http://www.radiorounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/305-Pho-Logo-300x300.jpg (http://www.radiorounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/305-Pho-Logo.jpg)This episode, which aired on January 31, 2010, is available on iTunes (http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/wright.edu.2049885723.02049885733)!

We were joined by Dr. Kevin Pho, the creator and author of KevinMD.com, the web’s leading physician blog with over 21,000 RSS subscribers and 16,000 Twitter followers. The Wall Street Journal calls KevinMD.com a “punchy, prolific blog that chronicles America’s dysfunctional health care system through the prism of a primary care provider.”

Dr. Pho, an internal medicine physician in Nashua, New Hampshire, shared with us his thoughts on social media in modern medicine and the important role that social media plays for new physicians. The ability to interact with patients, he stresses, is only enhanced by physicians adapting to medicine’s growing online presence. Be sure to check out KevinMD.com (http://www.kevinmd.com/)and read more about Dr. Kevin Pho’s thoughts on his blog, as well as his occasional contributions to The New York Times.

In this episode, we also heard from Dr. Gerald Berke, as part of our weekly residency series. Dr. Berke is the director for the Otolaryngology (ENT) residency program at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA.

More info, as always, on the Radio Rounds website -- www.radiorounds.org (http://www.radiorounds.org) .

I had a great time talking with Dr. Pho as I'm getting pretty into Twitter and social media myself. Be sure to follow him:@kevinmd and, of course, follow Radio Rounds @RadioRounds. We're now tweeting real-time quotes from the interviews as they happen. From Dr. Pho's interview:

"Doctors have to embrace having a strong online presence. It is not just a positive-- it is a necessity."

"Primary care ... needs to be one of the fundamental pillars of health care reform."

"Over 60% of patients use the internet looking for health information." Doctors can use Social Media to connect with them.

What do YOU think? Should Social Media be an important part of the Future Physician?

We also had a great patient story from Dr. Gerald Berke, director for the ENT residency program at UCLA Medical Center. He also discussed what he values in his residents.


As always, we'd love it if you joined the discussion here on SDN and on Twitter and Facebook-- as always, we want to hear what YOU have to say. Let us know what you think of the show, and anything we can do to tailor it more to what you want to hear!