The Blonde and I returned to one of our favorite controversies yesterday - whether she should start a blog.
Here's a woman with 43 years' nursing experience in many fields - oncology, communicable disease, rehab, med-surg, etc.; a great diagnostician (she can tell by your smell if you're sick), excellent knowledge of medicines and their interactions, and so on. She wants to do a Q&A format - kind of a nursing Dear Abby or a legal Althouse.
So, the question is, you want to impart knowledge to a great many people, particularly those in your profession, what's a good blog format? And how do you handle comments? Or is such altruistic thinking a wasted effort?
Or do you go the Althouse route and keep it general with an emphasis on your strong suit?
56 comments:
I think the reason you don't see more of this is licensure issues. Doctors are still protective and lawyers are still litigious. That being said, I think it's a great idea, especially for a retired professional who can afford to do so.
Of course, edutcher could handle the comment editing like Meade does for Althouse.
she can tell by your smell if you're sick
In fiction, Hannibal Lecter had that trick.
It's often not that hard with cancer patients, even if they're not on chemo.
And I have this vague recollection that Dr. Joseph Bell did similar things as well.
a nursing Dear Abby or a legal Althouse.
Too many boobs.
The Dear Abbey type blog has the problem of requiring disclaimers that any advice given cannot be taken as direct medical advice as she will not be able to physically examine the patient. Easier to do the Althouse format with the possible bonus of not having to pretend a sense of impartiality.
Kidding!
+1 to El Pollo's licensure issue.
I would think the boobs would make the blog popular. Just need 3 more sets to make the Rule of 5.
Let people email in with questions. Don't have comments.
Don't have comments.
That's right, we don't have a comment to spare.
I hadn't thought of the legal (licensure) end of it.
She's more interested in the profession and how it's being handled, but I think she's really thinking of a between professionals thing.
That's why I thought putting up her opinion the way TOP does it and inviting comments might be the way to go. This is the kind of discussion I hoped would happen, so keep the ideas coming.
I'm going to have her take a look at this, so go easy on her.
She's different in a lot of ways from me.
(yeah, I know...)
I always smell like a field of new mown hay.
I'm still waiting for the "Fuck it" Key. Can a nurse provide me with one thru ObamaCare?
Usually I'm 150% for comments--I generally avoid places that don't have then--but in this situation, her comments section would quickly turn into a pit of internet quackery weirdos arguing their own pet theories of health & wellness. For example, I was reading a recipe for roasted broccoli this morning and the comments went into the triple digits with people yelling back and forth about the minutiae of whether high heat causes the nutrients to convert to cancer-causing compounds. I'm with Freeman-I wouldn't do comments.
I would also share the concerns of others regarding licensure/liability. Remember the guy in North Carolina who got in trouble over his paleo-eating blog for dispensing medical advice without a license?
There was a blog that I lost track of three hard drives ago written by an Emergency Technician in London. His was more like a diary covering the bits that made being an ET in London interesting. It is/was a very interesting blog and I wish I could find it.
He explained what he did, what happened, the sort of things that come up. Things you do not expect. Repercussions arising from entitlement society, for example, old women who called emergency just to have human contact and careful attention. Written not from an advice standpoint, but rather recollection and good storytelling that brings forward all kinds of interesting things.
I recommend it!
Give it a go.
What the heck.
If it turns out you don't care for it, close it down, or stop energizing it. (I always wondered about the graveyard of dead links at Ace of Spades, then I realized it is a very odd reader loyalty)
Too many boobs.
Must ... exercise ... RESTRAINT.....
I think I've ... I think I've herniated something ....
Freeman Hunt said...Let people email in with questions. Don't have comments.
This could avoid any "patient liability" issues. I also like edutcher's idea of it being nurses helping nurses. The profession is changing fast, or is going to change. Routine care must be devolved to nurses, PA's & NP's.
Icepick said...
I think I've ... I think I've herniated something
You probably just pulled your groin. Try pulling it again.
Steamed lunch.
With rice.
El Pollo Raylan said...
The profession is changing fast, or is going to change. Routine care must be devolved to nurses, PA's & NP's.
It's been that way for a long time.
One of her favorite lines has been, "You see the doctor about 5 minutes a day. If you go bad any other time, it's the nurse that's going to keep you alive".
Obviously there are crash teams, etc., but the nurse works with them, as well.
Well I see a couple of problems if The Blonde starts a blog.
First off you might get a creepy guy who comments on every post and would still kiss her ass even after she told him she thought he was stupid.
Also you will have to learn to make pancakes and mow the lawn.
Next thing you know you will be renting dogs and stuff.
Be careful my friend.
Hell, anyone can smell it when someone has diarrhea.
Liability would be a huge problem I think. You could have a prominent disclaimer, but that isn't worth much, if anything. Maybe w/ Skype and Facetime it could be like Web Therapy. I have a genital wart I would like the blonde to look at.
nd, she can smell it on your breath or just as you walk by and tell you're coming down with a cold or something.
She can also see by the color in your eye or complexion.
PS She's going to read this post or do you two talk to everybody's wives like that?
You will need a thicker skin if you blog. Just sayn'
She has it, but she would be reading this as a civilian.
She doesn't know the rules here.
Or lack of same.
Well as a good husband you can gently lead her into the fold. As somebody said before, technical blogs are even worse than general blogs for crazy comments and fighting. So following this joint for a few weeks might give her some idea of how it is going to go.
I am sure she will do fine.
Edutcher, do you speak to other's wives in a disrespectful manner? Why would you be surprised if someone speaks to your wife in the same manner in which you've engaged in? I was someone's wife too Ed.
Ed this could be a "walk a mile in my moccasin" moment for you if you open your eyes a bit. As for your wife's blog, yes, go for it! Comments could get dicey.
or
Walk a hallway in my crocs.
If you walk a mile in someone's moccasins before criticizing them, you're a mile away and you've got their shoes.
edutcher, I bet he can smell that evil weed a mile away!
I meant "she"
rhhardin ....damn! You beat me to it. :-]
edutcher ... as for your wife's idea of a blog, ... my 2 cents worth ... go for it if she feels strongly enough about it. As for comments, based upon your remark that it would ideally be peer to peer, with some non-peer questions, all the things others have said or warned about apply. In other words, tricky waters to navigate and she'll need to some other peers to participate (as is done here).
It would seem to me that non-peer questions would have to be by email or other confined medium. I can't see the Althouse model working for what you've said she wants to do.
For those still following, she looked at the comments and wants everyone to know she isn't talking medical advice (she's the first to say nurses aren't allowed to do that), but more along the lines of professional nursing technique.
Inga said...
Edutcher, do you speak to other's wives in a disrespectful manner? Why would you be surprised if someone speaks to your wife in the same manner in which you've engaged in? I was someone's wife too Ed.
We're talking in the to and fro of this environment, as you well know.
If I speak to Troop, I'm speaking to a commenter and not to Mrs Troop, who seems very nice.
You're trying to mix apples and oranges and you haven't got the apples.
As it were.
Professional nursing technique? There are a few huge nursing forums out there for that, but a smaller more intimate blog would be interesting I suppose. It would be interesting to trade "war stories" with a few nurses.
PS Don't know about that, nd, but, when she got off the cruise ship in Belize, she could smell the hepatitis and pseudomonas.
PPS Your wart wouldn't faze her.
Ah Ed, your wife must be a saint, lol.
Inga said...
Professional nursing technique? There are a few huge nursing forums out there for that, but a smaller more intimate blog would be interesting I suppose. It would be interesting to trade "war stories" with a few nurses.
That's the idea.
Once you've smelled C Diff, you'll know if one of your patients has it, even before a stool sample has even been taken and tested. I'm sure your wife would agree.
Same thing with occult blood in stool.
'A BRAND NEW DAY IS COMING'...
Online doctor visits...
Drudge.
She was helping a friend give her sister home health care and could smell the C Diff the second she walked through the door.
chip;
It was Random Acts of Reality.
Here's the end
It's not worth the time.
Comments on a technical blog are a waste of time, you'll get 9 cranks/freaks/loser/bores for every 1 even half-way interesting comment.
Go the e-mail route.
And be realistic, if you think the world will beat a path to your door (blog), you're wrong.
Ha! I must say, it's highly likely that TT here speaks truth.
I would never have comments on anything even remotely medical. Unless I decided to keep a nest of yahoos.
Also, the crowd of commenters here is pretty rare. Having comments generally means having three people saying, "Love this," some long-winded, pedantic wrong person who replies to your every comment or post, an occasional hater, and a guy who shows up here and there to post something totally incoherent.
Phil, thank you for that!
Inga, could you still smell the C diff even after you put the patients in the ovens?
... but I think she's really thinking of a between professionals thing.
Best to do that kind of thing in private, not publicly, especially if you plan to trade war stories. The public reacts very negatively to medical professionals' unguarded view of themselves and their profession.
Sixty, LOL! But remember the ref's warning prior to the first round, "Keep your blows above the waist."
I don't think this will begin or end well.
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