Two things:
First, I wanted to say thanks for the latest mention by Bob Coffield over at the Healthcare Law Blog.
Bob is one of those individuals whom, when you meet, you just know that he is an all-around good guy. Go on over and read some of his latest posts. Good stuff… Speaking of which…
Secondly, Bob includes a rather telling example of social media influence used by a physician to coach his patients who have obesity behavior modification issues:
…example comes from Dr. Parkinson’s new (old) approach to providing care through technology and house calls. A while ago he mentioned in a post (Food Photography) his approach to helping a patient with weight and obesity problems. This recent Chicago Tribune article again mentions his simple but effective approach to monitoring his patients food intake using Flickr. In the Q/A Dr. Parkinson explains his approach:
Q. How do you treat obesity?
A. I use the Internet as much as possible. I use Web sites like sparkpeople.com or weightwatchers.com to help patients understand how much they eat. I encourage them to start a flickr account to post photos of what and how much they eat. I can comment on portion size, fat content, etc. Having a visual record of all of the food you eat is quite powerful. I calculate how many calories they should take in to lose weight by a certain date. I do frequent follow-ups via IM or e-mail to see how they are doing and to let them know that there is one other person in the world who cares and supports them. My role is that of informative coach.
I’m telling ya, ch-change is a coming and social influence is a powerful tool [note that i did not indicated whether is was good or bad].