Lizzie's Bio

As I mentioned previously, Scratch signed on to be the host of this week’s Health Care Social Media Review, a program to highlights the top healthcare thought leaders and their insights.

Our specific focus is on the intersection of health care design and how the industry uses all types of media, from social channels, brochures to medication labels, to fully engage patients in healthcare.

To start, Stuart Wainstock, contributor to the MDWebPro blog, understands that for most physicians—leveraging social media is overwhelming. However, to be effective, Wainstock confirms that users don’t have to spend every moment of their lives tweeting, liking and sharing. Instead, providers should focus on growing their presence in a genuine, authentic way. This means sharing content on the topics that matter most to you and your audience, asking thoughtful questions, and distributing information that patients will benefit from. Physician bloggers Brian Vartanbedian and KevinMD offer additional social media best practices and resources for the medical community.

The combination of effective design and a passionate social media community can also lead to a widespread movement. Take Regina Holliday, medical advocate and painter, as a top example. Regina uses her artistic abilities to advocate for the patient’s right to access their medical record, a necessity that cost her husband’s life. Dozens of people now wear jackets with Holliday’s depictions. (Follow the #theWalkinggallery on Twitter to see her work in action).

Designers are also making huge contributions to improving health literacy, a challenge for 9 out of 10 individuals. Earlier this year, Christina Thielst shared her experience creating an avatar, Gabby, to educate teenage girls about contraception. The avatar does not replace clinicians, but instead adds to the care team, reiterating important treatment information in an entertaining format.

For more example’s of how good design—from websites to labels—can strengthen patient engagement, check out this TED talk from Wired’s Thomas Geotz on medical data design and Joan Justice’s Healthworks Collective post on the elements of patient-centered website.

Additionally, design can make the process of “getting better” fun, satisfying and—most of all—possible. Jane McGonigal, founder of SuperBetter, is working to do just that. Her goal: to create games that enhance people’s lives.

As you can see—you do not have to be a clinician to make a difference in health care. Assets are designed to educate and empower patients are crucial for making lasting change in the provider and patient experience.

What designers are changing our health care system for the better? Share with us below or on Twitter.

Stay tuned for the next Health Care Social Media Review, April 24, to be hosted by Sarah Sonies on Wing of Zock.

Lizzie's Bio

One of our central passions at Scratch Marketing + Media is healthcare information technology. The #healthIT world is very complex, driven by the urgent need to healthcare reduce costs while improving delivery services. That’s why we are excited to host next week’s Healthcare Social Media Review, a peer-reviewed blog carnival where healthcare thought leaders highlight the top posts related to a theme of their choice.

This week, we are focusing on the intersection of healthcare and design.

The topic came to us after hearing Jacob Reider, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the Office of the National Coordinator, speak about his career epiphany during the Health Experience Design Conference (HXD) last month. Reider recalled an incident during one of his first medical internships when the doctor he worked under prescribed a patient the incorrect medication, causing the patient to experience an allergic reaction. “Promise me one thing,” the patient said, suspecting Reider had a long road ahead in the medical community, “Never prescribe a patient something she doesn’t need.”

Reider nodded and agreed to her request, and after tireless research he concluded that effective clinical decision-making is highly dependent upon the centeredness and preparedness of the physician. As patient demand rises and physician availability shrinks, it’s challenging for healthcare providers to stay centered and prepared in the face complex diseases and endless regulations. To make matters worse, communication and medical data sharing in and outside of healthcare organizations is a deeply complicated affair—often supported by snail mail and fax machines.

At the end of his speech, Reider spoke of the importance of designing tools and technology that enable providers to make better decisions and empower patients to lead healthy lives.

At HXD, plenty of thought leaders gathered to discuss the progress already being made in healthcare design and technologies. Jane McGonigal, leading American game designer, discussed Super Better, a game where users work to face life challenges in small, incremental steps and track their progress. Sandy Hilfiker and Molly McLeod from CommunicateHealth revealed ways in which designers can improve health literacy (an issue for 9 out of 10 people) by developing materials that are easy for patients to understand and act on. Their stories confirmed that good design—from motivational apps to user-friendly EHR systems, can make the healthcare industry more efficient and cost effective, and ultimately save lives.

Now it’s your turn. Share your favorite stories, blog posts and articles about the designers who are enabling physicians to stay centered in the midst of overwhelming demands, and empowering individuals to find strength in challenging situations. You can send us your suggestions in an email or give myself or Lora a shout on Twitter. We’ll highlight the top posts Wednesday, April 10 on our blog.

Huge thanks to David Harlow and Joan Justice for their work in making the Healthcare Social Media Review possible. We’re thrilled to be a part of it!

Lizzie's Bio

In August, the starter cable in my car broke. It was a humid afternoon, and I had just dropped off some friends after a wedding in New Hampshire. I was five miles away from my house, and by the time the tow truck arrived three hours later, it was almost dinnertime.

The driver, a tattoo-covered man sipping a super-sized Pepsi, took me back to my apartment in Jamaica Plain. He apologized for the wait and told me about his previous customer: a woman who made a five-minute job take three hours, and who, at the end of the ordeal proclaimed, “you must HATE what you do!”

He didn’t hate his job, not one bit. He said that he loved his work. He loved the twelve hours and seven days a week that he spent repairing what most people could not repair themselves. He liked that this was a job he could do anywhere, and he had. He’d lived in six cities over the past ten years and only went two weeks without employment.

I thought of this moment again yesterday, when I discovered The Minimalists, a blog by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, two men who gave away their careers and most of their possessions, moved from a high-roller life to a cabin in Montana and now blog about what it means to live simply. To them, minimalism isn’t about giving up everything that you own, escaping to the woods, or turning off the electricity. Minimalism is about freeing yourself from the anxieties that come from wanting more stuff. It’s about going through your day with intention, recognizing your purpose, and putting in the time and the effort to do what you love. Minimalism is different for everyone, which is what makes it so exciting, and what has given these guys a huge following over the past few years.

Those who take this philosophy to heart, living with deliberation and recognizing what matters seem to succeed in all that they do—from the tow truck driver who scoops up stranded drivers, to Harold Schulz, CEO of Starbucks, who led a leading brand through the an economic crisis, driven by a commitment to his employees and their families.

Only when we know our goals, maintain a genuine passion for our community, and recognize our place within that community, will we be able to create something meaningful, something that endures.

What’s important to you in 2013? Tell us about it below or on Facebook or Twitter.

Lora's Bio

To all of our friends, supporters, partners, clients: here’s to finding your ideal quadrant this holiday season!

Lizzie's Bio

Michael Palmer, NYT best-selling thriller author, live in Swampscott, MA.

This past October, Lora (principal at Scratch) and I met Michael Palmer, NYT best-selling thriller author at Chili’s in Burlington. When we walked into the restaurant Michael was already seated at a table, sipping a coke, waiting for us. We exchanged hugs and joined him in cowering over the book size, laminated menu. Then, Michael introduced us to Stephanie, our waitress. That’s is the kind of guy Michael Palmer is: a person who always takes the opportunity to learn your name.

We’ve been working with Michael for almost four years now, helping him to promote his medical/political suspense novels and connect him with new fans and readers. His latest, POLITICAL SUICIDE, came out in stores and online Tuesday December 11, 2012. This is Michael’s 18^th novel, and the second to feature Lou Welcome, an ER doctor and associate at the Physician’s Wellness Office, where he helps physicians cope with mental illness and addiction. In the novel, Lou finds himself entangled in a high-level murder case involving one of his clients, Gary McHugh, known around Washington D.C. as the “society doc”. Gary is accused of killing Congressman Elias Colston, husband of the woman with whom Gary was having an affair.

If I heard that the guy formally sleeping with the congressman’s wife was found near the scene of the murder, I’d think he was guilty. But, this is a book of mystery and suspense, so not surprisingly—there’s another story lurking beneath the surface. Lou, being the nice guy that he is, offers to help prove Gary innocent, and inadvertently unravels a high-level government conspiracy involving the top dogs at the Department of Defense–a group that the late-congressman had worked hard to cut federal funding from.

Michael is very familiar with the world he writes about: the buzzing of the hospital waiting rooms, the fatigue that comes when working through the early morning hours. He is a practicing physician himself. After spending 20 years working in emergency and internal medicine, Michael now holds a similar position as his book’s hero at the Massachusetts Medical Society’s physician’s health program, helping doctors cope with the demands of medicine in healthy and balanced ways.

Michael got the idea for the book after reading an opinion piece that a friend sent him exploring the possibility that suicide bombers had something chemically altered in their brain that kept them from feeling and following through with the most basic human instinct: self preservation. In Political Suicide, Michael explores what could happen if we were able to rid ourselves of fear, and ethical implications surrounding it. In reading, we are reminded of what is core to our humanity, and how oftentimes those qualities are brushed aside as flaws. Political Suicide proves that bravery is not a blind willingness to give everything up, but the strength to make decisions, move forward, and draw conclusions in gray and uncertain circumstances.

Saying anymore would give away the story—so I’ll just let you go read it. Michael will make a few appearances in the Boston area in the coming weeks, including one at the Brookline Booksmith on Tuesday, January 8^th  with his son and thriller author, Daniel Palmer. There will be snacks, wine and musical instruments. Hope you can join us.