Medical Podcasting : Changing the Delivery of Medical
Information
Medical casting is a big step towards the evolution of on-demand
medical information delivery, making it accessible, informative,
useful and appealing. This mix presents the medical industry
with a very unique opportunity to reach its community through
this new medium
"Medcasting" is the commercial application of podcasting for
medical related institutions. Medcasting is the distribution and
publishing of audio and video feeds, that offer medical
information delivered over the Internet, for on demand
listening. The flexibility of this medium is what will drive the
growth of Medical casting tremendously over the next few years.
Currently the most useful application for medical institutions
looking to make the public aware of its information is to
compliment already existent informational web pages. Most
institutions have numerous web pages which deliver medical
information in text format, by providing an audio or video link
on that page it gives the user a different and potentially more
effective format for receiving the information. In addition, the
expectation is that the medical podcasting services can used to
deliver updates to on new medicines or applications from drug
companies who would appreciate the opportunity to present their
information in a useful and appealing format. When a Doctor
attaches his iPod to his computer, the program issues a request
for new audio files which may have been posted recently which
correspond to his profile. The resulting files are downloaded
automatically, and the Doctor is always up to date on the latest
information. With one-click you can subscribe to a Medical
Podcast that you are interested in. Additional formats that are
being used consist of; medical talk shows, where various
specialists within each institution will speak or answer
questions on a certain topic. Medical lectures and seminars can
be recorded and made available for the public or employees to
download easily and on-demand. In addition, any information that
may need to be delivered to employees can be recorded and made
available on an in-house delivery network. For institutions that
have thousands of employees, the distribution of company
information is very important, and once again this offers each
institution a method of on-demand delivery which is convenient
to all. Medcasting can also be used as a direct line of
communication, by recording video-casts of company messages from
executives for company wide distribution.
There are numerous uses for medcasting currently, and over the
next few years it will explode in popularity. It is beneficial
to institutions as well as the consumer, and it will be seen as
a great tool in any medical organizations' operations.