Blogging Matters

I think anyone who blogs will tell you it is a commitment of time and energy that sometimes leaves you wondering if the effort you are putting in even matters.  Blogging, can be emotionally draining, incredibly rewarding, or uplifting, and... more and more so, all those emotions at the same time. We blog for different reasons: To share best practices, to help relate to the work, to inform, to engage with others, to vent... the list is exponential. Our blogs impact our readers in different ways.  My blogging buddy and physician partner Tim Ho provides analogies in his blog that help me relate to each issue better. His blogs help me think outside of the box and add a richer perspective. 

It's funny... people say you have to MAKE time for exercise.  I like to think of blogging as exercising my mind, strengthening my resolve, and sharing my spirit, so, like exercise, I am trying to make time for it.  Recently, before I left the office, I checked my email one last time and found one from the doctor I saw for my "brain tumor" (which wasn't a tumor).  He wanted to thank me for acknowledging his MA and sending the blog link to his DA and AMGA.  It meant a lot to her and it meant even more to him. If a physician is going to go out of his way to read my blog and take the time to send me an email to thank me, it tells me people out there care about what we do and what we write.  I had another reader who sent me an email in response to a blog I wrote about a visit to their clinic.  She wrote... "The title "Leading With Heart" really brought me to tears.  The article was wonderful.  Your kind words and how you captured our clinic was so much appreciated." Last week at a site visit to one of our medical centers, one of the department administrators came up and gave me a very big hug and said, "I've been meaning to thank you for your blog on Insomnia! I read it and applied the changes you mentioned and I am SLEEPING now!" I also received several private emails to thank me for sharing my personal experience with Domestic Violence. Those moments feel like few and far between sometimes, but when they come, it makes it all worth it.

Just in case you were thinking that blogging doesn't make a difference, let me share with you the impact of my domestic violence blog. I posted that blog on October 11, 2011 on Ideabook. It has had 81 views since that posting.  I received about 10 personal emails in response, but then that was it. The blog views died down and I moved on to the next blog. Last week, nearly 6 months after the original posting, a coworker came to me seeking assitance for a friend. I was able to help connect her friend with the appropriate resources so she could begin her journey to freedom. Later that night, I told my husband how hard it was to relive my past, but rewarding to know that my blog could help someone else. He had so many questions that it dawned on me, he and I have never REALLY talked about what happened to me because it was too upsetting for him.  How could I expect him to understand what someone else was going through if I couldn't even share what I had gone through? So I pulled out my ipad and read him my blog. Three days later... my husband called me from work and asked if I could forward him the link to my external blog. When he came home he explained he didn't know how to approach the subject with his employee who came in with bruising on her face, so he shared my blog.  She admitted needing help and being terrified, so together they went down to the police station where she filed for a temporary restraining order.  This morning before work I was talking with my oldest daughter and explained how posting one blog 6 months ago is making an impact today. She asked if I would leave my blog up so she could read it when I left. Here's what she posted on Facebook this morning to her 631 Facebook Friends who are mostly in the 20 something age range. 

That particular blog post had 34 hits today, which my blog tracker says came from Facebook url's.  That... my friends, is the power of social media and blogging.

Fellow blogger Ted Eytan and I had a blog conversation last week and he made the following comment:

You know, more than a few doctors tell me, "I don't see the role of social media in health care." And I agree with them, if we are talking about the way social media is being used by most health care organizations today.

However, if we talk about the way you are using it, to share authentic stories related to care delivery that is person-centered, by leaders who bring themselves to the conversation, that's a different story.

For those of us who blog, having people read our blogs, provide feedback, comments, or even turning the blog in to a discussion forum means a lot.  It gives us inspiration and tells us we aren't wasting our time. On behalf of all of us who have poured our ideas, thoughts, and emotions out in writing, thank you to all of you who keep reading.  We want to hear your thoughts. These forums are for you just as much as they are for us. Together, we can share successful practices, encourage new ways of thinking, and enlighten each other. Together... we can improve and save lives.