Mayo Clinic Announces Sharing Mayo Clinic Blog for Patients, Employees

Thursday, January 22, 2009

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic today announced the launch of its culture blog, Sharing Mayo Clinic, which provides an online site for patients and employees to share their stories about what makes Mayo Clinic unique.

VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Lee Aase describing Mayo Clinic's new blog, are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog.

The new blog is one of several social media initiatives to encourage patients, health care providers and other Mayo Clinic employees to share their experiences and connect with people all over the world.

"Mayo Clinic's reputation has been built by patients sharing their personal Mayo stories with family members and friends," says Lee Aase, Mayo Clinic's manager of social media and syndication. "Many patients share their Mayo experiences with others when they go home. Sharing Mayo Clinic offers a place for this worldwide community of patients and providers to gather and tell their stories."

"Patient feature stories are among the most popular pages on our mayoclinic.org Web site," says Thoralf Sundt, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiovascular surgeon. "This new blog will enable many more patients and their families to share their Mayo Clinic experience in their own words. In turn, we at Mayo Clinic look forward to learning how to preserve those services that are of most value, how we might improve those that can be strengthened, and enhance the health care experiences for all of our patients in the future."

Mayo Clinic has previously established a presence on several popular social sites, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr, and provides other social media venues such as a news blog, podcasts and consumer health blogs through two Mayo Clinic Web sites, www.MayoClinic.org and www.MayoClinic.com. Aase says Sharing Mayo Clinic will be the hub for these and future Mayo social media platforms, providing links and guidance for members of the global Mayo Clinic community who are interested in connecting on the Web.

"Rather than our patients just being able to talk with the people they see every day, these platforms allow them to share their experiences with people all over the world — some of whom they know personally, and many they do not," says Aase. "We also see Sharing Mayo Clinic as an opportunity to provide glimpses into the lives and motivations of Mayo employees who are dedicated to working together in teams to provide the best care to every patient, every day."

Sharing Mayo Clinic builds on Mayo Clinic's existing social media initiatives:

• Mayo Clinic YouTube Channel — The Mayo Clinic Channel has more than 250 videos for consumers to watch and share. They include patient stories, information about Mayo services and programs, background on Mayo Clinic's history and people, and details about Mayo's latest research and treatment advances. Through the "Share Your Mayo Clinic Story" campaign, patients are encouraged to post videos about their personal experiences with Mayo Clinic on YouTube. Patients who do not have the technical expertise or equipment to do this may have their stories recorded during their visit to Mayo Clinic.
• Mayo Clinic Facebook page — (Type Mayo Clinic Facebook in any search engine.) On this social networking site, patients can tell their Mayo Clinic story, watch videos about Mayo's latest news and research, become a Facebook "fan" of Mayo, and share it all with their friends. They also can read and discuss what others say about their experiences at Mayo Clinic
• Mayo Clinic podcast blog — Dozens of Mayo podcasts are available on this site. Mayo's podcasts include extended conversations and news stories on many diseases and conditions, emphasizing conditions that Mayo Clinic experts treat and research. Consumers can search by topic, post comments and subscribe to have new episodes of a particular podcast delivered automatically.
• Mayo Clinic news blog — In this blog, journalists and consumers can see and hear video and audio excerpts featuring Mayo Clinic physicians and researchers providing context for stories about their research and other health and medical news. They also can join discussions with other readers through the blog comments.
• MayoClinic.com consumer blogs and podcasts — MayoClinic.com offers consumer blogs on topics such as stress, smoking cessation, pregnancy, nutrition, depression, diabetes and more. MayoClinic.com podcasts are available in portable audio files that contain consumer-friendly information from a Mayo Clinic expert. Consumers can sign up for RSS feeds for new blog posts and podcast topics, as well as several other content features from MayoClinic.com.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit MayoClinic.com or MayoClinic.org/news.