Checking a doctor's bedside manner in a blog?: "Before choosing a doctor or starting a new prescription, imagine browsing Internet blogs to check a physician's bedside manner or read about other patients' experience with a drug."
For doctors and hospitals, this is what "word of mouth" is going to look like in the next few years.
I agree.
ReplyDeletePatients are more informed than ever today, thanks to the internet. The downside to that is misinformation. Fortunately, many people are able to distinguish reliable information (often from .edu or legitimate medical sites) from not so reliable information (biased or just plain inaccurate - sites that have something to gain by slanting the information or information published by people who really don't know).
It's a very interesting topic that you raise, Dr Malpani, especially for health professionals and the effects on their practices.
ReplyDeleteWe have found that our practice benefits tremendously from word of mouth. As use of the internet grows, and provided our patients continue to have good experiences with us, our online word of mouth is likely to grow as well.