Health care is one of the most widely read blog niches. Perhaps this is so because health is the concern of every human being. Thousands of health care blogs are there, which vary in content and style. Medical professionals educate people on a certain issues and share their patients’ experiences.
Yes, Doctors and Nurses can add so much healthcare to the richness and diversity of online healthcare conversations. However, the questions are why should they blog? Why should they brainstorm different social media content ideas?
Is it all about the readers or it is fruitful for writers as well?
While health care blogs are helpful for readers, they also assist doctors. Here we will discuss some of those ways.
Clinical Reflective Writing Skills
Reflective Capacity is an essential characteristic of professionally competent clinical practice. Doctor Rita Charon, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of the Program in Narrative Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons encourages doctors to write. She believes that ‘writing improves clinicians’ stores of empathy, reflection, and courage.
Doctor Richard Cook, a UK-based GP says that blogging prompted him to think more deeply about the everyday things he encounters at work. Doctor John Mandrola from Kentucky says, “It is astounding how much I have learned in the quest to talk smartly about medical science. Without a doubt, this blog has made me a more informed doctor”.
Educating Number of Patients
You may think it is a patient-oriented benefit. How is it going to assist the doctor?
However, think again. Several patients could go through the same illness. Most probably, they will all have the same questions in their mind. Answering each of those patients individually will consume too much of your precious time.
Rather, if you write a blog post, which addresses all the frequently asked questions, it will the best time-saver.
It will be a valuable resource for you as a physician, as you can refer to all of your clients to the same blog.
Doctor Ronan Kavanagh is a rheumatologist from Ireland. He likes to educate his patients through a well-maintained and professional blog.
Establishes your Expertise
Blogging helps you build an excellent reputation for yourself. It will establish you as a go-to person in your expertise, by increasing your credibility and visibility. You can attract extra patients.
Let us meet Doctor Howard Luks, a Board-Certified Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgeon. One post on his blog discusses whether a meniscus tear requires surgery. He says, “The most valuable question I answer on my website and the greatest driver of traffic. Since I first posted the answer to that question in March of 2011, I have had more than 80,000 views on my website for that question alone and 235 comments.”
Online Visibility
72% of internet users say they looked online for health information in the past year. 77% of them used some search engines. So claims the latest Pew Research. However, most users do not ignore the first page of the search results.
35% of US adults say that they have used the internet just to figure out the medical condition they or someone else has, once or at least twice in life. People commonly search about specific diseases or conditions, treatments or procedures, and doctors or other health professionals.
Google and other search engines use many ranking factors to prioritize web pages over one another. These factors also change with time. Quality content, credible references, appropriate keywords, and regular updates can help, you rank on search engines.
Good online visibility comes with many earning opportunities. You earn even if you write product descriptions of medical equipment.
Learning with Patient Blogs
Doctor Clive Brock, a family practitioner, says that patient stories are the best learning platforms. You may find these stories online on patient blogs. They provide rich and diverse information about the patient’s life experience of a particular disease.
Patient blogs let you access the unfiltered truth.
Humanized Practice
Maintaining ethical and professional standards online is important. However, it is also a splendid idea to share your anecdotes. It could be the experience of practicing medicine or a patient case study.
You can show the person behind the stethoscope.
Conclusion
Blogging provides you with an opportunity for self-expression, learning, connection with your patients, and job opportunities. When you are not practicing, you can adopt the job role of a health content writer. We hope that this article turns out a good blogging inspiration for not only a medical audience but also experts in other niches. As blogging entertains nearly every discipline on the planet earth.
