Who owns the patient narrative anyway?

An emerging trend in health care is the concept of a patient "narrative" — the "story" that makes up a patient's history, diagnosis and prognosis.

The problem is how to give a patient the chance to tell their story, in her or his own way, when the provider only has eight to 10 minutes before moving on to the next patient.

Currently it's a game of deduction — the provider asks pointed questions and gets to the best answer as quickly as possible. But that's not satisfying to either patient or provider.

Maybe there's a better way.

A recent Twitter chat about health care social media (#hcsm) revealed a great opportunity to collaborate on the patient narrative. From Kathy Nieder, MD, a family physician at Baptist Medical Associates in Louisville, Ky.:

T3 I want to learn how to better chart patient narratives in the #EHR, I'm listening better thx to #hcsm, but documenting is difficult #hcsm

— Kathy Nieder MD (@docnieder) January 6, 2014

My response:

@docnieder And perhaps finding ways to have patients collaborate on that narrative! #hcsm

— Jim Rattray (@jimrattray) January 6, 2014

This followed on a similar discussion about whether the term "patient" has run its course and should be retired and replaced with something new. Suggestions ranged from "person" to "colleague."

The ultimate goal of patient engagement is collaboration and understanding — building a partnership between patient and provider where dialogue replaces monologue.

As EHRs (electronic health records) mature, the next step needs to be smart interfaces that allow patients to tell their stories, in their own words and their own way, and have the EHR "translate" that into meaningful and actionable information for the provider.

Such a system would not only provide a greater level of satisfaction for patients, but give providers a more complete picture of their patients.

Twitter as testimonial ad (proceed with caution)

Image Source: New York Times Public Editor's Journal blog.

The Coen Brothers' latest movie, Inside Llewyn Davis, is widely regarded as one of the year's best. It also delivered an interesting twist on movie advertising.

The movie is probably the first to use a single tweet in a full-page ad — in the New York Times!

The ad features an abbreviated quote from Times' film critic A.O. Scott.

"I'm gonna listen to the Llewyn Davis album again. Fare thee well, my honeys."

There has been some significant discussion about the ethics of this, especially since Scott did not authorize use of his tweet in ad. The Times' Public Editor's Journal blog has a nice breakdown of the situation.

All this gets me to wondering how hospitals and doctors can harness the great things their patients say about them — 140 characters at a time — across multiple mediums. 

But remember to always ask permission first!

Source: Adweek & New York Times

Something you can do with Instagram

Make a movie!

Great stuff — and a great idea for crowdsourcing content.

Instagram is an incredible resource for all kinds of images. I wanted to create structure out of this chaos. The result is a crowd source short-film that shows the endless possibilities of social media. The video consists of 852 different pictures, from 852 different instagram users. If you are one of them, shout and I will add you to the credits. music: The black Keys - Gold on the ceiling www.iamthomasjullien.com Special thanks to Amadeus Henhapl, Pieter van den Heuvel and Silje Lian who pushed me to finnish this short. Credits from instagram @palmalotiene @robertbye @Milondon12 @aivenn @Tisonavich @rietbergje @Tisonavich @ dorsiul @siddharthaalam

Source: John Nack at Adobe.

Blackmailing Santa (a social media story)

Tom Fishburne's cartoons are always on the mark.

Social media is about sharing and feedback. And sharing feedback. It gives "power" to those who previously felt powerless.

We see this all the time in customer service, both in the real world and online. When someone has a less than desirable experience, they threaten to tell the world. And with social media, now they can — very easily.

When you're dealing with someone in person or over the phone, your advantage is that you are already having a one-to-one conversation. You have a good chance of resolving it and making your customer happy. That's within your power; whether you choose to do so is your decision.

But when the "feedback" is online, it's no longer a one-to-one conversation, it's a one-to-one-in-the-presence-of-many conversation. In essence, it's often an attempt to shame an organization into meeting one's expectations.

The good news is organizations can use these moments to show they listen, are responsive and want to make "it" [as in whatever set off the comment] right. This usually works. The commenter wants resolution more than attention — and you just gave both to them.

Of course there are times when the commenter really just wants attention — where they thrive on the "in-the-presence-of-many" part of the equation. 

That's when you need a social media escalation policy to clearly outline how to deal with comments that have an agenda of their own. The escalation policy is a ladder of response mechanisms that are aimed at satisfying a customer, resolving the issue or neutralizing the comment.

There is no single response escalation policy one can point to — the specifics must be discrete to each organization and its culture, brand and public persona. But it is essential to have that conversation within your organization so that you are ready the next time a social media bully pays a visit.

Photo Friday: Wishful thinking on a snowy day

As much as a foot of snow is presently being dumped on our little town. 

With a dusting already on the ground yesterday, someone made a little hopeful snow art in Wilcox Park.

Snow art on the strolling path in Wilcox Park, shot January 2, 2014.