Pathology Residents Launch a New Blog -- Pathtalk.org

A small group of pathology residents with Trent McBride, Kenneth Youens, Diana Cardona, and Gretchen Galliano taking leading roles have started a pathology blog called Pathtalk.org. Here's a link to their "about" page that describes their backgrounds. I asked Trent to write a short note about what prompted he and colleagues to launch this venture and his contribution is listed below.

The purpose of Pathtalk.org is to create an informal  pathology blog that will serve multiple purposes including education, entertainment, advice, discussion, and commentary. In my view, a blog is superior to other forms of media because of the following:

• It combines the function of forums or bulletin boards with the superior presentation quality of a more traditional news site.
• It is accessible to people outside of pathology such as other physicians and patients who may be interested in what we have to say.
• Blogs provide an opportunity to link and interact with other bloggers in a field.
• Blogging has become a way to communicate among members of a group and between groups.
• A blog offers the opportunity to bypass the normal media gatekeepers and allows anyone with a voice and/or information to disseminate it.
• A blog is relatively cheap and easy to start and maintain.
• Blogging software is readily available such that even semi-computer-literate users such as myself can launch themselves in the field.

Our goal has been to create a hub where anyone interested in pathology can find high-quality content and potentially comment about it. The trick, of course, is to provide such high-quality content in the first place. The blogosphere is a brutal intellectual marketplace where only quality content brings traffic. Over time, we will know if we have met this challenge.

I started by asking residents to participate via email over the residency directors' listserv. Predictably, many were interested in helping out but our intention was to go beyond resident participation. Down the road, I would like to see practicing pathologists join our  conversation and add content. Given the diversity of our field, pathologists have a lot to say to one another and, more importantly, a lot to say to others in healthcare. We hope that this blog will help to alleviate the dearth of pathologists who participate in web-based conversations.

Comments

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I totally agree with writer of the blog that blog is the superior of all marketing mediums and in this we can present or promote in what way we want to. Great article!

[Gretchen Galliano]

Thanks for the plug Dr. Friedman!!! We are HUGE fans of Lab Soft News!!