About Social Media Today
Doctors 2.0&You succeeded in bringing together interested intelligent healthcare thinkers from all over the globe to talk, connect, and collaborate on mHealth issues for 2 days in the beautiful city of Paris.
The themes of mHealth, ePatients, Doctor/Patient relationship and entrepreneurship converged and connected throughout the conference. I was honored to be a part of this group and immensely enjoyed listening to the talks and joining in the discussions.
The first day consisted of breakout sessions - a selection of 2 in English and 2 in French for each time slot of 75 minutes. There were talks on Start-Ups (pitches from the start-ups actually, ending in a contest for the winning company). I attended one of these sessions and was very impressed with the quality and creativity of the start-ups represented. 
Laastari is a walk-in telemedicine clinic (no appointment necessary) open 7 days a week run by a nurse and equipped with remote diagnostic equipment that can be linked to a doctor. For a flat fee reimbursed by insurance, Laastari will treat 13 common illnesses and/or give vaccinations in a quick and efficient manner. Patient satisfaction was noted to be over 90%.
iDoc24 is a medical advice mobile app that lets patients take photos of skin lesions and anonymously ask advice of dermatologists. (See a previous post on Alexander Borve and iDoc24 here). It is quick (response in about an hour), efficient and anonymous and costs a flat fee. iDoc24 is currently available in several countries in the EU. Some Emergency Departments and GPs are also using it for their patients to get specialty advice quickly from certified dermatologists. iDoc24 is currently testing an accessory device that can be used to spot skin cancer lesions.
Erik van der Zijden from Synappz Medical Apps presented the IP Voiding Diary, a mobile app for intake and output journal entries to monitor bladder activity.
Congratulations !
**The IP Voiding Diary (Synappz) and iDoc24 Won the 2012 Doctors 2.0 & You Start-Up Contest**
They will be presenting at the Stanford Medicine X conference in Palo Alto in September.
I also attended a breakout session on ePatients. Here, the founders of several patient communities told the story of their patient experience and how they came to create their community. The stories were similar: unhappy with the lack of information they found either from their provider or online, they decided to pursue their search and create their own resource, repository and support group. Interestingly, regardless of the country, the experiences and results were so similar. Yes, there are cultural differences and yes, each patient is unique, but really, the goals are the same. Patients want to be included in the discussion and want to be heard. They want access to information and they want it now. I really have to hand it to Denise Silber for doing such a good job including patients in a major way in Doctors 2.0 & You. The patients really had a voice at this conference.
The second day of Doctors 2.0 & You was in the main lecture hall with 2 huge screens and a live twitter feed. I might add that throughout the conference, there was WiFi available so everyone could tweet out, check emails, and be connected. This was not the case at the mHealth Summit meeting for example (the mHealth Summit was a much larger conference, certainly, but still...it is mHealth).
Alternating keynote speakers and panel discussions kept attention up and interest high. Patients again presented the stories of their quest for information and their contribution to the patient community. Sarah Kucharski (@AfternoonNapper) talked about her experience with fibromuscular dysplasia and founding FMD Chat. Yvanie Caille (@Renaloo) explained why she founded Renaloo after years of suffering from renal disease and undergoing a renal transplant.
Keynote speaker Jennifer Dyer (@EndoGoddess) now in partnership with DuetHealth impassioned the audience with her mission to help young diabetic patients manage their illness via mHealth. There were also keynotes from Berci Mesko (@Berci) from Webicina, Larry Sherman (@Meducate) from Prova Education and Denise Silber (@Doctors20) from Basil Strategies. Denise coined the buzz phrase of the conference: SoLoGloMoGaBi (SOcial, LOcal, GLObal, MObile, GAmification, BIg Data).
I must note that during the panel discussion on Online HealthCare Professional Communities, Stanley TianTian Li, being unable to attend the conference, was brought to us via video from China and delivered his talk and then answered questions via cell phone amplified by the podium microphone. Cool example of technology in action!
There was no lag time at this conference. The speakers were kept on time and panel discussions were lively with questions and discussion. At the same time, there were networking breaks and a buffet breakfast and lunch in the exhibit area which gave everyone time to view the posters, visit with the exhibitors, talk and exchange contact information with the other attendees.
My takeaways from this conference were:
- There are wonderful things happening in the field of mHealth - mobile apps, great online support mechanisms for patients and providers, new and wonderfully creative ways of helping promote better HealthCare with lower cost and greater efficiency through technology.
- The patient has a louder and louder voice, and rightly so. The patient should be the center of attention. "Nothing About Me, Without Me"! Thanks to Denise and her crew for giving the patient such a major role at this conference.
And now a short video of clips from some speakers on their takeaway thoughts:
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