What should be the main purpose of a physician’s blog? My best answer: To help people sort out hope from hype.
Today’s typical sufferer of nearly any chronic health problem is a disease student. Regardless of whether the sufferer’s problem is arthritis, cancer, infertility, or even a bad back, she follows news about her problem and possible treatments breathlessly.
Chronic sufferers constantly each have one ear tuned to TV and the radio and one ear turned towards newspapers and magazines for news about their conditions. Many also use Google or other services to set electronic alerts on the Web to let them know about every breaking news story.
And whenever a disease student hears news of a possible breakthrough, she instantly and reactively thinks, “Can it help me?” Doctors often hesitate to answer this question in the belief they do not have enough information. This is understandable. Much of health news reports on treatments in stage one or two of clinical trials.
But here’s the rub: Doctors still know far more than the average health care consumer. The idea is to share what you do know, which is that in medicine, many drugs are developed and tried but few are chosen after a long, long period of evaluation.
You as provider know and see this reality on a daily basis – the public does not. Remembering that fact alone will help any physician hit the bull’s-eye of doctor blogging.
About Vanguard Communications
Since 1994, Vanguard Communications has provided specialty healthcare marketing with a strategy focused on patient education guaranteed to bring new patients to specialist physicians, physician assistants, nurses and therapists in private, university and hospital practices. Through its MedMarketLink program, Vanguard combines the disciplines of online and offline PR, strategic marketing and information technology for healthcare providers coast to coast.