It has been my contention for a long time now that health care practitioners need to get online to network and share knowledge to develop health care practice. Of course one of the biggest barriers is having a safe and reliable system to use!
This link is to an IBM website that details their social software solutions for healthcare professionals. I am not endorsing it as I haven't tried it, I am highlighting the fact that the IT industry has heard our pleas and now we need management of health care networks to say "we support professional development using online technologies... At work.... On work time!"
VirtualOT
- Anita Hamilton
- Australia
- I am an Australian occupational therapist, educator and researcher. I have worked as an OT in mental health, vocational rehabilitation and a private surgical hospital. I am passionate using online technology to enhance the knowledge and growth of the occupational therapy profession. In my PhD research I am looking at the role of online technologies in information management and knowledge transfer in occupational therapy. Views expressed and stories shared on this blog are my opinion and do not represent views of my employer or professional registration body.
9 comments:
Another interesting piece is the integration of mobile devices at the point of care. My smartphone saves my butt on countless occassions. Whether it is searching for a piece of equipment or identifying unlabeled pills in the home (epocrates is a fantastic program).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksZoMkV75ig
Dell is making some strides recently in the US to bring Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to mobile platforms.
It is unfortunate that there has been a stigma attached with using your cell phone at work. But the smartphone has the ability to change and improve how we practice!
watching the EMS staff in ER last week and the three working w/my family member were all using iphone apps to do their work. So - it's coming ...
This is true, my wife is an NP at GNH and she relies heavily on her iPhone...Pepid is her best friend.
If it's just for professional networking, I recommend using LinkedIn. It's highly structured but it is searchable for employers and colleagues. For professional organizations I recommend AOTA's OT Connections. I just wish that OT Connections would soon develop it's own iphone app so I can open it on my cellphone.
Yes, LinkedIn is great! I think their upgrade packages are very pricey though don't you?
Anita,
I agree with you that health care professionals need to use social networking more. It would be great to have a unified online place to share ideas, resources, evidence, and opinions. As an occupational therapy masters student I currently use facebook, twitter and linkedin. However, I think many older health care professionals are reluctant to use such sites. I think AOTA and OT managers need to spread the word, importance, and provide education on how to use social networking.
Hi Amanda, thanks for your comment. I agree with you that this may be a generational "thing" and OT needs to get on board the Social Networking train! In fact our group called OT4OT came together for that exact reason!
OT4OT is short for online technology for occupational therapy and we have a website, http://ot4ot.weebly.com, a wiki (http://wfotcongress2010.pbworks.com/w/page/4432024/Home-Page)and a facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=311439915949). We LOVE sharing ideas about using online technology in OT education and practice.
AOTA has been really supportive of us and advertised our recent 24 hour virtual global exchange held on World OT Day, October 27. If you visit the OT4OT website you will see the schedule and you can listen to 23 of the 24 presentations. These are recorded and will be available for 6 months.
It sounds like you are the kind of person we want in our profession, someone who sees possibilities and opportunities!
Cheers, Anita
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