Consumer Health Education
Consumer health education is essential. It contributes to healthier people in general, but also gives health care providers a greater satisification in their work overall, knowning that you can make a difference in your work. Educated patients and clients are thus empowered, and to tell the truth…it makes our work much easier!
One of the most direct ways I do this, is to guide patients of our practice to our practice website, where I keep an ongoing list of resources for issues that come up in our practice - http://AberdeenPrimaryCare.com/Health_Resources.html
Health Promotion for Women over the age of 40.
T
his was developed out of my earlier writing and worked with OlderWiserWomen®. The site was originally launched at the request of my female patients while I was working at a rural Tribal clinic. The women wanted more information about healthy aging.
The original goal had been to publish a book of their stories. The projected gained momentum and soon we had stories from women across the country. Unfortunately, the majority of those stories were loss when there were two mysterious hard drive crashes, along with the external back of drive.
While the site is not currently actively maintained, it still continues to garner attention. Articles are still shared across the internet, and visitors to the site continue to contact me on a regular basis. The blog, http://www.HealthyAgingForWomen.com (HAFW) is updated periodically, promoting both healthy aging and nurse practitioners.
Articles from the blogs and website are literally published all over the internet, and in women’s magazines as far as Ireland. Currently availabe is the OlderWiserWomen® Guide: Tips for Successful Aging and Vibrant Living.
NP Spotlight: Older, Bolder and Wiser
Posted on: August 2, 2005 | By Jolynn Tumolo
ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners
Earlier this summer, Barbara C. Phillips, NP, of Aberdeen, Wash., turned 50. Beyond the predictable black balloons, over-the-hill jokes and gag gifts that inevitably accompany the milestone, Phillips sees something more in the age: a journey worth celebrating. In the coming weeks, that’s exactly what she and hundreds of women like her will do. They will kick up their feet, unite in spirit and …
Aging Is an Inside Job
Phillips, Barbara C. (2005). Aging Is an Inside Job. In Kloser, C. (Ed.)
Inspiration to Realization, Volume II (pp 48-53). Los Angles, Love Your Life.
This is great…but what’s even better, is they are also using other online locations to find their providers. For you…it’s a great way to let them learn a bit about you, your practice, your philosophy and just where you are in the world.
Since this is a relatively new “marketing arena”, not many health care providers are participating as of yet. Therefore, it’s a great time for you to get involved and carve out your niche. And it will literally cost you very little if anything, thereby preserving your marketing budget.
NP Directory Sites
There are more and more places you can list your business and practice online. Most, but not all of these sites are geared toward the health care consumer finding you. Here are a few options:
- www.NPClinics.com, a service of NP Central
- www.NPFinder.com, a service of AANP (you must be a member)
- www.NPBusiness.ORG has a page where I’ve listed NP practices as well as NP blogs/websites. If you’d like to be listed, just drop me a line.
- www.NursePractitionerBusinessOwner.com — will be offering a page for members to list their sites. It will be open for public searching and viewing.
- www.google.com/local/add Add your business to your local Google listing. Believe me, patients are looking for you and this is a great way to make sure you stand out. Very few practices are doing this, yet I hear all the time that patients are looking online for their providers. A website is not necessary, but it is helpful.
Social Media
If you try and keep up with social media today, you’ll likely find yourself suffering from vertigo. It’s amazing how quickly these sites have sprung up. However, there are three I recommend you get involved with.
- www.Facebook.com Facebook can be a bit intimidating at first. However, once you develop your profile, you can link back to your practice, add information about your practice mission, services offered etc. You can change your privacy settings to allow anyone to see it. In addition, you can add business pages as well. Done correctly, this may be a substitute for your practice website.
- www.LinkedIn.com. Linked in is considered a professional networking site. There are a few groups for NPs there, and I’ve certainly made some great contacts myself. However, it’s another place that potential patients are searching for providers.
- www.twitter.com. Twitter is what is known as a micro-blogging platform. You can only “tweet” a total of 140 characters per “tweet” or message. So how on earth can people find you there? Give patients valuable information that leads them back to your site. For example, if you have written something on your website (or your Facebook page), you can tweet about a new post on “Do women really need a pap smear?” and direct them to that post or article.
While all this seems overwhelming, it’s not. Just work on one of these at a time…I’d start with Facebook. You will most likely notice a difference.
And be sure and “follow me” on Twitter, add me as your friend on Facebook, and join my network on LinkedIn. I’ll see you there.
