Another Blogging Success Story

I got a new patient today. . .from India. He has been a devotee of Dr Schoor's Urology Blog, and is town on business. He has liked what he has read, and is coming to see me as a patient.

Cost to me: $0.00

Not Bad.

Beware: A Down-side of Blogging

If the up-side of blogging is the development of a web presence and all the good things that that brings, then the down-side of blogging is the development of a web presence with all the negatives that that brings. There are numerous ways that the web can cause head aches, just ask Flea. But aside from taking grief from what you write, when you become visible on the web, you become a target for all the crack-pots, hackers, and "lonelies" determined to do you harm.

Here's a question: What do Latvia, Microsoft, The Pentagon, Google, and Dr Schoor.com all have in common?

Answer: We've all been cyber-attacked.

Here is what happened to me yesterday. At ~3PM I went to check email and received ~100 mail demon messages, the ones that indicate undeliverable email messages. 3:15PM I checked email again, and ~100 more mail demon messages. 3:30PM, ~100 more. On so on and so on. By 8PM I had received well over one thousand such messages, from all over the world, in all languages. So many messages, in fact, that my server was tied up and sluggish and business was affected negatively. Finally, I called my ISP and learned that I had been "spoofed."

Spoofed! What does that mean? It involves taking over someones email "spf" protocol. Hence the term "spoofing" but in English, I learned, it involves commandeering a person email extension, such as @drschoor.com or @gmail.com etc, and, I guess for the fun of it, spamming the world with your email. Undeliverable messages--those without recipients--get bounced back to me with the notation "undeliverable massage" from mail demon or something similar. The spammer can use an automated program to send millions of spammed messages from YOU, and your server gets tied up with the junk mail that returns.

I have no idea what message the spammer sent using @drschoor.com.

Dr Schoor.com, cyber-attacked. Richard A Schoor MD, victimized. Yes victimized, that is how I feel. I have solved the problem and the messages are slowing down. All that is left to do now is to find the important messages mixed in with the mass of junk, hope that the spammed @drschoor.com message was not too offensive, and to file a police report. I hope the authorities catch the perpetrator, though I know they will not.

Beware of the Web. It giveth and it taketh away.

Thanks for listening,

The IU.

Inspiration for blogs

Someone asked me today how I get my inspiration to write the material on my blog with such frequency. The answer is that life and life-in-practice serves up more than enough material to fill my pages. In fact, as you can see, the question itself became a topic. Here are some some examples of some inspiring blog topics that I'll hopefully find time to publish:

• Last week a sales rep from a small uropathology lab in NJ came to my office. Despite the 90+ degree heat, he had on a cheap suit--jacket, tie, and all--and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat as he tried to convince me to use his lab. Unfortunately his message was lost on me, as I could not help but find myself thinking about my mom and dad, and thanking them for encouraging me to stay in school as I regrettably viewed him as a somewhat unenviable character in a very undesirable job. Maybe I'll throw him some bones, since I've always liked underdogs.
• Yesterday, 2 avodart reps came to my office. One was a late 40's woman, and the other a mid-30's man. The woman did all the speaking, so obviously, the man was her boss, ie her territory manager. As she showed me her marketing material, several things went through my mind. The superb quality of the marketing material made me think of how I would like to mimic it, in some way. Then she showed me graph, and as I marveled over the complexity of it, I was reminded of medical school, and then I thought of calling my friend Mike, to catch-up. Finally, I found the dynamic of the woman and her boss interesting, and I found myself thinking that I would not do well in such a situation, and would not like the obvious post-encounter debrief/critique that was sure to ensue.
• Today I had a case get canceled due to a scheduling mix-up on the part of both the hospital's and my own scheduling processes. The hospital booking agent, who was new, did not know the difference between intra-corporeal lithotripsy and extra-corporeal lithotripsy, and the patient and I were told to report to hospital A, when the correct equipment was at hospital B. It happened to another of my colleagues this AM as well. Fortunately, the mistake was caught before the patient was taken to the OR and sedated, and his case was elective, so no harm was done. But it got me thinking again about process management and six-sigma in my office, practice efficiency, and a whole other host of blog topics.
• My COLA lab inspection has provided me with tons of material not yet published.
• My late night baby feedings has inspired a host of posts as well on such topics as: how to type while one hand holds the infant bottle, good late-night bottle feeding movies, how to get a quick post in between calls for help from the wife, and how scheduling early morning cases can become an effective method to avoid late-night feeds.

You see, life is full of topics perfect for a blog, and all that you have to do is live, observe, listen, and write.

Thanks,

The IU.

The IU.

A good reason to blog.

If you are a physician, or any other public person, there exists a great deal of information about you that is readily available to anyone with access to a computer and some google skills. Physicians, it seems, are among the most public of figures, and with a couple of key strokes, potential patients--or anyone for that matter--can learn the entire work history, training history, and any disciplinary history for any physician, any where in the USA, 24 hours a day. And most of this information is supplied not by the physicians themselves, but by third party data entry personnel, some who work for the state, and some who are employed by for-profit companies. In other words, there is dialogue that goes on about you, and you have no part in what is being said.

Here is a simple, low or no cost way to combat this dialogue.

Take part in it.

Engage it. Add to it. Reply to it. Embrace it, and eventually, control it. How?

Blog.

By blogging actively and transparently--in your own name--you can influence the dialogue that already exists and turn it in your own favor. Your blog should be compelling, honest, and well written, and if it meets those criteria, people will find it and link to it. The more posts, the more links, and the higher the google organic ranking. Plus, it's fun, and you'll make friends.

All of your posts should be linked to your own website, if you have one, and--this is key--you must blog in your own name and be proud of what you write.

This way, you can influence the conversation that takes place in cyberspace that is about you.

Thanks for listening,

The IU, aka Richard A Schoor MD, urologist, Long Island, NY