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Susan Carr
In this first posting to the PSQH blog, I invite readers to contribute suggestions and essays to what I expect to be a lively forum of news and ideas about safety and quality improvement. When we launched PSQH in late 2004, we wanted the magazine to provide more than a one-way transmission of information, and now the Internet offers some of the best vehicles for that kind of exchange.
Similar to the articles we publish in the print edition of the magazine, the PSQH blog will represent the wide variety of professions and medical specialties that contribute to improving the safety and quality of healthcare. On the website and blog, we will be able to offer material that expands on what we offer in print, either in different media or in length and tone (as is true of the video link provided in our second story, “HITECH Interoperetta”).
Over the past year or so, I’ve added blogs and — more recently — Twitter to my daily sources of information, and find myself cast in a different relationship to the content. Blogs invite interaction. While Twitter is a good source of information, it is primarily and most effectively a communication tool. Many things I’ve enjoyed or relied on as a listener or observer now ask me to participate, often with opportunities online. I’ve been writing about Participatory Medicine, which is another way that new roles and responsibilities are springing up around us.
This brings back a vivid memory. I was in my kitchen listening to the radio when the legendary folk singer with the unmistakable voice seemed to speak directly to me. “How dare you hide your light?!” I have experienced how rewarding it is to participate and contribute, but I often wrestle with my natural reticence when preparing to speak or act publicly. What can I contribute that will be worthwhile to others? Odetta’s reproach is a motivating reminder that participation is as much a responsibility as it is a privilege.
I know it’s daunting to find the time to participate actively in all of things that interest each of us. I hope some of you, however, will join in the discussion with a comment or original contribution to this blog, with an active Twitter account of your own, or with a manuscript submitted to PSQH for the bi-monthly print edition.
The urgency of our national debate about healthcare in the United States brings Odetta’s challenge freshly to mind: How dare any one of us hide our light?
Submit suggestions and manuscripts for review and publication — print or online — to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. Follow me on behalf of PSQH at www.twitter.com/SusanCarr.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 11 June 2009 19:45 |
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