What follows each new means of communication is a process of patient education on appropriate uses of this form of technology. I would give patients my mobile number with instructions “not to call me”—or, more precisely, to call only in an emergency. For nonemergent questions, they were to text me or e-mail. Facebook friendships are fine, but I do not do Facebook consults, just like I do not like to answer medical questions at a birthday party or grocery store. There will always be the extremely distressed person and, if a few words from me can set something in their life right—whether it is by e-mail, Facebook chat, or text message—I will make these exceptions. Although the new forms are communication are valuable, I really do not want to answer questions like this from a teenage patient of mine: “doc wat de med name? Plz tell m hom shd I go to? I jus heard dat de symptom…” Please, I have to tell my patients, I can answer questions only in a proper form of the language—and yes, I have drawn the line at Twittering!
What is next? I see a virtual “avatar” of myself taking online queries while I am on vacation on the planet Pandora! My computer-age almost-teenage sons, in the meantime, dream of growing limbs for people in petri dishes, replacing doctors with robots, and eliminating completely the process of speech as a form of communication.
Dr. Badsha is a rheumatologist trained at the University of California, Los Angeles and was a rheumatologist in Dedham, Mass., prior to moving to Dubai in 2005. She runs a rheumatology service as part of a musculoskeletal clinic and also blogs at Arthritis Dubai (http://humeirabadsha.blogspot.com).
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