Many others have followed in his footsteps, but it was Dr Kartik Modha – through his Facebook page Tiko’s GP Group – who pioneered the use of digital technology to unite GPs online.
Nominated for ‘creating a huge online peer support network for GPs’ by colleagues, he has grown the group to more than 3,000 members this year and has had to hire a new administrator to process the 1,600+ pending GP requests to join the group.
He says the original premise of creating an online environment to improve communication and support GPs continues to develop. ‘A key educational aspect is the daily case-based discussion, which is very hard to achieve in day-to-day practice,’ he says. ‘This helps myself and other GPs to understand our “unknown unknowns” and has created a novel way of learning.’
One of his highlights of the year was to continue developing and expanding his myHealthSpecialist.com website (myHS). The website collates clinical recommendations for specialists and is a free-to-use service that aims to save GPs time and improve patient care.
Dr Modha says: ‘It’s a passion of mine to create new ways for healthcare professionals to connect, so this platform will help bring together GPs, consultants and allied health professionals in the online space and allow them to meet in person through regular networking events. myHS currently has 400 GP members, 550 specialists, 1,000+ recommendations and received 145,000 profile views in 2014. We have set up an office in Barnet and are currently upgrading the website and hope to launch the new version in September.’
Dr Modha still works as a GP in in north London and as an urgent care GP at Barnet General Hospital, although he says his major achievement of the year was buying a house.
‘As a digital health geek it’s real privilege to be thought of as influential,’ he adds.
