I found the article “Community Relations 2.0” very entertaining to read, yet one that didn’t provide a lot of new information. My thought is that after reading a vast number of articles on this subject, which for all intent and purposes is relatively new and uncharted territory, it will be hard to find something groundbreaking in every reading – we are nearly done with the course (*tear*) and thus have done A LOT of reading.
One of the things that did jump out at me is one we’ve discussed before – the power shift from the “experts” to the “amateurs”. The article mentions an empowered patient that convinces his doctor of increasing his dose, based on the patient’s research and testimonials from other patients like him. While this seems reasonable, it does make wonder where the line stops. Physicians go through 10+ years of training, hard work, and schooling to become experts in their field, and all of a sudden patients who have no medical background can influence their decisions. Similarly, as we’ve discussed before, creative minds in agencies go through schooling and years of on-the-job blood, sweat and tears (trust me, I’ve seen it first hand), only to have a guy on the couch come up with something funny and have it become the next Superbowl ad. In fact, PepsiCo is planning SIX (seis, 6!!!) Superbowl ads this year and all of them will come from “ordinary” people with no advertising background. That blows my mind (at around $2.8 million per :30 ss, we’re talking that they’ll be spending nearly $17 million on ads created by someone like your neighbor…not that there’s anything wrong with your neighbor!). When I worked in advertising (for Frito-Lay actually!), we would go through at least 4 rounds of creative presentations and numerous rounds of testing before picking the one ad that would air. And here they are, turning over the reins to Joe Schmoe, spending $17 million on their creative work.
Ok. I’ll stop my ranting to ask the question(s) of the week – do you agree it’s all a bit crazy or is it just me? Where do you think the line will be drawn to separate experts from amateurs (is that even a possibility)? What industry do you think is most susceptible to falling prey to the expert amateur syndrome? Pick one, pick all or pose your own question!
I think your rants are definitely relevant and I agree with your concerns. I think that when lines become blurry between amateurs and professionals it can be scary. I think there is a real problem in the healthcare industry with patients thinking they know too much; however, I also think that transparency is a good thing. Doctors have a limited amount of time to make informed decisions due to a variety of factors including: the burden of too many patients and too few hospital beds. Unfortunately, we live in a society where healthcare is great, but it isn't perfect, and mistakes are made all the time, especially for those patients who aren't in as critical condition as others. Attorney's will use statutes from other cases to argue a case, but they have a lot of time to research these cases. Doctors don't have as much time to research the best cure or surgery. If patients have access to these databases and to information about their conditions, I think they can have more control over their treatments. Patients, in a sense, can act as assistants for overworked physicians. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteMaria,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that this seems a little bit nuts. Two of my cousins are going through med school now, and I think that with the amount of time they spend studying to become doctors, its hard to think that people are choosing to turn to amateurs before experts. I totally understand patients using sites like patientslikeme in order to find support and understand what others in their (or similar) shoes are doing about their condition, but I don't know if I would ever go so far as to diagnose myself if it is not something a doctor has found. It's true that doctors are humans too so they can make mistakes and miss things, but I think it would be better for patients to explore their options rather than try to diagnose themselves and make drastic decisions on their own. In regard to the advertising, I think that's insane. Although maybe people will be happy to see more familiar faces of normal individuals just like us. That reminds me of the movie 13 Going on 30 (not that anyone besides me has probably ever seen it), in which magazine editors decide to include average, every-day people on their front covers and throughout. It seems a little risky especially with such high costs involved with the Superbowl, but I guess you don't know until you try! I am interested to see how that works out
I agree with you Maria. In many instances it seems crazy to take the decision making process away from experts and hand it over to amateurs. However, when it involves healthcare it's particularly worrisome. Yes, the patient can use the internet to find theorized causes and cures and in some cases they are helpful to the doctor's final diagnosis and treatment decisions. But, in other cases they may provide distractions, misdiagnoses, and false hope. When it comes down to it you can always find the 1 in a million story of a patient diagnosing himself and proving the doctor wrong (because it makes a good article or blog post). However, no one ever talks about the millions of other times when the doctors prove the patient wrong. So, I would say go with what the doctor says. Do your own research if you must, but in most cases the expert will be your best choice.
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