Listening to patients at Medicine 2.0

I wrote a long post on e-patients.net about my one day at Medicine 2.0 on Saturday. Here are a few highlights — people who focused on listening to patients and caregivers:

“To learn

listen well

to impressions

voiced by patients

first”

– Sally Okun of PatientsLikeMe closed her presentation with this poem.

“The irony is not lost on us that we are building a thriving community for the dying.”

– Colleen Young of the Virtual Hospice community.

An unforeseen activity of a Second Life community for people with diabetes: many would log on and just sit “outside” listening to the water and wind, instead of visiting the gym, community center, library, grocery store, etc. Follow-up interviews revealed that these participants used the time to self-soothe and reduce their anxiety — a mini vacation within their busy lives.

Another unforeseen activity: Beverages were the most popular category for research in the virtual grocery store. People wanted to find out how often they could drink alcohol.

– Constance Johnson of Duke University.