Stanford Medicine X invites you to submit your work to its conference, taking place at Stanford University September 28-30, 2012. Submissions will be accepted from January 15, 2012 to April 15, 2012. Papers will be eligible for publication in the conference’s partner journals, PLoS ONE and the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). Accepted abstracts will be published in an electronic publication entitled the Stanford Medicine X Proceedings.


Area of Focus

Scientific research studies and scholarly practice-based work in the area of emerging information and social technologies and their effects on the field of medicine will be the primary scientific focus of the Medicine X conference. We seek submissions in a broad area of topics including:

  • The role of Web 2.0 and Internet-based technologies and their effects on patients, health care professionals;
  • Social/mobile technologies and their use in the areas of science, health and medicine;
  • Health information and content on the internet;
  • Collaboration using the Internet and the use of these technologies to change health care delivery and practice.

Type of Presentations

The following types of submissions will be accepted for presentation at Stanford Medicine X:

  • Oral Presentations
  • Poster Presentations
  • Demo Interactive Presentations
  • Workshops
  • Panel Discussions

A selection of submissions will be invited to prepare full papers for consideration for publication along with other Stanford Medicine X conference papers in one of our partner scientific journals. As with our previous conference at Stanford, we will offer DEMO Interactive sessions, oral presentations and poster presentations at the conference. We are also accepting applications for interactive workshops to be held on Sept 28, 2012.

Official Academic Publishing Partners

We are delighted to announce that Stanford has partnered with two leading academic journals to publish papers from our conference: PLoS ONE and JoVE.

One of our core missions is to unite all health care stakeholders to work together to solve health problems and we believe these two leading journals have a very broad reach, bringing work presented at Medicine X from small niche audiences to the broader scientific and medical establishment. As the largest scientific journal in the world, PLoS ONE will provide a wide-reaching platform in which to present your work. Because visual presentation is so important for many who work with emerging technologies and medicine, we are also excited that JoVE (the only MEDLINE and PubMed-indexed video journal of science) will be publishing video-based multimedia papers presented at the conference.

PLoS ONE: Public Library of Science ONE

The official journal for standard papers of the proceedings from Medicine X is PLoS ONEPLoS ONE is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication that is published by the nonprofit organization Public Library of Science. PLoS ONEis indexed by the world’s leading organizations, including MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Center, Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science. Launched in December 2006, PLoS ONE is currently the largest journal in the world.

In partnership with Medicine X, PLoS ONE will create a Proceedings of Medicine X Virtual Collection that will represent a broad range of work being conducted at the intersection of emerging information/social technologies and medicine, ranging from intervention-based studies of eHealth tools to improve chronic disease care to the study of mobile health applications and their role in empowering patients to more actively participate in their own health care.

JoVE: Journal of Visual Experimentation

The official journal for multimedia papers of the proceedings from Medicine X isThe Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). JoVE is a peer-reviewed scientific journal with the focus of publishing medical research in video format. Launched in December 2006, JoVE is abstracted and indexed in Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed.

In partnership with Medicine X, JoVE will create a Proceedings of Medicine Xcollection that will feature video presentations of work presented at the Medicine X conference. As a special benefit to Medicine X presenters, the Stanford AIM Lab will produce video submissions in collaboration with authors for publication in JoVE (a $2400.00 value). Authors accepted for publication will only be responsible for the standard access JoVE charge of $850.00. Medicine X will be providing partial and full publishing scholarships to help offset these additional charges for authors with demonstrated financial need.

Proceedings of Stanford Medicine X

All abstracts (poster and oral presentations) accepted for presentation at Medicine X will be published in an electronic publication, Proceedings of Medicine X. There will be no additional fees associated with publication in the Proceedings. Submissions will be indexed in Google Scholar.

Peer-review Process

We believe that high-quality peer-review is vital to maintaining the highest academic standards for Stanford Medicine X. Therefore, we have partnered with the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Social Media Working Group (SMWG) to provide peer review for all research-based submissions to Medicine X. These reviews will not only provide authors with an objective framework from which to improve their scholarship for publication, but will also ensure that only the highest-quality scientific work is presented at the conference.

Submissions of the highest quality will be recommended to develop their work into full papers for submission to one of our official conference publications, PLoS ONE or JoVE. The final full papers developed from these submissions must undergo additional peer-review to determine their suitability for publication in PLoS ONE or JoVE.

Scientific Awards

To encourage and reward scholarly work in the area of emerging technologies, Stanford will provide the following awards, adjudicated by a special international judging panel:

  • Stanford Medicine X Award: Award for best overall scientific paper presented at the conference. Publication fees forPLoS ONE ($1350) or JoVE ($850+AIM Lab video production valued at $2400) will be paid, in addition to a $1000.00 prize.
  • Stanford Medicine X Poster Award: Award for best poster presented at the conference. A prize of $500.00 will be offered.
  • Stanford Medicine X Demo Interactive Award:  Award for best demo interactive presentation at the conference.

How to Submit to Present your Work at Stanford Medicine X

Submissions open January 15, 2012. Please subscribe to our Medicine X list to be the first to learn about new developments and announcements from Medicine X.

About Medicine X

Originally described by O’Reilly in 2004, Web 2.0 is defined as a “set of economic, social and technology trends that collectively form the next generation of the Internet, a more mature, distinctive medium characterized by user participation, openness, and network effect”. The terms Medicine 2.0 and Health 2.0 have been increasingly used over the past few years to describe work that uses Web 2.0 technologies as applied to the field of medicine with the goal of improving health and health care. Because web and emerging technologies are ever evolving, we have created a conference centered on the concept of Medicine X.

Medicine X is a catalyst for innovative ideas about the future of medicine, healthcare, and wellness. The initiative explores how emerging technologies will advance medical practice, improve health outcomes, and empower patients to be active participants in their own care. The “X” is meant to encourage thinking beyond numbers and trends—it represents the infinite possibilities for current and future information technologies to improve health and well-being.

Where other healthcare technology conferences may focus on consumer trends or business-to-business needs, Medicine X will bring a broad, research-driven approach to understanding emerging technologies with the potential to improve health and advance the practice of medicine. Drawing on the best traditions of Stanford—an incubator in the Silicon Valley—the conference aims to ignite interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration while encouraging a rigorous, quantitatively driven approach to understanding emerging technologies. In other words, the conference hopes to encourage “moon shot” thinking while actually offering the intellectual tools to make those ideas reality.

Author Guidelines

RESEARCH TRACK

Submissions made to the research track reflect original work conducted to answer a hypothesis (research question) and should present relevant data, interpret the findings and synthesize the results into a set of conclusions. Abstracts must be structured into the following sections: background, methods, results and conclusion.

We also encourage the submission of research in progress, which may not present final data or conclusions, but presents the audience with the hypothesis, methods and update of the progress of the ongoing research.

Please indicate "Research in Progress" at the top of your abstract if you intend to submit work in this category.

No references should be included in the abstract. Authors will have the opportunity to add reference at a later day, if invited to develop their work into a full paper for submission to PLoS ONE or JoVE.

Word Limit: 500 words


Sample Abstract

Analysis of 4999 Online Physician-Reviews Indicates that Most Patients Give Physicians a Favorable Rating

Background
A majority of Americans use the Internet to search for health-related information. Many online physician review sites provide patients with information about physicians and allow patients to rate physicians. The goals of this study were to 1) determine the most frequently visited physician-review websites that have user-generated content; 2) evaluate the available information on these websites and the methods used by each site to rate physicians; 3) analyze online ratings of 4999 physician reviews.

Methods
On 10/1/2010 the ten most frequently visited online physician-review sites with user-generated content were identified using Google Trends. Each site was then studied to evaluate the available information (e.g., board certification, years in practice), the types of rating scales (e.g., 1-5, 1-4, 1-100), and dimensions of care (e.g., recommend to a friend, waiting room time) that patients were asked to rate physicians. Data from 4999 physician-reviews without identifiers were analyzed to assess how physicians are rated online.

Results
The 10 most commonly visited websites with user-generated content were: HealthGrades.com, Vitals.com, Yelp.com, YP.com, RevolutionHealth.com, RateMD.com, Angieslist.com, Checkbook.org, Kudzu.com, and ZocDoc.com. A total of 49 different dimensions of care were rated by patients, with a median=4.5 (mean 4.9, SD 2.8, range 1 – 9) questions per site. Depending on the scale used for each physician-review website the average ratings equaled 77 (standard deviation/median/range = 11/76/33-100) for sites using a 100-point scale, 3.84 (0.98/3.8/1-5) for sites using a 5-point scale, and 3.1 (0.72/3/1-4) for sites using a 4-point scale. 62% of the reviews on the 100-point scale were above 75, 58% were rated 4 or 5 on sites with a 5-point scale, and 74% were rated 3 or 4 on sites with a 4-point scale. The patient’s single overall final rating of the physician correlated well with the other more specific dimensions of care rated by patients for the same physician. (Pearson Correlation 0.73, P< 0.001)

Conclusions
Most patients give physicians a favorable rating on online physician review sites. A single overall rating to evaluate physicians may be sufficient to assess a patient’s general opinion of the physician. The optimal content and rating methodology that is useful to patients when visiting online physician-review sites deserves further study.

PRACTICE TRACK

Submissions made to the practice track typically represent work conducted to address a particular need or purpose that wasn't formally designed as a research study to evaluate a specific hypothesis.

Submissions in the practice track are typically non-commercial in nature.

Word Limit: 500 words


BUSINESS TRACK

Submissions to the business track typically involve presentation of interest to the business community and also presentation of commercial products that may be of interest to the Medicine X community.

Word Limit: 500 words


WORKSHOP TRACK
Submissions to the workshop track should describe in specific terms the duration, purpose and learning objectives for your workshop. These presentations are designed to be interactive (vs. lecture-based), and conducted in small groups (maximum size is 35 people).
The workshop proposal should include the following information: a) Overall description of the workshop including learning goals and objectives, b) intended audience (general, researchers, technical, health care providers, patients), c) length of workshop (2 hours or 4 hours), d) a/v or technical requirements (e.g. LCD projector, flip boards, etc.).
Word Limit: 500 words

DEMO INTERACTIVE TRACK
Work suitable for presentation in the research or practice tracks will be considered for demo-interactive presentations. These presentations provide an opportunity for dynamic and interactive presentation of your work in the Medicine X demo-interactive space. This brings your audience close to your demonstration where they can interact directly with you to engage in a lively exchange of ideas.
There is no strict format for abstract submissions in the demo-interactive presentation format. If the work is research in nature, please follow the research abstract format. If the work is practice-based, please address the questions below in your abstract submission:
  • What will be presented?
  • What technologies/features will be demonstrated?
  • What novel aspects of design/function have been implemented?
  • How can viewers get more information about the project being demonstrated?

Submissions for this conference were closed on April 15, 2013.