This may come as a surprise to some of you, but it is highly likely that at this very moment your surgical skills and patient outcomes are being discussed online. Patient review sites are quite common nowadays and not only do your current patients use them, but potential patients often do too.

 

The internet has been a game changer in the medical referral industry. “Studies show that 72% of internet users go online to find health information, and more than half of those search specifically for their physician,” says Susan Gay, former Vicepresident / Publisher Clinical Medicine with Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (Wolters Kluwer Health) and co-author of

Establishing, Managing, and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices.

 

Patients want to know

Patients are looking for a doctor’s credentials, experience and, sometimes, others’ opinions of a physician’s skills, knowledge and demeanor. Taking steps to manage your own professional reputation ensures you’re putting your best foot forward online.

There are three simple things you should be doing to ensure you are optimally managing the public’s exposure to, and perception of, your surgical experience and skills.

 

1. Control the information about you that is available by setting up online profiles yourself.
2. Manage your online ratings and reviews.
3. Google yourself regularly

 

 

 

1. Control the information about you that is available by setting up online profiles yourself.

“Be proactive and set up your own online profile to highlight your experience and qualifications,” Susan Gay recommends. “Even if a doctor is not taking new patients, they want to maintain their patient base. The more and better information a physician or surgeon can give a potential client, the more successful their practice will be in the long run.”

 

Use these portals to provide accurate information

Most patients will start looking for a doctor’s information online by using a search engine – usually Google. The first page of search results – and really, the first five or six links – are the ones most likely to be read. Here are a few simple ways to set up your own online profile.

 

• LinkedIn
• Google+ Local page
• Professional website and/or blog
• Facebook
• Videos

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LinkedIn

Essentially an online resume, a LinkedIn profile is a great way to highlight your professional credentials. Once your profile is set up, it is relatively maintenance-free, only requiring updates as you gain additional skills, education or change your practice.

 

 

Google+ Local page

Patients must be able to find your physical location easily, so ensure your practice information is available by setting up a Google+ Local business profile with your practice’s phone number, address and a map.

 

 

Professional website and/or blog

You can develop your own website easily and inexpensively (using programs such as WordPress or Page Penguin) that includes specific information about your professional background and your practice. Page Penguin specializes in medical practice websites and can include online appointment requests. Ask your patients for testimonials or reviews which you can then include on your site (ensuring their confidentiality).

 

 

Facebook

Setting up a Facebook page for your practice is a simple way to share information about your practice such as closings, staff changes, notices about flu vaccines or any other topics you’d like to share or discuss. It also allows patients to provide feedback to you directly.

 

 

Videos

Almost anyone with a mobile phone or a video camera can film a video, and surgeons who have the time and skills to do it themselves – or who are interested in spending a little more money and having it done professionally – can create short video clips explaining surgical procedures and post them to YouTube where they can also create their own channel. The benefit of doing so goes beyond developing one’s own professional profile. A study published in a 2012 issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons [1] found that patients who watched a preparation video before their operation reported less anxiety about the procedure, higher rates of satisfaction with the surgical experience, and less post-operative pain.

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2. Manage your online ratings and reviews

Another factor in the internet reputation game is review and rating sites for medical professionals. Studies show 44%  of patients consult online reviews of doctors. These sites are a means for patients to find information about their doctor such as credentials, office hours and location, but also allow consumers to rate doctors with a numerical score and provide feedback about their experience – good or bad.

Health information subscription site MedInfoNow’s blog suggests these four strategies to manage online reviews:

 

1. Respond to the complaint online

2. Ask patients to review your practice online

3. Identify patients who leave negative reviews and discuss it with them

4. Use your own website to include positive reviews and testimonials.

While almost half of patients look online for these ratings, only about 10%of patients will actually provide a review, says Susan Gay.

“Responding to ratings sites is a reactive step in managing your online profile,” says Gay, who urges physicians to proactively curate their own profiles first.

 

Some review sites, such as Healthgrades in the US, allow physicians to supply their own biographies, but doctors must sign an agreement allowing the company to use the information however they want. This means your profile may appear alongside advertisements for pharmaceuticals or other physicians.

 

Don’t engage with patients online

Many ratings sites allow physicians to respond to patient comments. Positive comments should be acknowledged with a general thank you, being careful not to identify the patient. If you do find a complaint about yourself on a ratings site, and you know who posted it, contact the patient directly to respond to their comments. “Never, ever get into an online argument with a patient,” says Susan. “It is easy to violate privacy laws and you will always end up looking bad.”

 

Most importantly, if a legitimate review reveals something about yourself or your practice that needs improving, act on it. Do your best to fix your mistakes or make changes to ensure mistakes don’t happen again. Your reputation depends on it.

 

 

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3. Google yourself regularly

Susan Gay recommends that doctors Google their own names about once a month. “Many doctors have Google-phobia because they don’t want to know what is being said about them, but it’s important to know which sites show up with your name on them,” she says.

 

The number of medical ratings and review sites is steadily growing, so it is futile to try to update or respond to every one.

 

Selectively respond to comments

“Respond to the ones that are going to be on the first page or two of a search,” Susan suggests.

 

Google has a support page dedicated to helping “control what people see when they search for you on Google.” They offer ways to remove personal information appearing on Google that you don’t want seen.

 

Google also offers Me on the Web, which you can set up to notify you when your personal data appears online. This option is accessed via your personal Google Dashboard.

 

Taking the time to read what your potential patients can access about you is just another smart business practice that is advisable in this modern age.

And isn’t it nice to know that you can maintain some control over what appears about you and your practice?

 

 

Reference

1. http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/02/01/health-topics-2/