How to promote clinical practice ethically?

Medical practice is all about the reputation of the practitioner. The sole purpose to promote clinical practice ethically is to build a good reputation of the practitioner in his field of practice. The dictionary defines it as “ the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something” or “ a widespread belief that someone or something has a particular characteristic” .

So if you do not trust the messenger, 

Why would you trust the message?

Chris Martin

Simply put, what comes to the mind of a patient, when he hears your name ?

Patients views about you, your competence and clinical skills.

Secondly, if they trust you and your facility.

Thirdly, what they hopes from your treatment.

Fourthly, what they experience  with your services.

And how do you do that?

There are no magic tricks to do that. All you have to do is to keep the following points in your mind and inculcate in your day to day clinical routine.

Define your identity

If you can not describe what you do in a single sentence of a few simple words, do not expect a patient to understand,  let alone remember it.

Keep your introduction precise and simple for the patient to remember.

also, ensure that you keep your looks strictly formal and professional. That is how people remember you, and your professional looks help a patient to trust you.

Clearly define your identity in the following headings

Specialty, subspeciality, and area of expertise.

The geographic area of professional activity.

Demographic age group you are primarily targeting.

Socio-economic class of patients you plan to cater to.

Working days and hours you are professionally active.

Social media platforms and professional groups in which you are active.

This will help you to avoid wasting your time and energy in low priority areas. In medical practice, time and energy are always in short supply. Use them wisely.

Be Consistent to promote clinical practice ethically

Stay consistent in promoting your practice in the priority areas defined in your identity. Consistency is not only important in the field of specialization but also in other defined spaces, like targeted patient profiles and social media platforms. It is not important to be active on many social media platforms, but whichever you choose, its better you stick to it.

Moreover, it is also important in a temporal sense. It matters how often you post on a social media platform, but it matters more that you maintain consistency.

For instance, people start posting on twitter daily for a month or so and then slowly lose enthusiasm. They might be missing for the next 3 months before coming back.

To sum up, a better strategy is to start slow, a maybe single post in a month, and then slowly increase the count. Whatever frequency is convenient, maintain it. Medical Practice is a marathon, not a sprint.

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Speak for yourself

Books and publications

The importance of scientific publications cannot be emphasized enough. Above all, publications give you a distinct identity of an expert that goes beyond geographic boundaries.

If this is not in your priority then you should have it as a new year’s resolution for the next year.

Though the readership of this type of scientific literature is limited to fellow doctors only, the reputation finally diffuses to the patients.

On the other hand, it takes a long time but the returns worth the efforts.

In conclusion, it requires a lot of patience and hard work, if you can do it, there is nothing better than that.

Blogs

Blogs have distinct advantages as a means to attract attention to the issue you intend to highlight. In addition to this, It demands low investment as compared to textbooks and peer review journals and has a larger readership.

Further, It is probably the best way to let everybody know that you can provide a solution to a particular patient’s related issue, which you are discussing in the blog.

Social media

Participating in debates on social media is a great way to promote your name in the specialty of your practice.

But, make sure that you are focused on clearly defined objectives related to your practice. Moreover, one should avoid the temptation of participating in trending topics especially controversies and politics.

Listen to what others have to say

Willingness to take feedback is very important to promote clinical practice ethically to the changing landscape of medical practice. None the less, it is important to listen to what others are talking about you and your services.

Also. it is equally important to listen to what they are talking about your fellow practitioner.