Interview with Russell Faust on Healthcare Social Media

by Stuart Wainstock for MD Webpro

Posted on January 17, 2013 by stuart@ds6.net

Recently we had the opportunity to interview Russell Faust, MD, PhD about social media and his involvement with healthcare social media.  Dr. Faust is an award-winning physician-scientist, author, and entrepreneur; he is co-founder, CEO, and Chief Medical Officer for Anicca Media, LLC.   Here are some of the wonderful insights Dr. Faust had to offer.

MDWebPro: How long have you been active with social media?

Russell Faust, MD, PhD: Depends on how you define “social media.” Of course, email is technically social media; it is media, and it is clearly social, but for popular usage, I entered the ‘digital world’ 3 years ago when it occurred to me that all of my patients literally live in the digital world. As a pediatric surgical specialist, the parents of my younger patients are themselves young (at least, much younger than me), and they spend time on social media. My teenage patients are, of course, on social media.

I started out slowly: “lurking” on Twitter and very sporadically visiting Facebook. When I realized that most of my patients and their families were arriving to my clinics with stacks of print-outs from the internet and that most of that was misinformation, I decided to provide my patients with accurate healthcare information.  I started a medical education blog site.

As a pediatric ENT doc, my patients call me their booger doctor (booger, bugar, boogor – rhymes with “sugar”), then they laugh hysterically. So my site is www.boogordoctor.com

I talk a little bit about how that started here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0soh4sDhJg&feature=g-all-u

With a long history as a tech geek (BS Major in Neuroscience; Minor in AI, back in the 70’s before artificial intelligence became a common term; published the first text on Robotic Surgery), and with a medical blog under my belt, I began receiving invitations to consult for “HCSM” applications. This practice eventually grew into Anicca Media (“ah-knee’-kuh”; Sanskrit or Pali, meaning impermanent, always changing.  We thought that described Social Media pretty well).  At Anicca Media, our mission is to leverage digital and social media, and great content, to create better connected, more responsive, and trusted healthcare organizations.

MDWebPro: What platforms do you actively participate with (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.)?

The full article can be found at http://mdwebpro.com/2013/01/17/interview-with-dr-russell-faust-on-healthcare-social-media/?utm_campaign=content&utm_medium=social-media&utm_source=twitter

Should Physician Practices Ask Potential Hires for Facebook Login Info?

Russell Faust quoted in this article by Marisa Torrieri for Physicians Practice.

These days, many, if not most, medical practices have some kind of social-media policy that guides employees on what they can or cannot say about their employer in the public Internet forum. We also know that most practices, like good employers, do some kind of Web-based research on employee candidates before hiring them. 

But when we got word that some employers are taking this measure one step further, we were a bit shocked...

The full article can be found at http://www.physicianspractice.com/blog/content/article/1462168/2050949

Doctors: Social Media ROI Is Real

Russell Faust is quoted in this article by The CadenceMed Team.
 

Doctors, social media is here to stay, but is a social media presence beneficial to a doctor and his or her medical practice? Is the return on what is invested to gain traction for a social media account real and substantial? According to Dr. Vandna Jerath, Dr. Robert Zaid, Dr. Russell Faust, Dr. Natasha Burgert and Dr. Kurt Frederick, it is.

The full article can be found at: http://cadencemed.com/blog/2012/01/doctors-social-media-roi-is-real/

Russell Faust Interviewed by Scrubs & Suits

Russell Faust, PhD, MD, FAAP, ABIHM
PHYSICIAN EXECUTIVE, TECHIE, SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT AND BLOGGER

Introducing this week’s Scrubs & Suits Featured Member, Russell Faust,PhD.

Dr. Faust is a physician executive who interprets technology and social media to a variety of audiences through keynotes, blog posts, articles, retreats and workshops. He has been a medical school professor, an endowed chairman, chief medical officer and president and EO of several organizations.

A Rock-Climbing Accident Leads to Career Inspiration...

The full article can be found at http://scrubsandsuits.com/featured_members/russell-faust-phd-md-faap-abihm

Physician social media users say ROI is real

Russell Faust is quoted in this article by Debra Beaulieu for Fierce Practice Managment.

Specialists promoting a particular niche might have even greater opportunity for social media success, according to the article's author, pediatric ENT surgeon Dr. Russell Faust, who claims that his online persona as the "boogordoctor" draws more than half of his new patients.

Faust's original intent for launching his blog, however, wasn't to increase business, but to overcome frustration with patients' coming to his office with stacks of inaccurate medical information gleaned from the Internet. By providing education on popular topics within his specialty himself, Faust wrote in Physicians Practice that he's been able to build better relationships with patients right off the bat.

"Because they have read about my approach to various illnesses ... we can spend all of our time in clinic together focusing on their specific signs and symptoms ... This is just one of the operational efficiency returns: our clinic time is streamlined, efficient."

According to Faust, these are but a few of many similar examples. "As more practices 'get engaged,' it will become evident that there is tremendous ROI with social media in healthcare," he wrote.

The full article can be found at: http://www.fiercepracticemanagement.com/story/physician-social-media-users-say-roi-real/2011-11-09