Sunday January 22, 2006

Source: The Star, Fit for Life – Doc Blog

Doc BlogIN the United States and Europe, scientists are slowly starting to embrace blogs as an avenue for sharing information and communicating with each other.  

I surfed through Malaysian blogs, hoping to find equally Web-savvy doctors using the blogosphere as a marketplace of ideas.  

My search turned up quite a number of blogs by doctors, although few were actually blogging about medical topics; what I got were mostly personal blogs by people who happened to be doctors. 

One of the most active medical blogs is Malaysian Medical Resources (http://medicine.com.my), featuring several regular bloggers like Palmdoc, TECheah, Dobbs and Vagus (doctors blogging under pen names). 

Malaysian Medical Resources (MMR), as the name suggests, is less a blog than a portal linking its visitors to other medical websites, hospitals, government agencies, societies and organisations, as well as health and medical blogs. MMR also hosts online forums, provides locum listings and posts interesting updates from scientific papers or journals. 

The blog is also worth a visit for its doctors’ running commentary on current medical and health happenings. Every new post gives you a very interesting behind-the-scenes perspective of issues surrounding medicine and healthcare in Malaysia. 

In one recent post, Palmdoc laments the fact that Malaysia has yet to catch up with Singapore, which has just recently recruited top US cancer scientists.  

“We are still mired in politics, stifling policies, red tape and bureaucratic obstacles. We have problems retaining quality researchers let alone attract(ing) those from abroad, whether they are Malaysians or foreigners. Indeed, since we mentioned that Malaysia’s Biovalley is in danger of becoming a Valley of Ghosts, has anything changed for the better?” 

TECheah, another regular MMR blogger, revels in the freedom of expression offered through blogging. 

When he began expanding from personal notes to topics with more controversial undertones, he found that “it offers a feeling of satisfaction when a topic that seems so mundane is brought to life with views from an obscure angle.” 

One subject that is generally deemed “hands off” for doc bloggers is that of patients. “We don’t openly discuss patients ? (or) blog about patients specifically, but we do sometimes mention clinical scenarios in general terms and certainly do not identify patients individually,” says Palmdoc, who blogs from home, usually in the early hours of the morning when he is free. 

“Discussing patient conditions through blogs should not contravene any ethical rules,” adds TECheah. 

For doctors, blogging carries another level of responsibility, as their profession often holds them to a higher standard of ideals. A doctor who uses profanity and false information in a blog is just as distasteful as a doctor who lies, shouts and curses.  

While TECheah feels that doctors should be allowed the same freedom of expression as anyone else, they should also defend the integrity of their profession. 

“The only principle I practise is that one should not write what one would not otherwise say in person. Despite the offer of anonymity, I prefer to back my writings by putting my face and credibility literally on the line,” he says. 

What are the rules surrounding doctors who blog? As far as Palmdoc and TECheah are aware, neither the Malaysian Medical Council nor hospitals have set any rules about blogging, as long as doc bloggers are not seen as advertising their services. 

Nonetheless, both TECheah and Palmdoc requested to stay anonymous in this story. 

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Blogs to visit
 

Sunday January 22, 2006

Blogs to visit

Patients’ blogs 

NF Malaysia – http://nf.yvonnefoong.com 

The Digital Awakening – http://www.petertan.com/blog 

Hee Boon’s Amazing New Adventures – http://fhbadventure.blogspot.com 

Diabetes Mine – http://www.diabetesmine.com 

The Skin Cancer Blog – http://www.skincancerblog.net 

Living with Colon Cancer – http://www.eternal-optimist.ca/living 

The Amazing Shrinking Man! – http://theamazingshrinkingman.blogspot.com 

Doctors’ blogs 

Malaysian Medical Resources – http://medicine.com.my 

Materia Medica Malaysiana – http://malaysianmedicine.blogspot.com 

Dr Cheah’s Pages – http://drcheah.com 

The PalmDoc Chronicles – http://palmdoc.blogspot.com 

Malaysian Medical Students Website – http://ms.malaysianmedicine.com 

The Hard Drive – http://academyalley.blogspot.com 

KidneyNotes.com – http://kidneynotes.blogspot.com 

DB’s Medical Rants – http://www.medrants.com 

Related Stories:
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Source: The Star, Fit for Life: A blog to bare your souls

Sunday January 22, 2006

A blog to bare your soul

MOST bloggers will tell you that their blogging journey began as an exercise in personal reflection, but has since evolved into a channel to inspire, motivate and increase awareness. 

“When I began blogging, it was to chronicle my life. I did that because I thought it would be interesting to see my unfolding life and how much I have grown many years later,” says Peter Tan, a thirty-something tetraplegic who is living with renal failure. His blog is, appropriately, named The Digital Awakening (http://www.petertan.com/blog). 

Tan is one of several bloggers in Malaysia who blog primarily about their medical condition and how they cope with it. 

Although the more cynical may view these blogs as “daily rants”, it has become more than that for Yvonne Foong, a 19 year-old girl with neurofibromatosis who maintains a personal blog (www.yvonnefoong.com) and NF Malaysia, which is dedicated to neurofibromatosis (www.nfmalaysia.org). 

Hee Boon’s Amazing New Adventures is a positive spin on living with lung cancer.

“It’s now about sharing my opinions, encouraging and helping others, and spreading awareness (about neurofibromatosis),” says Foong, who co-authors NF Malaysia with a fellow neurofibromatosis sufferer, Keisha Somasundram. 

Foo Hee Boon, who has metastasised, non-small cell lung cancer, sees his blog as a way to present a positive response to his ailment.  

His blog, cheerfully named Hee Boon’s Amazing New Adventures (http://fhbadventure.blogspot.com), is a testament to his courage and resilience in living with a painful disease that seems riddled with complications. 

However, he admits that “it’s not ? fun and laughter all the way, I do get frustrated and I do blog about these ‘down’ moments.” This, he says, gives him encouragement and renewed resolve. 

Most bloggers sacrifice a fair amount of privacy when they write candidly about their lives. What more someone who chooses to share highly personal and, sometimes, painful details of their illness? 

When posed this question, Foong says, “My illness is simply a part of life. I believe that NF has taught me many great life lessons at a very young age, so I wish to impart this knowledge to others too.” 

Sharing information is certainly part of the reason why Tan is more than willing to bare his soul on his blog.  

Tan promotes Independent Living for people with disabilities, and uses his blog to create awareness about disability issues and problems faces by people with physical disabilities. 

“Many people still do not understand the life of a person with physical impairments. I am physically impaired but it is the environment and attitudes that disable and handicap me,” he explains. 

Clean and accessible toilets for the disabled, as well as disabled-friendly transports and buildings, are among the issues that Tan champions tirelessly. 

Blogs also function as virtual support groups, with people in similar situations (or not) rallying together for support.  

“It’s not just the process of passive reading,” Foo notes. “Bloggers usually post their emails so contacts can be made. I benefited a lot when strangers, both cancer and non-cancer patients, contacted me and became friends.” 

Besides providing comradeship, such contacts could pave the way to exchange of useful information about physicians and treatments. 

Some may quake at the thought of sharing their pain with strangers. For others, it seems that sharing is healing. 

Related Stories:
Blogging about health, life and death
Blogs to visit
Doc Blog