Medpedia Community Growing Stronger

The last time I wrote about my Medpedia membership in my blog, I was a newbie who was just learning how to navigate this site.

Now I'm happily in Medpedia's Top Contributors list.

What this means is that I have been an active participant for some time, communicating with medical professionals from all backgrounds. I have ongoing discussions with doctors, pharmacists, medical writers, etc. on topics of great interest to me and others. I field questions from readers who may want to know whether to get a mammogram or how to tell if one has dense breast tissue. Anyone in the Medpedia community can answer these questions, and although I've had a few disagreements with others -- albeit respectful disagreements -- I've also agreed with many others.

Medpedia is a community designed to provide information and access to information about a variety of health-related topics. Think of WebMd on steroids.

This site also offers opportunities for its members to post published work, link to studies, provide informational material of all sorts -- and for bloggers like me to express their thoughts.

In fact, if I had to pick a key word to describe Medpedia, it is this: Community.

We often hear about doctors and patients as two separate entities, often at odds with each other (and I know that my blog has...um...further contributed to this). However, through Medpedia, doctors and patients can understand each other's points of view.

As someone who writes from the patient's perspective, I feel good knowing that doctors care about my health and my opinion. I also enjoy hearing doctors' perspectives. And I find that while I don't hold a medical degree, I can speak with expertise on behalf of a patient's feelings and know that somewhere in cyberspace a doctor is willingly looking into my world.

Check out my Medpedia profile at http://www.medpedia.com/users/8920 and then feel free to navigate the site. You'll be glad you did.


Beth L. Gainer is a professional writer and has published numerous academic and magazine articles, as well as an essay on her breast cancer experience in the anthology Voices of Breast Cancer by LaChance Publishing. She writes about a potpourri of topics, including motherhood and her Chinese adoption experience at http://currents-living-discovery.blogspot.com/, and her cat Hemi blogs at http://www.catterchatter.blogspot.com/. Beth teaches writing and literature at Robert Morris University in the Chicago area. She has a guest posting on The World's Strongest Librarian at http://worldsstrongestlibrarian.com/3597/sharing-a-loved-ones-pain-guest-post-by-beth-gainer/.

She can be contacted at bethlgainer@gmail.com and gainercallingtheshots@gmail.com.