We eagerly invite guest posts by members of our Society (not non-members), per the guidelines below.

Contact information

Blog curators: blog _at_ participatorymedicine.org
Volunteering: volunteer _at_ participatorymedicine.org
General information about our Society: info _at_ participatorymedicine.org
Our Society’s mailing address: http://participatorymedicine.org/about/contact-us/

Guest Posts by SPM Members

This page is about submitting posts for this blog. To instead submit an article to our Journal of Participatory Medicine, see the journal guidelines.

As the blog of the Society for Participatory Medicine, we write about participatory medicine. If you’re new to the subject, please familiarize yourself by reading through this blog, our Society’s site, and perhaps the Wikipedia page.

This blog exists to raise awareness of, and develop the public’s knowledge of, participatory medicine. We do not accept link exchanges, commercial posts, paid posts, ads, cross-posts for mutual promotion, posts about new treatments, or anything other than the above.

Scope and purpose

On this blog we hope to host discussions about the present and the future that will advance the cause of participatory medicine. Examples:

• Raise awareness of issues related to participatory medicine: the new world of engaged, empowered patients who network with each other and partner actively with their healthcare professionals – shifting “from being mere passengers to responsible drivers of their health.”
• Track the progress of participatory medicine – behavioral (e.g. Susannah Fox’s work at Pew Research), technical (as new tools and capabilities come online), cultural (on both the patient side and the professional side), and governmental.
• Provide patients (and others) with tools and information to help them be informed, empowered consumers of health information and services. Examples are our posts about understanding research, statistics, and journal articles.

Those are examples, not an exhaustive list.

These aren’t our only areas but we do have two particular categories for guest posts:

• “How I became an e-Patient.” Usually these are stories of awakening – a patient or family member realizing that they needed become engaged in healthcare, not just be a passive recipient. Ideally, tell the situation you were in, the crisis or moment of decision you faced, what you did when you got it in gear, the outcome, and how your view of the world has changed.
• “Why I Joined” the Society for Participatory Medicine. The purpose here is to let potential members see why you felt moved to join. Write to illuminate someone for whom this whole idea is new, who might think “What do you mean, patients as active partners to doctors??” Explain why you’re drawn to this new approach – what you see as newly possible.

Writer’s guidelines:

• Any word count is welcome, but remember that longer posts rarely get read to the end, so it makes your work as a writer more difficult. (Your job is to deliver value to our readers, which won’t happen if they don’t stay engaged.)
• Reading level of our posts range from grade level 8 to 10, per Microsoft Word’s Flesch-Kincaid score. (It’s easier for people to read if you avoid unnecessarily long words, long sentences, long paragraphs.) Simpler wording is always better.
• Good writing is good. It helps if you have an attention-earning lead, a well-formed middle, and a conclusion that concludes.
• “e-Patient takeaways” are sometimes important: what can readers learn from this? For examples, see the posts in this https://participatorymedicine.org/epatients/index.php?s=takeaway site search for “takeaways.”

To submit a post, write to the blog team at blogging at participatorymedicine.org. Expect an acknowledgement within 48 hours; if you don’t get one, ask again – we’re busy volunteers. And thanks!