I heard it through the grapevine-2 (Musings on the value of Twitter)

In 2019 I wrote a blog promoting Twitter for TM professionals and for July's blog, I'll do a second one.
The blog's title derives from 1966 ditty recorded by Marvin Gaye and later Creedence Clearwater Revival.  

INTRODUCTION
To me far too few transfusion professionals are on Twitter, including medical laboratory technologists, nurses, and physicians. Many reasons, including Facebook preceded Twitter and Twitter tends to have a poor reputation in general. Today Facebook has an even worse reputation but if you're on it, you may value how it keeps you in touch with pals and family. 

In my experience TM folks on Twitter are a different breed. They want to share resources and expertise and, if you want to engage in continuing professionals education, Twitter is a wonderful free resource. Questions can be asked and answered by experts. Also Twitter is international. Based on my Twitter account (Further Reading), experts from Australia, Canada, UK, USA, and professionals from many nations in Africa and Asia participate. Glad to report that some Canadian medical laboratory technologists are on Twitter.

UNDERSTANDING TWITTER (from earlier blog)
First, Signing up on Twitter is easy 
Tidbits (Twitter 101):

• Language: Twitter is the software platform. You are a tweep. When you post a message, it's called a tweet. 
• If not on Twitter when accessing a tweet and asked to join, just click on another part of the screen and you can see direct tweets. 
• Be aware you don't need to tweet. Just as on mailing lists, you can lurk.  
• By being on Twitter you can see the replies given by tweeps to other tweeps. If not, you can see only their direct tweets (not replies). 
• Twitter gives you quicker access to important professional events and issues, allows you to share resources with colleagues.  
• As a citizen Twitter is the place to be because you get news about anything well before it appears on mainstream media, e.g., disasters, latest weather, political events. All media and reporters are on Twitter.
• Twitter hashtags are key (Further Reading) For example, they can be used to identify who to follow. And you can also see who others follow for more suggestions.

Learning Point: If you are a transfusion professional in any capacity, please consider joining Twitter. You won't be disappointed. Look at my account to see who I follow, many transfusion experts from all over the world, well known experts.

As always, comments are most welcome.

FOR FUN
Chose this ditty because Twitter is a good grapevine to keep up with the latest transfusion medicine news.

• I Heard it Through The Grapevine (CCR)
• I Heard it through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye, live at Montreux) 

FURTHER READING

• Gardner JM, McKee PH. Social media use for pathologists of all ages. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2019 Mar;143(3):282-6.
• Twitter hashtags (one pertinent to this blog is #transfusion)
• My current transfusion-related Twitter account: @oldbloodbanker 

I heard it through the grapevine (Musings on value of Twitter)

The idea for March's blog was stimulated by 'Social media use for pathologists of all ages' (Further Reading). The article begins as follows:

Pathologists have shown an increasing acceptance of professional social media use in recent years. There are currently more than 4700 pathologists and pathology-related accounts on Twitter per an online list maintained by one of the authors.

Based on personal experience, my guess is that few medical laboratory technologists are on Twitter, especially those working in transfusion. Perhaps because it came after Facebook (founded 2004), Twitter (founded 2006) is a mystery to many. Find that sad but understand why. Blogged on Twitter before (Further Reading). 

Back in 1994 I founded a mailing list (MEDLAB-L),early social media. Delighted that many med lab technologists and physicians from all over the globe subscribed.  
Blog's title derives from 1966 ditty recorded by Marvin Gaye and later Creedence Clearwater Revival. 

UNDERSTANDING TWITTER
Signing up on Twitter is easy. Tidbits:

• Language: Twitter is the software platform. You are a tweep. When you post a message, it's a tweet. 

• If not on Twitter when accessing a tweet and asked to join, just click on another part of the screen and you can see direct tweets. 

• Be aware you don't need to tweet. Just as on earlier mailing lists, you can lurk.  

• By being on Twitter you can see the replies given by tweeps to other tweeps. If not, you can see only their direct tweets (not replies). 

• Twitter gives you quicker access to important professional events and issues, allows you to share resources with colleagues.  

• As a citizen Twitter is the place to be because you get news about anything well before it appears on mainstream media, e.g., disasters, latest weather, political events. All media and reporters are on Twitter.

• Twitter hashtags are key (Further Reading) For example, they can be used to identify who to follow. And you can also see who others follow for more suggestions.

As always, comments are most welcome.

FOR FUN
Chose this ditty because Twitter is a good grapevine,

• I Heard it Through The Grapevine (CCR)

• I Heard it through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye, live at Montreux) 

FURTHER READING
Gardner JM, McKee PH. Social media use for pathologists of all ages. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2019 Mar;143(3):282-6.

Twitter hashtags | Transfusion hashtag

My Twitter accounts

• Transfusion: oldbloodbanker
• Politics: bogeywheels 
• Footie (soccer): eurofutball

Take chance on me (Musings on transfusion professionals collaborating)

Stay tuned: Revisions will occur

February's blog was stimulated by the planned transition of an informal mailing list of Canada's Transfusion Safety Officers (TSOs) to the CSTM website. I've been the list manager and moderator since the list ('transfusion')  was created in 2000. The blog is shorter than usual, which is likely a good thing.

As part of the move, we did a survey of 'transfusion' subscribers, many of whom do not have the job title of TSO, but perform many of the same functions. Historically, mainly for financial reasons, most subscribers are Canadian but we've had a few foreign subscribers, including ones from Ireland, Switzerland, UK, and USA.

What is this blog about and why might you want to read it? Many other transfusion-related communication mechanisms (workshops,conferences) exist but today it's often electronic communication, such as websites with discussion forums. In transfusion medicine, PathLabTalk comes to mind, whose BloodBankTalk participants are mainly USA and UK medical laboratory technologists / medical lab scientists. 

Similarly, professional associations like AABB and BBTS offer discussion forums and my experience is that most posts are by technologists.

In contrast, Canada's TSO list includes medical laboratory technologists and transfusion nurses, including blood conservation nurses, and even a few physicians.

That's a huge advantage because transfusion service laboratories and nurses who administer blood transfusion really do need to learn more about each other and appreciate the role each plays.

The blog's title derives from a 1978 ditty by Sweden's ABBA.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
For decades I've been privy to the views that med lab techs/scientists have on nurses, based on anecdotal experience in hospital transfusion services.

Common themes (misconceptions?) are that RNs do NOT

• Understand quality control procedures and lack competence to do Point of Care Testing (POCT)
• Truly dig the importance of patient identity and understand what can go wrong. Hence they're not that concerned if patient identities on specimen labels do not EXACTLY match those on blood transfusion requisitions, because, hey, they took that sample and know it's the patient.  Hence they think the lab is being anal-retentive on what they see as minor. 

It's possible that nurses have views of their colleagues in transfusion laboratories that are not always complimentary and may be based on sterotypes. I'd love to hear some. 

PARTICIPATION
Transfusion nurses have come relatively late to transfusion organizations. But physicians have belonged for ages, indeed from the get-go. They tend to dominate proceedings as evidenced by talks at annual meetings.

Yet few physicians participate in transfusion lists and forums, or on Twitter. Why not? My guess is that some think of social media such as forums, lists, and Twitter as beneath them. Perhaps some can't be bothered to interact with the hoi polloi, meaning lab techs and nurses or is that too harsh? 

Or, unlike the laboratory and nursing trench workers of the transfusion community, most physicians are too busy (can't bother?) to talk to anyone but other physicians, and only at medical rounds, conferences, etc.? Please advise. 

Three Transfusion Pros Walked Into A Bar
To illustrate my point about stereotypes among transfusion professionals, I created a joke. Yes, it's satire with a smidgen of truth.

A female doctor, medical lab technologist, and a nurse walked into the bar. Oh, great said the bartender, we have a contest tonight and you are just the ones to play it. Out came 2 glasses and the bartender said, 'Guess which one is British and which is Canadian.'

The doctor considered herself a beer aficionado and passed on asking the age and history of the brews. Feeling more knowledgeable than her colleagues, and somewhat infallible, as she often did at work, she immediately stated, based on her gut feeling: Pale lager is Canadian, dark is British.

Canada

Britain

The nurse took and recorded the vital signs, including colour and temperature. She recalled Canadian beer was more likely to be pale yellow and served cooler and that Britain had dark ales. Her guess was the same as the doctor's: Pale lager is Canadian, dark is British.

The lab tech asked if a historical record existed of the samples in the glasses and which bottles they came from, and then demanded it. When told that would be cheating, the technologist replied, 'Sorry, we in the lab don't guess about identity.'

Correct identity thanks to the lab technologist (You knew this was coming):

Canada

Britain

BOTTOM LINE
If only med lab techs/scientists, nurses, and physicians could get to know each other better, transfusion medicine would be a better world. I've been lucky in Alberta, Canada, thanks to the Med Lab Sci program at University of Alberta, to have taught several students who went on to become hematopathologists. Their lab background is a huge plus. 

And I know from the TSO 'transfusion' list that technologists and nurses have benefited from learning the issues and challenges each has.

For interest: In 1994 when the Internet became available at my workplace, I created a mailing list 'MEDLAB-L' for medical laboratory professionals of all disciplines. I could have gone with a transfusion list but am so glad to have opted to be inclusive. Over the years lab professionals (med lab technologists / scientists, PhD level scientists, and physicians) in all clinical labs have benefited from learning about each others' issues.

FOR FUN
The song I chose is a 1978 ditty by Sweden's iconic ABBA. It's meant to say to nurses and med lab techs and physicians to talk to each other on social media, break down stereotypes, trust each other, because we're all in this together.

• Take a chance on me (ABBA)

As always, comments are most welcome.

I heard it through the grapevine (Musings on transfusion professionals & Twitter)

Significant additions in green below: 12 September, 2012
'What is Twitter and why should I care'
'Examples of fun ways to use Twitter at a conference'
`````````````````````

This month's blog is about an item on my wish list:

• That more transfusion professionals get involved with social media, specifically with Twitter. 

It's not a request for professionals to join Facebook (which many already have for personal reasons), as FB is too into selling its users to advertisers. I'm not a fan of FB as those who read my tweets will know, as shown by this blog:

• Twitter trumps Facebook

The blog's title is from a great pub song by Creedence Clearwater Revival, I heard it through the grapevine.

I'm a Twitter fan and currently have multiple accounts, including

@transfusionnews | @bogeywheels | @eurofutball 

More specifically, the blog is a plea for transfusion service entities* to create a twitter account to share news, initiatives, innovations, thoughts about anything transfusion-related.

* Laboratories - individual or regional labs, preferably the former
* Canada's provincial blood offices or equivalent
* Transfusion professionals (docs, nurses, technologists, recruiters, you name it)

Twitter, created by the guys who created blogger, functions as a grapevine and is a great way, perhaps the best way, to learn quickly about 'what's happening'. For example:

• Watching the recent Republican and Democratic conventions on television was a blast, significantly enhanced by following tweets in real time on Twitter. I've interacted with journalists from the CBC, Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Star and and others I'd never talk to in real life. 
• When my favorite UK Premier League team Chelsea plays, it's great fun to participate via Twitter. I'm exposed to many opinions and learn much about the niceties of football (soccer in NA). Reading the tweets of players adds another dimension.
• Those followed with @transfusionnews regularly post health, laboratory, and transfusion news I'm interested in, and often before it appears in local papers. 

If you're a news junkie, as I am, Twitter cannot be beat. As Number 5 from the movie Short Circuit said, Input, more input! 

See Twitter's creator describe its beginning and many uses on TED.

Consider the possibilities for transfusion medicine. I'd love to learn in real time (or close to it)

• Current issues and concerns in local, regional, national, and international  transfusion services, unfiltered by the powers that be 
• What's on the minds of transfusion leaders and trench workers around the globe

And in the process, participate in the extended interactive conversations that Twitter facilitates.

The medium allows people to network beyond their normal social and professional spheres. It's an effective way to connect with people who share your interests.

Similarly, professionals can alert others to web and other resources that can be shared. See my favorite sharing pic.

Yes, I know, 140 characters is limiting. But it's amazing how the need for brevity focuses the mind. And you can always link to photos and existing web-based resources.

If you're into censoring staff and worried about your corporate image, Twitter is probably not for you, at least not without spending time and effort to filter posts through the corporate mindset.

But why not be loosey-goosey, instead of anal-retentive, and credit staff with judgement? 

• All it takes is to develop a few guidelines on what can be posted without being vetted. 
• If staff make life and death decisions, surely they can tweet about a technical or clinical problem or ask for advice on what others do or share a resource without corporate approval. 

Many Internet-based  resources exist to help us in our work, inc. e-mail, mailing lists, and web-based forums. Twitter is another that currently is under-used.

MUSINGS

Will Twitter be adopted by transfusion professionals anytime soon? I doubt it. Obstacles are many, including

• Internet skills and fears of some (not all) transfusion professionals;
• Over-arching control by organizations that want to control an employee's every move;
• Twitter, a newcomer to social media, is not yet widely adopted by all those who initially embraced Facebook;
• Belief that social media is fluff, not serious;
• Elitist tendency to debunk anything that is not evidence based and preferably proven by a RCT;
• Reluctance to participate, based on view that participating is not worthwhile and has a poor ROI (return on investment);
• Too busy, the current all-purpose excuse for not doing anything (even continuing education) beyond meeting basic job duties.

It's easy to join Twitter. You can lurk (as most do on mailing lists) and participate as the mood strikes. 

Please consider giving it a try. For those unfamiliar with Twitter (added 12 Sept. 2012):


What is Twitter and why should I care?

In brief, Twitter is a service (mini-blog) to post text messages of 140 characters or less and share information with many people. The idea is to create groups of people ("followers") who are interested in a given topic, indeed any topic, whether it be politics, football, or transfusion medicine.

Message can be just text or include one or more links to websites. You can also add an image.

You can read the posts of Twitter users without joining but you need to know their Twitter names or addresses, e.g., @transfusionnews (http://twitter.com/transfusionnews)

The way to use Twitter effectively is to create an account and "follow" your favorite users for the latest news of interest.

How Twitter works: Your messages (if you make any) - called tweets - show up on your main Twitter page ('profile' or home page). If other users, (nicknamed tweeps) "follow" you by clicking the Follow button on your page, your messages will show up on their home pages.

Conversely, if you "follow" another user, their messages show up on your page. That way, when you login to your Twitter page, you can see tweets from many users at once. You only follow those who post things you're interested in, and you can un-follow someone at any time.

The way to group messages on a given topic, and allow people to find them, is to place a hashtag (#) directly before relevant keyword or topic. For example, you could use #transfusion to help others find transfusion-related posts:

Interesting case study on a student error in a #transfusion service lab resulting in a hemolytic reaction and death http://goo.gl/OjCP5

Examples of fun ways to use Twitter at a conference:

• If it had existed at the 2002 ISBT World Congress in Vancouver: I'd have loved to tweet on which exhibitors had the best hot hors d'oeuvres or where the best inexpensive breakfast could be found at a diner near the convention centre.
• Exhibitors could tweet on the freebees they offered at their booths, the kind of loot that rabble like me like to gather as mementos.  Maybe it could stimulate even better swag to be on offer?
• The hashtag #nobgnosh could be used to identify in real time which 'notable nobs' were lining up with which exhibitors and where for the ubiquitous free dinners for clients and which restaurants were on offer. Hmmm. Who did I know well enough to I tag long with? Did I want to gnosh Chinese, Italian, or East Indian and with whom? Choices, choices....
• Those of us arriving late for the first sessions of the morning (hey, it happens) could be helped if those inside sessions could tweet on which talks still had seats available. As someone unable to stand in one place for long, this would be a godsend. 
• Would be fun to tweet in real time about a speaker's presentation. The talk and speaker could be exemplary, but here's an example of another type seen all too often at major conferences, e.g., for hypothetical Speaker "A', a way to keep awake: 

• OMG. He's reading every word on his PPT slides and the bullets are complete sentences. 

• Never saw so many words on a slide before. LOL 

• Can't believe he just said, 'I apologize for this slide. I know it's hard to read.'

• That's the 18th time he's said, "Okay" softly under his breath and still 20 mins. to go. Only 10 "ums' so far. Ringing bells!

• Would be neat if in a central area or two, there could be large screens with relevant tweets for all to read, e.g., last minute change of venue, which local tours are still open. The possibilities are endless.

More and more people and organizations use Twitter, which only started in 2006 and now has 100s of millions of users. Even diplomats do it: Twiplomacy 

To discover more on Twitter and how to sign up, search for "how to use twitter".

FOR FUN
Enjoy these songs, circa 1970, from legends of the era:

• I heard it through the grapevine (Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970) A great pub song, perhaps trumped only by
• Proud Mary (CCR, 1969)

Love Tina's version at Rio de Janeiro concert (part of her 1988 Break Every Rule tour) with over 180,000 spectators, one of the largest concerts ever:

• Proud Mary (Tina Turner, 1988 - 1st 'covered' in 1970 with her then husband, Ike Turner)

As always the ideas are mine alone. Comments are most welcome, BUT, due to excessive spam, please e-mail me personally or use the address in the newsletter notice. Be sure to read those below.

Wasted Days & Wasted Nights? (Musings on transfusion professionals use of the Internet)

This month's blog muses on whether the Internet for health professionals is over-hyped. I'm particularly suspicious of applications that are meant to be interactive, not just users passively consuming information provided by others. 


Today's Internet is presumably about the interactive sharing of experiences that supposedly happens on blogs like this one, as well as on discussion forums and mailing lists. 


The blog's title comes from a 1959 song by Freddy Fender.


Based on my experience, Internet users  - meaning you - are definitely passive. Me too when visiting other blogs but I try to participate, at least occasionally, since working in cyberspace is a lot like this cartoon illustrates.

EXAMPLES - INTERACTIVE RESOURCES


1. Musings on Transfusion Medicine: This blog is written just for fun. A review of comments made on earlier blogs reveals very few, and mainly by kind-hearted colleagues who take pity on a friend. (Bringing out a big hanky now....)


Even the controversial blogs specifically designed to stimulate thinking get few, if any, comments, e.g., the last two on bullying and calling Canada's blood supplier vain. Yet, 1000s of transfusion professionals know about the blog via TraQ's monthly newsletter.


2. AABB's "Communities" open to members only (previously AABB forums): Just took a look and there's little activity and often by the same people. Why? AABB  has 1000s of members.


3. Canada's Transfusion Safety Officer "transfusion" mailing list: 200+ subscribers but few post questions.


4. CBBS e-Network Forum: Over the past year, discussion on e-Network Forum, a truly quality resource, has decreased significantly. 


Also, there's a request for new Associate Editor/Moderators, which suggests that long-time editor and founder Ira Shulman may have retired or is about to. 


5. BloodBankTalk - BB Talk is an active discussion group based in the USA. Unfortunately, participation is limited to a core of contributors, including an active UK contingent, whose contributions are uniformly of high quality.


OTHERS? If other web-based forums or mailing lists exist for transfusion medicine physicians or nurses, I'm unaware of them. Why don't they exist?


WHY THE LACK OF PARTICIPATION?
About mailing lists and web-based discussion forums, many possible reasons exist for the lack of participation. Some of the most obvious include


1. Too busy to use Internet resources for work purposes (most health professionals are stretched to the max). But we still spend time on Facebook, on conducting marginally productive Internet searches, on watching sports, and the like.


2. Fear of revealing weakness about not knowing. I suspect this is a biggie. Some may feel embarrassed to request help, thinking, "I should know this." Others may feel their employers may not appreciate an external request for advice.


3. Prefer to network privately since it offers more privacy and less risk of public exposure.


4. Distrust of sources whose qualifications and experience may be uncertain (even though many acknowledged experts now offer help via the Internet).


5. Lack of confidence in computer skills to use Internet effectively (perhaps more prevalent in older professionals?).


6. Boring content, not stimulating enough interest to participate.


If you can suggest other reasons, please add them in a comment below.


So the question arises, "Is today's Internet past its prime as a mechanism to ask and answer questions and participate in as a community?"  


FOR FUN


As I muse about why the silence, the song that comes to mind from a personal perspective is 

• Wasted Days and Wasted Nights (Freddy Fender, Rotterdam, 1979)

If you read this blog, please suggest topics to cover, keeping in mind that content should appeal to technologists, nurses, and physicians working in transfusion medicine. Controversy is okay and ideally should be food for thought. 

• From me to you (Beatles ditty)

As always, comments are most welcome BUT, due to excessive spam, please e-mail me personally or use the address in the newsletter notice.