I have just spent an interesting hour perusing various medical blogs. I think they fall into three categories.
The first category I would like to call “propaganda blogs”. These are trying to get patient referrals or sell some medically related product. One of them I felt was particularly dangerous–it featured a no-holds-barred endorsement and access to EDTA chelation therapy for vascular disease. This form of therapy is a hoax and has been totally and completely discredited. So, I would watch out for this pernicious blog.
The second species of medical blog was very personal (“social blogs”). These seemed to me to be some form of MD dating service containing personal descriptions of a variety of docs who apparently were hoping to establish contact with other docs.
The third kind of blog was the most serious. These medical blogs contained current medical news, cases for discussion, and, other medically relevant information (“professional blogs”). Some of these blogs were evidently supported by advertisements for a variety of consumer and medical products. A number of these “professional blogs” are related to professional societies and/or other journals like The American Journal of Medicine (AJM). The “professional blogs” were, I believe, seeking to inform and educate in a careful and balanced fashion. The personal or social blogs were aimed mostly at people connecting. I also observed that some of the people connecting blogs had medical and current political commentary.
My conclusion from this blog search is that each of the blogs contains different types of material appealing to doctors or other healthcare personnel at varying levels– some educational and some social. Our own AJM blog seeks to be a professional blog allowing interested docs and other healthcare workers to discuss AJM material that has been posted on the blog, as well as related research and other articles published in the AJM, but not necessarily on the blogsite itself. I look forward to blogging and discussing AJM material, medical research, and clinical practice with anyone interested in commenting here on the AJM blog.
Regards and best wishes for a healthy, happy, and safe 2009.
– Joseph Alpert, MD, editor-in-chief, AJM.
