[quote=Bill Peckham;14422]Did you know the US Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Mike Levitt started blogging? I want to speak in favor of nephrologist, nurses, and other renal professionals posting online. Dori and Beth can you speak to why you decided to participate under your real name? Are there professional consequences? Are there rules you’ve learned over the years about what to write and what not to write? What are the upsides and downsides?
Rich what was your calculus to decide to post under your real name? Pat? Gus? Everyone else?I know other professionals look in on this board , others have jumped in e.g. Jim Curtis has the highest post count but Dr. Allan Hull’s response to NephNurse stands out as a taste of what could be but alas that one post did not lead to an ongoing discussion.
I just think if a US Cabinet Secretary can blog we ought to be able to create an environment where professionals can interact. What would have to happen? A hive mind is a powerful tool. How can we create a renal hive mind?[/quote]
Sorry for late reply, my PC and net taken away! LOL, hehehe…well, my home dialysis room is being relocated to a new room and what not, may not have net access maybe for 3 days…
Anyway, from the very first first days of home dialysis immediately I registered here and I knew that GOD wanted me to assist people who are just starting out. First timers really need our help, espcially them, so as you can see you need to expose who you are, no matter! The question is, “How can you open the doors wider and tell people, yes its okay!” ?..
If you look at my blogging site, back then I can maybe say was the firs(on Youtube.com)t to show the world my private home dialysis room with myself putting needles on!(I credit Bill Peckham…his stories/videos gave me the push)…now take a look at Adam, another brave soul!
However, for an open message board for professionals to post freely is quite difficult…though they still lurk and the reason for that is they need to read from us patients our thoughts and opinions, it helps them become better Doctors…as Dori stated the conseqences for professionals are higher than those of us patients. It is risky, no matter what…on the other hand us as patients hearing from Professionals like Dori, Beth, and Dr. Agar is quite important too! I think thats changing now, like Mike Leavitt’s blog many more politicians also have their blogs as well…nearly most of them! [B]With Youtube.com they’re all heading towards videos!
[/B]I think we’re headed towards a good change, but still there’s so much work to do and I think that work should be focused more online.