Update 10/24/2011: I just learned this proposal was accepted. Wow.
Okay, so I’ve been online forever and I’m supposed to be savvy. Well, so sorry, for this big deal event I’m a clueless goon: South By Southwest. AKA, SXSW.
I won’t even try to explain it because I’ll get it wrong but it’s A Big Deal every March in Austin TX, with a huge culture of its own. People (like me) who aren’t in the in crowd are befuddled. If you don’t know about SXSW, read its history on Wikipedia. Or, just do as I command:
- If you don’t already have a free account, create one.
- Click here to view my proposal. (Details below.) Sign in if necessary.
- Click the Thumbs Up button:
Here’s the thing: VOTING CLOSES FRIDAY. Yeah , I messed up – didn’t understand the process, and got too busy with life (and “vacation”). So it’s deadline time. NOW.
So VOTE NOW, and bring all your friends and family. If, that is, you agree that healthcare must wake up and let patients help.
Details of my proposal
Here’s the text of my proposal, with a few additions:
| Description | As boomers age, healthcare’s in a nutcracker: a surging population of elders waits to be served by a rising shortage of doctors and nurses. It will be a healthcare famine – extremely unpleasant for all involved – if we don’t change things fast. We must empower and enable patients and families to do more themselves.
That’s the point of the e-patient movement – Empowered, Engaged, Equipped, Enabled – identified in the 1990s by Austin resident “Doc Tom” Ferguson MD. The internet is a massively useful resource for healthcare, if we use it well: it can connect us with others who share our needs, and connect us with information – invaluable medical information – sometimes information that our own doctors haven’t seen, because they too are overwhelmed by an information explosion. Who can keep up?? Patients can help. Yet we’re not only ignored by most of healthcare, we’re often discouraged from applying our minds and energy to helping the cause. This talk lays out the evidence that patients CAN contribute value, and healthcare MUST accept it – urgently. |
| Questions Answered |
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OH! YES! I am with you,love this…
Dave is a leader in crowd-sourcing and using social media in medicine. YES!
Great comments, we see these problems daily. Let us know how we can be more help as well. Our online community solves medical bill problems to connect patients and caregivers and it’s amazing how patients with financial problems can be left behind.
Hi – thanks – what “these problems” do you mean?