Search all of the Society for Participatory Medicine website:Search

For a couple of years I’ve been wondering when controversy and snark would hit this movement. Looks like it showed up this morning.

Today one of our members posted on our members-only email group:

I was on a phone call recently with some colleagues in health IT and I was intrigued to learn that some people monitor this group to assess the S4PM “brand” and that they were watching us “wash our dirty laundry in public”.

See, though I called the email group members-only, its archive is open to the public. A year or two back, the members voted for that, so people could hear our conversations about this new approach to care, without having to join. (Only members can post to the list, but the archive is public.)

So now, look how some people (reportedly) respond to this openness: they use it to “assess our brand” (as if we were a marketing organization), and they gossip that opening the dialog to public viewing is somehow grandstanding.

(It’s not like we broadcast it; you have to know where the archive is and go look at it from time to time. I can’t see how that’s “washing dirty laundry in public,” but that’s what we were told.)

I replied – and I mean it, because I think this is symptomatic of sickness in healthcare:

Okay – this one pushed my button, in what I hope will be a useful way, once people get past the “reaction” level:

What kind of flipping IDIOT would interpret an open, transparent process as “washing your dirty laundry in public”?

A classic paternal “we don’t need to change healthcare” idiot, that’s who. People who think it’s better to not let others know your thoughts.

(And yes, I know they’re reading this.)

Hey you-all out there, pardon my French, but why don’t you have the **lls to identify yourselves and participate in the conversation?  What’s your objective in covertly monitoring what we’re saying?

I often say in my speeches, it takes a particular kind of perversion to keep patients in the dark about medical knowledge and then insult how little they know. I think it takes another kind of perversion to hide and watch and giggle or sneer about what people are discussing.

So, you who are observing, “assessing our brand,” and snarking about our open process: you know who we are, and who’s saying what; since you have opinions you’re sharing with others, would you care to speak up? Replying here on this blog won’t require joining (which only costs $30/year).

Again, I’m taking the unusual step (which I’m sure some won’t like) of outing this conversation because I know crunch-time is coming in healthcare, and it’s time for people to spend their energies on useful conversations, not burning calories gossipping about what others are doing as they try to create change.

Speak up, y’all. Be empowered. Leave a comment.

 

 

Please consider supporting the Society by joining us today! Thank you.

Donate