My Interview Subjects

It's time to begin preparation for the second project, where I'll be analyzing the most common genres used to disseminate information in the medical field. The research will involve two primary sources, so I started off by finding two medical professionals that I could interview one-on-one. Here's an overview of Dr. David G. Armstrong and Nicole Achenbach, PT, DPT--a podiatrist and a physical therapist whom I'll be interviewing:

• The two people I'll interview are David G. Armstrong and Nicole Achenbach. Dr. Armstrong is an orthopedic podiatrist who specializes in treating the diabetic foot. Nicole is a physical therapist at an othropedic outpatient clinic. Dr. Armstrong earned his podiatric degree in the United Kingdom and subsequently received honorary M.D. and Ph.D degrees from Rosalind Franklin Medical School in Chicago. Nicole graduated with a doctorate in physical therapy from the University of New Mexico. Dr. Armstrong was board certified in 1999 and has worked in his field for nearly 20 years. Nicole was board certified in PT in 2013, and has worked at her clinic for over 2 years. 

• As for the interviews themselves: Dr. Armstrong's interview will be conducted at noon on March 2nd, 2016. It has been scheduled at his office at the University Medical Center and was slotted for 45 minutes. Nicole's interview will occur on March 7th at 9am. The exact location is still to be determined. Included below are photos of my two interviewees:

Dr. David G Armstrong at a Diabetic Limb Salvage conference. 

Nicole Achenbach, PT, DPT at the Desert Palms Physical Therapy Clinic

• To prepare for each interview, I created a list of possible interview questions.I start with Dr. Armstrong:

• You are constantly posting informally on blogs such as your DFblog, and via social media sites such as Facebook. Why devote so much time and money to communicating professionally through informal channels?

• Do you believe you're communicating to a different audience when you post on  Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn in comparison to more traditional formats? Or, do you see it as a different way to interact with the same peers?

• At the start of your career, many of your publications were as first-author. Today, many are written with you as corresponding author. Has this shifted your role in the manuscript-creation process?

• Do you believe the peer-review journal will get superceded in your world of biosensors and medical technology due to the long review times and the necessary delays between submission and publication?

• There is often two goals in publishing: collaboration and improving the research base, and building your career and yourself as a brand. Do you think that different genres and media are used to accomplish each goal?

• Do you present yourself different at conferences tailored to biomedical technology as opposed to conferences targeting medical professionals? Why are such adjustments necessary?

• How often are medical researchers in orthopedic specialties expected to publish? Do these publications have to be through peer-reviewed journals?

• Additionally, I prepared some interview questions for Nicole Achenbach:

• You primarily deal with clinical care rather than medical research. What type of writing are you required to do on a day-to-day basis?

• Who do you picture yourself addressing when you write your patient notes? Are you addressing yourself in four weeks, or are you addressing the patient's physician? Someone else?

• Your facility accepts Medicare patients, who often require the most documentation. Do you approach note transcribing differently with these patients than others?

• Besides clinical notes, are there other forms of communication that clinical PTs have to communicate with each other and stay up-to-date on PT techniques and research?

• Your notes also serve to protect you from liability in case anything happens to your patients. Do you consider your audience to include potential jurists in a courtroom setting?

• Would an active researcher in the physical therapy field be writing in different genres or through different medias than a physician medical researcher? Why or why not?