Anyone who has been following The Medical Blog Network knows that we see blogging in the future of the medical practice (Physician Blogging: How to Get Results Worthy of Time & Effort).

With so many excellent medical blogs in existence it is easy to forget how far blogging is from the healthcare mainstream. A recent "flight interview" from The Diva Marketing Blog helps put things in perspective.

Toby is marketing blog consultant who sat on a plane next to a cardiologist who registered a strong dislike of all bloggy things:

When he learned that I was doing work in the blog the space, his immediate reaction was to tell me blogs were a waste of time ... nothing more than a bunch of rant opinions and oh by the way, people are getting fired for blogging and colleges are now demanding that students hand over their blogs to them. And who has time to write those things anyway forget reading them. Much too busy.

....

Said the doc, what would I write about? Why would I want to do that? All sorts of things, said I. Information about new happenings in the field, how to cope better, a little about you and your staff. And your patients can comment back to you. Since there are lots of docs and people have a choice who they can go to this would give you a competitive advantage. People would really appreciate who you are and understand what makes you different and special.

Sidebar: The good physician looked at me like I gone off the deep end. If he were a shrink I'm betting he would have made a referral before we deboarded.

I don't want to give them that information. There's too much on the internet already, the doc declared. Great opportunity to make sure they have correct information, I replied. But they don't need to know all that, he proclaimed. It would only confuse them. Besides there are not too many physicians, in fact there are not enough. And I'm too busy now. I don't need any more patients.

The old school doc volleyed a last remark, "I don't practice medicine that way". My volley back, "Perhaps you need to change the way you practice medicine. If I were you I'd keep on eye on blogs".

What to say here? Nice to be in a (sub-)specialty with a shortage and be practicing long enough to not worry about getting more patients. But even then should you really count out the competition?

What about the younger docs trying to establish themselves? What about primary care physicians dealing with more widespread and more general problems? Finally, attracting new patients aside, how about increasing efficiency (and profitability) of serving existing ones?

No doubt, blogging is not for every doctor and this practice is still nascent. But smart docs who care about their reputation will turn it to their benefit and get on the bandwagon early.

Nobody would say that keeping a curriculum vitae (CV) is a waste of time. But blogs is a "live" representation of a medical professional, selling them on the Internet 24/7. The new watchword is Blog-folio.

Once enough early adopters are onboard, a non-participation penalty will develop gradually. Especially as consumers move beyond looking up their conditions online and start relying on Internet to research and select doctors. Who would not want to take control of their reputation?

So watch out for healthcare consumers and purchasers. They will be key to broader acceptance of open media in healthcare.