I think I may have just found the coolest most forward thinking medical conference, ever: Stanford’s Medicine X conference. If you are not familiar, here’s a very small preview of what this conference is all about:
“Medicine X is about the future of medicine and health care. It is about how social media and information technology will change the way doctors & patients work together to improve health.”
This conference is everything I want to be a part of in the health care movement, and I plan on attending next year. The concept, driven by executive director Dr. Larry Chu, Assistant Professor of Anesthesia and The Stanford AIM lab, serves to examine possibilities in health care. The “X” represents undiscovered possibilities in health care delivery, and is meant as a symbol that there are healthcare solutions yet to be found, beyond trends and numbers.
The conference included speakers, attendees and participants like The Society for Participatory Medicine, e-Patients.net, and IDEO. It’s no surprise to me that IDEO’s Dennis Boyle was a speaker at Medicine X. He is a founding member and a General Partner, Health and Wellness Practice, at IDEO. IDEO is a firm that specializes in design and innovation. It’s an innovation industry leader, fundamentally changing the way that businesses operate, and has a big hand in improving the delivery of healthcare. If it’s possible to have a crush on a company, then IDEO is mine.
I would encourage you to visit the Medicine X website, watch some of the videos from the conference, and follow on twitter @StanfordMedX. It’s encouraging and exciting to see such a focus on the ways that social media and information technology will change healthcare. In addition, the focus on the partnership between physicians, patients and technology is exciting. Open access to information and learning how to leverage all the new tools that are available to us is so important to the patient experience. Leveraging these technologies and fostering patient/provider relationships will lead to better patient outcomes, and better overall care.
Related articles
- Stanford Medicine X: Reflections on Day 2 (thebiopsy.wordpress.com)
- MedX Conference Ignites Passion to Change the (Healthcare) World (diabetesmine.com)
- Will “Partnership” Meeting Propel Mass Movement? (thehealthcareblog.com)
- 9 e-patients and supporters to follow on Twitter (medcitynews.com)
- Stanford Medicine X: Closing Thoughts (thebiopsy.wordpress.com)
- HealthCare Social Media Review #11 (thehealthcaremarketer.wordpress.com)
PUGTATO 
WOW. This is great. I’ll have to check out Medicine X as well. I just became a patient advocate after being in the pharmaceutical industry for 10+ years. This is the kind of stuff I love hearing about.
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I’m really interested in learning how you did that- I saw some 1 yr programs that you can do to get certified. Love to hear about your experience.
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I actually sort of fell into it after many years of helping friends and family with various medical crises. But you don’t actually need any professional certification, as there isn’t any national organization that grants it, and it’s not required in order to become an advocate (the places that offer courses will tell you otherwise, of course). Training is helpful if you don’t have any medical knowledge or background, or if you really have no experience with doctors and hospitals, procedures, etc. Otherwise save your money!
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Excellent! Saved money = happy me!
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Very Interesting stuff!!!
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