A Sound Practice: Podcasting for Physicians

Nancy Collins and the Journal of Medical Practice Management (JMPM) marked one year of success with a relatively new Internet tool called podcasting.

Put simply, podcasting is an audio or video recording for the Internet that lets you promote your practice, share your thoughts, and inform and prepare your patients.

Collins has successfully used podcasts to keep busy physicians and their staffs up to date on practice management issues through JMPM's weblog and podcast website SoundPractice.net. At the same time, the podcasts have increased traffic to JMPM's mpmnetwork.com and increased revenue through sales of its books, admission to its audio conferences, and other goods and services.

If you already have a computer and a website, all you need to begin podcasting is a microphone and podcasting software, plus a good voice and something to say!

What Can Podcasting Do for a Physician Practice?

In the past two years, healthcare organizations large and small have picked up podcasting, including Johns Hopkins and the American College of Cardiology. Various doctors, nurses, and medical students with weblogs also include podcasts in their regular reports about their lives and their commentaries on medical news.

However, there are almost no physician practices that currently make use of podcasting. Still, according to Nancy Collins, podcasting has many cost-effective and innovative potential uses for physicians wise enough to take the chance.

Podcasting has two basic advantages:

1. It literally gives you a voice with patients and potential patients, letting you convey a level of confidence, professionalism, and personality not possible with text on paper or on the screen.
2. Podcasting is the ultimate in convenience. With the right equipment, listeners can take you with them wherever they go, whatever they’re doing.

With a little thought, we can see how these advantages translate into uses:

• Time Saver: Record and post instructions for common procedures, allowing patients to simply download and listen at a convenient time.
• Human Touch: Have the staff introduce themselves by podcast. New patients will feel as if they already know you.
• Marketing Reach: Share your expertise on the procedures you perform, the technology you use, and the diseases and conditions you treat. Your skill, knowledge, and personality will interest potential patients from beyond your current market.