BULLDOG MEDIA
Clinical learning &
communications
for professional organisations
KEEPING
UP
Healthcare workers don’t have the time to keep up with all the latest research from academic journals, guidance from professional bodies or frameworks from NHS trusts. At Bulldog Media we help you use existing channels, better - whether its podcasts, short form video, or social media. E-learning courses or classroom-based learning have their place... but we need to exploit other platforms to keep people up-to-date, on the go.
USE YOUR
CHANNELS
Podcasts are an underused media for raising awareness about new, clinically relevant research in the healthcare community. Every day, studies are published about the relative efficacy of both old and new interventions.
We work with RCLST and the International Journal of Language and Communications Disorders to create monthly podcasts that we believe will be of the most interest to practising SLTs.
Running since 2020, the podcast has around 20,000 downloads a year. Though modest by podcast standards this reaches a significant number of relevant and engaged listeners.
But only a quarter of the population are regular podcasts listeners. So, though it’s a great medium, professional bodies need to do more.
IT'S ALL
ABOUT VIDEO
Simple, well-designed videos can drive awareness of key messages, draw in more podcast listeners and in some cases increase readership of academic journals. But sometimes the video is enough. If there is a key take-away about a specific treatment or intervention, it can often be quickly communicated in a short video. Videos are also the best medium to drive public health messaging, whether it’s a universal campaign or targeting an at-risk population.
FOSTERING
RESEARCH
Many clinicians work in multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs). So it’s important to create content that can reach a broad range of healthcare providers as well as other professionals.
When it comes to conditions like developmental language disorder (DLD), speech and language therapists work with teachers, parents and educational specialists.
Reaching other professionals is not only important for public health but can also help foster research which may need an interdisciplinary approach.
SPREADINGGOOD
IDEAS
Social media and video can be used to spread important ideas. Some research may not be clinically relevant to a person, but the basic idea behind the research could well be. In this case, we felt it was important that clinicians thought about the opportunity that waiting lists present. So though we all want to see them go down, how can we make the best of a bad situation now?
Rare diseases don’t get enough attention because well... they’re rare. But to improve outcomes of the many people that are living with rare diseases, we need to help communicate key messages and new research. Rare diseases are important to pay attention to for other reasons. In the case of rare dementias such as primary progressive aphasia, they can help lead the way in the treatment of much more common forms of dementia, which will impact an increasingly large proportion of society as our population ages.
RARE
DISEASES
IMPORTANT
TRENDS
These channels can also be used to highlight important global trends such as artificial intelligence. Although there may be a great deal of excitement about the role of AI in healthcare there is also a great deal of confusion. Using clear messaging we can break the concepts down into manageable chunks so that the topic becomes clearer and less daunting.
It’s easy to produce a small series of videos and podcasts to quickly get clinicians and the public up to speed on topics that matter to them.
BUILD A
COMMUNITY
To use social media like TikTok and Instagram well, it’s important to build a community. We’re working with RCSLT to find ways to collaborate with clinicians on creating content they feel strongly about. The sub-brand of the social media content is called, ’Strong opinions’ and SLTs are given an opportunity to make a case for something they feel strongly about. A good example is the use of thickened fluids; the clinical evidence for its use is weak and it can have unpleasant side effects, but its use is still relatively widespread. The College has put out new guidance for its use and alongside this, we’ve invited some SLTs who oppose the use of thickened fluids to explain why they feel strongly about the issue. We hope that this will encourage other users to ‘stitch’ the original post and encourage lively debate.
LET'S
DO BETTER
A review of the professional bodies across the UK shows a mixed picture in terms of social media use (including podcasts). Some organisations have given up on podcasts and others have never tried. A few put out episodes intermittently, but it’s difficult to discern any strategy or clear programming in podcast planning and delivery. Instagram is used as an ancillary channel to direct people to websites and events as well as a PR channel. YouTube is put to better use as a repository for webinars and conference recordings but few organisations make use of YouTube shorts and it is underused in targeting younger men.
Only a few professional bodies use TikTok even though it often generates the highest levels of engagement of all the social media platforms.
Organisations need to treat social media as one of the key channels in service of their strategic aims, be it professional development or public health campaigns. We are not keeping up with how internet use is changing. But this does mean we have a tremendous opportunity to make powerful public health interventions with comparatively small investment.
