Christina's Considerations

Health 2.0: Social Media Book for Administrators

I'm on jury duty and missing the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco and wish all of the attendees stimulating conversation and a great conference!

As an update, my book on use of social media in healthcare is undergoing a round of revisions now that it is in production.  The book provides an overview of the various forms of social media and social networking tools and their application in healthcare environments and offers a review of best practices from around the US.  It will be published by Health Administration Press and is necessary reading for any hospital administrator and others in the C-suite.

If you want to learn more, feel free to leave a comment or contact me via email

What Ails Louisiana - the State's top 10 health problems!

My Louisiana Life magazine arrived and I found a really interesting article that addresses one of the issues I've noticed during my trips home over the last several years.  I've noticed that people tend to be much larger than those I see here along the Central Coast of California or remember from my life in the Great State between the 1960's and 1989.

What Ails Louisiana uses the literary figure Ignatius J. Reilly from the wonderful novel A Confederacy of Dunces for comparison with today's obese and to describe metabolic syndrome and related conditions.  It is worthy reading whether you live in Louisiana -- or not!

Physicians in History

The history of medicine is fascinating to me, so the WSJ post on the doctors who signed the declaration of independence was a nice find. 

Just in case you are interested, my favorite book on this topic is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr.

My latest evening with divers!

One of the diversions in my life, is commercial diving and all that is connected with work in the depths of the oceans of the world.  It is a welcomed diversion, because it allows me to learn and see things which are alien to my own work in hospitals.  It gives me a chance to forget about what is familiar and be amazed by people who work in a very different profession and environment.

Earlier this week I ran into Chris Swann at a small gathering at Lad's Pad to introduce the editor of a new magazine, Offshore Diver, to some of the industry's pioneers.  It was a chance for these giants of the early commerical diving world to learn about the editor and his vision for the new magazine.

Chris and I met a couple of years ago at another diving gathering and discussed both of our efforts to publish our books.  His new book is the  History of Oilfield Diving: An Industrial Adventure took 13 years to complete.  In over 800 pages, it defines the era when commercial diving moved from relatively shallow water to depths never before thought possible!

I've heard many of the stories, but look forward to reading Chris' book.  Unfortunately, it isn't out on audio, so it may take a while!

Congratulations, Chris!

My Voice

I'm reading (listening to) the 8th Habit by Stephen Covey and finding my voice!  I just finished Soilder about Colin Powel and we share some common threads!

Avoid Getting Infected

Perhaps it is my role as Safety Officer or Chair of the Environment of Care at my hospital, or the fact that I just finished the compelling book The Great Influenza.  Anyway, I came across an article in the AARP Bulletin on dirty hospitals.  It includes information on how we (patients) can avoid getting infected.

I truly believe hospitals, patients and physicians need to work together to reduce infections!

Oh, and you can thank my 93 year old mother-in-law for sharing her AARP bulletin with me!