Medbloggers include physicians, nurses, EMTs, trainees and even patients. So what makes medbloggers tick? And who are their readers, and what do they like about medbloggers writing? In the first Bloggercon, Jacob Rieder (the second medblogger ever) lead a discussion focusing on medical professionals and their issues with blogging. [real video stream] These ranged from using pseudonyms to limit liability and maintain confidentiality, assigning blogging as homework for med students, advertising, and CME (continuing education). The interesting thing was that those participating included many physicians, slanting the discussion towards our slice of the medical bloggosphere. This was reasonable at that time since those were the blogs most read then, and were mainly discussed by those within the profession, but times have changed.

Now, the three slices that have grown the most are those that are patient authored, patient oriented (grand rounds), diaries (mostly of medical students & residents). It seems that what has inspired recent writers are those themes common to other bloggers but applied to medicine, i.e. politics (presidential healthcare platforms), law (malpractice), current events (flu shot scarcity), and good 'ole personal diary writing (either patient authored or professionals). There are many reasons why we blog, but mostly, it's to release this fire in our bellies to have an outlet for our passions.

See the complete IT Conversations archives of sessions from Bloggercon III.