During last night’s #HCSM Twitter chat, the conversation began with what changed in healthcare social media during 2013. What I particularly noticed was the shift from including ethics and bioethics in broader Twitter conversations (on health, medicine, policy development, palliative medicine, and so forth) to Twitter chats explicitly focused on bioethics.
RT @pfanderson I love way the #bioethx chat has taken off on Twitter. I think that's a valuable aspect & needed innovation in #hcsm this yr
— Einstein Coll of Med (@EinsteinMed) January 6, 2014
I’m particularly impressed that the #BIOETHX chat was just founded in October of last year and has rapidly become one of the “always-trending” influential hashtags in healthcare on Twitter. The most recent #BIOETHX chat was on sexuality and gender, with prior chats on research ethics, competence & decision-making, CAM, disability ethics, and medical disclosure. They meet at 8:30PM Eastern Time for their weekly Twitter chats, so please drop in tonight for their chat on brain death.
In light of recent news stories, tmrw's #bioethx chat 2 discuss #Coma, #PVS, & #BrainDeath.
#EOL #EndOfLife #Health #bioethics #JahiMcMath
— @BioethxChat (@BioethxChat) January 6, 2014
On a related note, the medical librarians community this year founded another Twitter chat on a related topic – healthcare disparities (#MLAdisparities), for which the inaugural topic in December was implicit bias. In today’s post, I’d like to highlight tweets from these two hashtags as an indication of the growing maturity of Twitter for discussing the hard issues in healthcare.
BIOETHICS / #BIOETHX
T1: Pts dont hav right 2 demand race/ethnicity of doc. Shld b able 2 demand gender/sexuality? Only female gyn? Only str8 urologist? #bioethx
— @BioethxChat (@BioethxChat) December 24, 2013
@YinkaVidal @BioethxChat I just Q practicallity of letting ppl choose & also if this makes HC sytem accomplices 2 sexism/racism etc #bioethx
— Jennifer Chevinsky (@jchevinsky) December 24, 2013
@YinkaVidal Why is this an acceptable venue for discrimination? Should docs then be able to refuse patients on same grounds? #bioethx
— Jack Brackney (@YMFriday) December 24, 2013
T2: 11 yr old female wants to start transformations to male – should HCP tell to wait? Give hormone tx? Provide surgery? #bioethx
— @BioethxChat (@BioethxChat) December 24, 2013
T3: unethical for parents or docs? Regardless, ALL will have to 'live with' decision FOREVER. How to decide what's 'best'? #bioethx
— Laronica Conway (@louisianagirl91) December 24, 2013
CT: Our responsibility to become familiar w terms when we can – #transgender #transexual #intersex #indeterminate etc…! #bioethx
— Jennifer Chevinsky (@jchevinsky) December 24, 2013
@jchevinsky @CancerGeek @subatomicdoc #Bioethx Jen. Qn #3 is reason I made those definitions. We tend to confuse gender roles with anatomy
— Yinka Vidal (@YinkaVidal) December 24, 2013
CT: Sexuality & identity is a personal one on one dialogue that needs to occur. Its the total pt story that matters in care. #bioethx
— CancerGeek (@CancerGeek) December 24, 2013
A3 Many countries are shifting culture, ie. gender neutral pronoun 'hen' in Sweden, means neither he nor he. Accept all in between #bioethx
— Jen Romnes (@jenromnes) December 24, 2013
T3 Germany has made an 'indeterminate' category… and is trying to fight descrimination ag this group. interesting stuff. #bioethx
— Jennifer Chevinsky (@jchevinsky) December 24, 2013
T3 – @yinkavidal @cancergeek …found a wiki on transgender vs intersex. can't vouch for it tho. http://t.co/yDsuRp8kc2
— Jennifer Chevinsky (@jchevinsky) December 24, 2013
@jchevinsky @YinkaVidal @CancerGeek I can't vouch for all articles but here are series on PubMed: http://t.co/WXMjXex3Ix #bioethx
— Matthew Katz (@subatomicdoc) December 24, 2013
BIAS / IMPLICIT BIAS / #MLADISPARITIES
To understand our own implicit biases, the IAT, or Implicit Association Test is helpful to take: http://t.co/YAkUjuAC6K #mladisparities
— Patricia J. Devine (@pat_devine) December 5, 2013
implicit bias and unconscious stereotyping are a tough nut to crack. Clinicians feel defensive; it's hard to talk about it. #mladisparities
— Jim Anderson (@jimeddypa) December 5, 2013
This definitely is a topic for us, I have done searches related to cultural competency on this @minorityhealth #mladisparities
— Faye Williams (@RFDW) December 5, 2013
report was released this week, theorizing that #healthdisparities can be eliminated in a generation: http://t.co/7Or3jISeOg #mladisparities
— Patricia J. Devine (@pat_devine) December 5, 2013
That study Pat doesn't mention unequal treatment, it just focuses on access. Access is not enough. #mladisparities
— Jim Anderson (@jimeddypa) December 5, 2013
implict bias is missing link. We can talk access til cows come home, but pts w/access still get unequal care based on race. #mladisparities
— Jim Anderson (@jimeddypa) December 5, 2013
We are committed to identifying, eliminating disparities with resources, CME for all providers #mladisparities http://t.co/a6gALsrWHC
— AAPA (@AAPAorg) December 5, 2013
@AAPAorg That looks like a great resource! one of the things librarians do is provide CME + partner with providers to teach #mladisparities
— Patricia J. Devine (@pat_devine) December 5, 2013
MeSH is behind on this topic. Other keywords which relate are implicit racism / cultural bias / unconscious bias. #mladisparities
— Faye Williams (@RFDW) December 5, 2013
CME: Heads Up! Implicit Bias, Unconscious Stereotyping and Racial Disparities in Care: http://t.co/OWJwPRgxqc #mladisparities
— AAPA (@AAPAorg) December 5, 2013
I will put links to all of these resources on the MLA Health Disparities SIG Blog: http://t.co/9I4NiWtJck and tweet it out. #mladisparities
— Patricia J. Devine (@pat_devine) December 5, 2013
First posted at THL Blog: http://thlibrary.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/bioethics-bias-hashtags-of-the-week-hotw-week-of-january-6-2014/
Emerging Technologies Librarian 