There were elements of this day that left me breathless. Literally. This is what healthcare communicators need. Patient panels. Physician panels. Singing presenters. Pediatrician bloggers. Does it get any better than that?
One highlight of Day Two of the Mayo Ragan Health Care Social Media Summit was definitely the patient panel. The panel was titled “The power of the e-patient.” Katherine Leon and Laura Haywood-Cory spoke powerfully about their experiences as survivors of spontaneous coronary artery dissections (SCAD), and their efforts to network with and organize other women who had survived SCAD. In the end, their efforts lead to patient initiated research (a new buzz phrase) at Mayo Clinic. This is a remarkable story about the patient’s ability to impact the research agenda. If you’d like to read more about this, there’s an excellent Wall Street Journal article titled “When Patients Band Together.” Every conference like this should find a way to put the patient in the foreground! Congratulations to the folks behind the Mayo Ragan gathering who had the vision to make this happen.
I had been waiting in anticipation to see Wendy Sue Swanson, MD (@seattlemamadoc) present. She was amazing. One of her most important messages was the value of social media as a set of tools for LISTENING. Yes, listening. It is not just about spewing information. It is not advertising. We can use these tools to learn more about the constituents we serve. The audience was captivated by Dr. Swanson and gave her a standing ovation! Here’s a brief taste of the reaction on Twitter:
Another highlight was my friend Chris Boyer playing ukelele and singing his social media ROI rag at the end of his presentation. Here’s Chris Boyer’s social media music video (while you watch this, please remember that Chris was a math major):
Finally, yesterday I published a list of 20 people you should meet while attending the conference (Mayo Ragan Health Care Social Media Summit). Well, here are a few more folks you might want to meet today!
- @sarahbethRN – Sarah Beth Cowherd
- @FMDGirl – Kari Ulrich
- @ks_austin – Kristine Austin
- @NinaGWalsh – Nina Walsh
- @TexasGirl11 – Melissa Underwood
- @ambersmith – Amber Smith
It’s been a great gathering. My thanks to every at Mayo Clinic and Ragan Communications for making this possible.
The Healthcare Marketer 
Love your summary notes, Dan. Almost like being there (although I would have paid extra for the Boyer concert).
Dan – are you going to be pulling together a complete list of folks to follow on Twitter coming out of this event? Would LOVE that! Thanks for sharing all this insight – great stuff.
Great idea! I’ll work on it.
Dan
Awesome – thanks Dan!
I just published the complete Twitter transcript for the first two days of the conference. Check out the post. This will give you (at a minimum) a list of the people tweeting at the event. Thanks! https://thehealthcaremarketer.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/twitter-transcript-from-mayo-ragan-so-far/
Dan
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I saw a bunch of tweets about this event, saying how great it was. Your post helped me get a better sense of things. Hooray for all those involved!
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