Nearly 80% of Doctors Reject New Ebola Czar Ron Klain According to SERMO Poll

Physicians Express Concerns about His Qualifications with No Prior Healthcare Experience and Redundancy of New Role

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Oct 22, 2014, 12:54 ET

BOSTON, Oct. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SERMO, the leading social network of doctors in the U.S., announced today the results of recent polling of the SERMO physician community about the new Ebola Czar, Ron Klain.

Seventy-nine percent of the respondents chose "No" when asked, "Do you approve of the newly appointed Ebola Czar, Ron Klain?" Twenty-one percent of physicians supported the move with a "wait and see" attitude to see how well he implements protocols to contain and prevent an Ebola outbreak in the United States.

To capture the current sentiment of physicians, SERMO frequently posts polls within the community with fresh, topical questions. Over 715 physicians responded to the SERMOsays Flash Poll on Ron Klain.

The SERMO community of over 270,000 doctors is actively discussing the latest developments in the Ebola crisis on their Infectious Disease Hub.

An ophthalmologist expressed the majority opinion when he wrote, "Something is terribly wrong when the Czar is obviously chosen on the basis of who is the most likely to contain the political fallout … The Czar should specialize in bio-terrorism and bio-warfare."

A few physicians were willing to take a wait and see approach, one doctor wrote, "He's running an organization, not making medical decisions. I would reserve judgment until we see the team assembled, and the responses developed and implemented."

A SERMO member and contributor, Vice President of Ascel Bio and an infectious disease forecaster, Dr. James Wilson, MD, commented on Klain's appointment, "The Obama Administration took positive steps to bring the Department of Defense's expertise in rapid response and biodefense to bear with the creation of the strike teams. Sentiment in the SERMO community is positive for DoD involvement. We applaud his decision to expand the footprint of response. While the greater medical community might question the Administration's choice of a non-medical Ebola Czar, the Department of Defense's involvement is certainly welcomed on the frontline of civilian medical response."

"SERMO doctors clearly have strong opinions," said Peter Kirk, CEO of SERMO. "The community is incredibly active on Ebola. SERMO uniquely enables doctors to come together to share information and best practices, as well as opinions on how the Ebola crisis should be managed. "

For more information about the recent developments in the Ebola crisis, visit the SERMO blog at
http://blog.sermo.com/2014/10/20/doctors-reject-ron-klain-as-ebola-czar/

About SERMO
SERMO is the United States' leading social network for fully verified, licensed physicians. Founded in 2005, SERMO's mission is to provide physicians with a safe, private and trusted platform for free and open discussions about real world medicine.

SERMO is a doctors' 'lounge' where doctors candidly share their true feelings about their profession and lives, but it's also a place where doctors learn from one another by asking each other real life questions, advice and second opinions about medicine.

Over the course of a decade, doctors have built an important medical knowledge bank within SERMO by virtue of those questions and answers.

With over 270,000 verified U.S. physicians from 96 specialties and subspecialties, representing 40 percent of the American physician community, SERMO harnesses the collective wisdom of doctors, enabling medical crowdsourcing, knowledge sharing and thus the advancement of medicine.

SERMO is the place for real world medicine.

About SERMOsays Physician Polls
Every Monday, SERMO posts a poll with a fresh, topical question. SERMOsays polls are a direct pipeline into true physician sentiment. Each poll can receive up to 3,000 votes. Polls are open to all physician members of the community. Access to the poll is now available and members of the press may work with SERMO to directly post other polls in the community.

Poll topics include anything from when was your last physical to how do you feel about maintenance of certification courses. SERMOsays polls are one of the most popular areas of the site, as they spark healthy debate and enable doctors to have a voice on important issues.

SERMOsays polls are intended to be unscientific discussion starters to capture and report on the sentiment of thousands of physicians each week, on the hot topics of the day.

SERMO polls are written by the SERMO Community Team and by members, then posted online within the closed SERMO community. Each member can vote a maximum of one time and polls are promoted both within the community and by email to community members. Only members of the SERMO community of US physicians may vote. Members can see the results of the polls as votes are cast and the final results.

To learn more about SERMO, visit http://www.SERMO.com.

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SOURCE SERMO