Why a blog?

A major portion of the work of this initiative is observations of patients receiving care in different health systems. The blog will tell stories in an informal way and allow others to interact with the health systems being featured.

The purpose of the blog is to showcase innovative health care organizations as they transform themselves to become more patient centric through the use of technology.

What are the benefits?

  • It will increase interactivity in the field of patient empowerment
  • It will expose innovative organizations to the world of Web2.0 technologies and their use in promoting image
  • It will assist policy makers and leaders in understanding care provision at the level of the patient

How will it be done – what are the ground rules?

  • No personally identifiable patient health information will be displayed
  • Summaries of observation experiences will include photographs of practice sites
  • In general, care staff will not be named explicitly unless they provide consent
  • Goal is accuracy and defensibility – every blog entry is written as if the person(s) being written about are there – we want organizations to look good, because they are good.
  • Interaction will be encouraged
  • Happy endings are typical – “the world belongs to optimists, pessimists are bystanders.”

Have you done this before? Do you know what you’re doing?

  • I started and ran the first organizational blog at Group Health Cooperative – 2 years, close to 1,000 posts, several hundred comments, serving 900 physicians and close to 9,000 staff
  • I have been running an external blog, unbranded for 18 months, at http://www.dailykaizen.org, covering the topic of Toyota Management System and health care
  • I have lectured and taught on blog management and promotion within the Kaiser Permanente system as well as within our own Communications and Community Relations Division.
  • Blogging is as much art as leadership is, though; we can always get better at it.

We strive for transparency in patients’ care experiences; this project supports transparency in the work done by organizations to improve those care experiences. With thanks to the organizations who have opened their doors to this form of communication.

Ted Eytan, MD