If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck then it probably is a duck...

After reading a few blogs written by Healthcare Professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.) on various topics I began to wonder most of the time when patients go to see Doctors and other Healthcare providers they really don't come to know what the doctors personal position might be on certain political and social hot topics.

In fact, for the most part patients are hustled from a larger waiting room to a smaller waiting room, see a doctor, a nurse practitioner or perhaps a physician's assistant and off they go. There is no time for "getting to know you". However, web blogs can change all of that - for good and bad.

For instance, let's consider one of the current hot topics such as Health Care Reform. Let's assume a health care practitioner has a blog that provides a social commentary on why he/she may feel that illegal immigrants (yes, a hot topic) are a drain on the health care system. Knowing this would our opinion of this healthcare provider's ability to provide unbiased professional service irrespective of their patient's ethnic make-up and their personal beliefs change. After all, healthcare practitioners are not in the business of immigration enforcement and nor are they qualified to discern legal from an illegal immigrant. That's not their job, but their web blog now takes the shape of their personal opinions which one might say have bearing on their professional life.

On the other hand, an healthcare practitioner, let's say for the sake of an argument an MD, may have a blog that goes over the benefits non-traditional medicine such as acupuncture, acupressure, etc. Now in this case, there are some patients who may welcome reading such a blog wherein they may feel the MD is open to other non-scientific interventions.

Of course, the above examples are an over-simplification for purposes of illustration. Never the less, they point to one basic element that is - people are either going to like or dislike you for your personal opinion and their personal opinion of you may taint their professional opinion of you as well.

As they say.....if it quacks like duck, looks like a duck then it probably is a duck