that I've seen what that's done for the site, I've decided to create a Facebook page for MedicalSmartphones.com. Consider this "part 2" of my social experiment.

How do you organize your social networks?

When it comes to social media and social networking websites, I mainly use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. These days, people have accounts with Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Friendster, Twitter, AIM, MSN Messenger & Yahoo! Messenger. How do they keep up with all these accounts when they're out and about? I use a few social media clients on my smartphone, but I don't have everything under one roof. Here's something to consider: OrSiSo stands for Organize, Simplify, Socialize and is a ground breaking new software tool which helps you connect to multiple social networks from one place. OrSiSo connects you to your friends on some of the most popular social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bebo, Friendster and Flickr; as well as offers chat integration across multiple IM platforms including Facebook Chat, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo! and AOL.

OrSiSo has several unique features, including:

· Single status update for all networks, choose the same status or a different one for each network.
· Photo album browsing and viewing
· Pop-up notifications to let you know when new information is added
· The ability to merge friends who have profiles on multiple networks into one contact
· Grouping of friends into different levels of closeness so you can filter the information that is most important to you.

At OrSiSo’s core lies SocialCraft™, an adaptive algorithm that prioritizes information based on relevance and closeness to you in real time; helping you to keep up-to-date with your most relevant friends and contacts across all their social networks and giving you more time to socialize both online and offline. You can download OrSiSo from their website, follow them on Twitter and become a fan on their Facebook page.