First #MDChat: My Reaction

MDchat: The World's First Twitter Chat for Physicans

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Branded as the "first twiter chat for physicians," MDChat took place just a few hours ago on twitter. If you would like to check out the transcript of what happened earlier, then click here. Unfortunately, I was not able to be an active participant because I was still in clinic, but I was able to see the stream of comments during that time. Here are a few of my initial reactions to what happened at MDChat.

Not A Lot Of Docs on MDChat: Maybe I was just peaking in at the wrong times, but it looked to me that there were not a lot of docs on "MDChat." And, I realize that one way to encourage docs to participate in twitter chats is to have twitter chats. But, it seemed to me that there were a lot more non-docs than docs

Lots Of Talking AT Docs And Not Talking WITH Docs: There was a lot of preaching going on directed toward the few physician participants. It's like some of those non-physicians who showed up really had an agenda and wanted to give a doc a piece of their mind. Lots of one sided conversation from my point of view.

Art Imitates Life: I really don't see (at this point) physician social media neophytes wanting to step into an arena like this. Every day in the office and hospital, docs every move is watched and examined; waiting for people to pounce on a slight misstep. In my opinion, today's MDChat was a digital microcosm of what happens in analog life. Physicians unfamiliar with social media are going to make mistakes. I finally understand why some docs would feel the need for closed systems like iMedExchange or sermo where docs can talk to peers, ask stupid social media questions, and not worry about others trying to take advantage of "a doctor's mistakes."

I apologize if this sounds harsh, but, at this point, this is my first impressions of what was branded as "MDChat." Do I have solutions on how to make it better? I have to think about this a little more before presenting some ideas, because if my idea is not well thought out, I know that I'll hear about it...