In the medical field, patient education plays a powerful role in successful outcomes. Research shows that the more people know about medical procedures and their conditions, the less fearful or anxious they are. They are better patients and more likely to buy into the recovery process, ensuring optimal medical results.

You want those patients at your healthcare facility.

Healthcare consumers shop around and research medical issues on their own in far greater numbers than ever before, and their first stop is the Internet. You understand the importance of a good website, but what extra steps can you take to ensure those consumers stop – and stay – on your website?

Establish your facility as the trusted source of accurate medical information with compelling video that attracts and holds viewers’ attention while educating them about their concerns. By educating patients and their families, you are making them partners in the process, giving them a sense of security and trust.

Video helps you communicate with all age groups, educational levels, and people who do not speak English. A national study on health literacy reported that only 12 percent of older Americans were proficient in understanding written patient information materials. The impact, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is that patients with limited health literacy have difficulty locating providers and services, seeking preventive health care, and managing medical conditions. Video makes the complex easy to understand.

Consider the value to your institution: Demonstrate complex procedures with a video that takes patients through the process. Customize the information to philosophies and techniques unique to your facility. Show people what a specialist does and how the position elevates the level of patient care. Alleviate anxieties and advance acceptance about sophisticated technological procedures by showing patients and their families what they can expect and how the treatments will affect their conditions. When they see what will happen, they are measurably reassured. Video testimonials from patients who have had good experiences provide authenticity, and interviews with physicians offer a personal connection.  Added value:  More efficient visits between health professionals and their patients, saving everyone time.

Patient education is just one way to distinguish your facility on the web. Physician recruitment, service line promotion, and fund-raising also benefit from the power of video.  Attract prospective personnel from far away by showcasing the facility, the staff, the community and the technology. Trumpet your centers of excellence with video and interactive programs that highlight the best of what you offer. For capital campaigns, raise awareness – and money – with a visually engaging program that has far more impact than traditional appeals for support.

Video programs are most cost-effective when they are used for multiple purposes in addition to online programs. You can use them in presentations, on kiosks, in waiting rooms, at health fairs and at medical trade shows. CDs and DVDs can be duplicated and distributed alone or with brochures, and footage can be repurposed for commercials and video news releases.

Because the impact of video is immediate, you need that first impression to be a good one.  You want to establish your facility as the reliable source of medical information online.  An amateur production will leave an impression of questionable quality. When considering video, look for a professional production company with expertise in the medical field and a staff that knows its way around healthcare facilities and surgical units. Make sure they will work with you to create dynamic programs that meet your individual needs. Don’t just tell people about what makes you great; show them!

Katherine Cox is a writer, producer and marketing director at Captured Light Studio (www.capturedlightstudio.com), a video and interactive production company in Keene, N.H. She can be reached at 603-355-2010 or kcox@capturedlightstudio.com.

Back to Main Newsletter Page