Content Outline

It's time to begin preparing for the podcast production. Before we can begin actually creating a podcast, though, let's start with an outline of how it should flow. An outline of the podcast's content is shown below:

Outline for a Podcast on the Styles of Media Used in Medical Research and Clinical Practice

Introduction

• Begin with a short musical introduction

• Introduce myself (name, role in the podcast), the purpose of today's podcast
• The purpose is to better understand the media that medical practitioners use on a day-to-day basis

• Discuss the wide variety of possible formats availabe to a researcher in this day and age: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, journals, poster presentations, conferences, internal meetings, etc. 
• The question is which of these are actually used often?

• Introduce the guests: Dr. David Armstrong -- orthopedic surgeon specializing in diabetic foot, and Nicole Achenbach, PT, DPT -- a physical therapist at an orthopedic outpatient clinic in Tucson, AZ. 

First Point: Informal channels such as social media are becoming more relevant as professional outlets

• Evidence: Dr. Armstrong uses many informal outlets (blog, Twitter, Facebook). These do not focus on his personal life, but instead are often links to ongoing diabetic foot research and occasionally to his own work as well. (Use clip of Dr. Armstrong describing facebook as a tool to reach a larger audience and make them aware of ways to avoid ulceration,etc.)

• This shows that these social media sites are becoming less 'social' and more about professional development. Armstrong uses Facebook and Twitter in the exact same way that professional used to exclusively use LinkedIn. There is no longer a fine distinguishing line between a doctor's professional world and his personal life. 

• Evidence: The rise of 'informal' publication of medical trial results on blogs and other sites that are not peer-reviewed. (Discuss secondary sources)

• More and more medical researchers are publishing the journal articles and informal reports they read via online blogs, or via Twitter. This is increasing the availability of information, but it also limits the ability of editors trying to ensure the validity of new data and information.

Second Point: The role of a medical researcher in the context of writing and publishing changes dramatically over the course of their career.

• Evidence: Dr. Armstrong began career as a primary author directly involved in the research. Today, he guides young doctors and often acts as a collaborating author (last author) that is a mentor and overseer of the research.  (Use clip of Dr. Armstrong discussing how he has a larger legacy left behind as an overseer of research and a mentor to future researchers)

• A medical researcher must make the transition from an author and data collector to an editor in a supervisory role. This transition is not always seamless or desired, but it allows one to have a greater influence on the future of medical research when it is done well.

• Evidence: The average age of authors submitting abstracts, poster presentations and manuscripts as first authors is much lower than the average age of authors presenting at national conferences and submitting manuscripts as a collaborating author. (Cite secondary sources)

• This shows that the trend towards an editorial role extends beyond just Dr. Armstrong's experience. In addition, it appears that poster presentations and abstract creation--the tell-tale signs of someone in the middle of an actual research project--is more often created by young researchers. Again, this suggests that most active research is led by experienced clinicians but run by younger doctors. 

Third Point: There is a wide gap in the role writing plays for a clinician as opposed to a medical researcher. 

• Evidence: Nicole Achenbach, a clinician, has yet to expand into medical research at all even though she is considering it within a hospital setting. (Use clip of her discussion of the role of a clinician's note)

•  Her role as a writer and publisher is still limited to private, internal dissemination with the intent of performing medical professionals directly collaborating with her. There is yet to be a wider audience.