The prevalence of multimedia in our society is widespread and far-reaching. Just look to our presidential election. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, has a grasp of the many mediums through which we obtain our political information – and he’s winning. John McCain is the old pen-and-paper stalwart – and he looks a bit lost and his campaign is in shambles. Whether it’s through chain emails, Youtube videos, blogs, or clips from the Daily Show and MSNBC being passed around through office emails, this campaign has been played out online. But really, isn’t all of life like this nowadays?

You, as doctors looking to improve your services, need to be aware of the power of multimedia and the Internet. Now, you’re already reading this blog, so you’re part of the way there already. You can do a whole lot more than just reading blogs, though. One great way is to build on the informational material you’ve been providing already – through brochures, posters, and signs in the waiting and exam rooms – through DVDs or compact discs containing the same information presented in a hip, accessible way. Now, with the DVDs, you’ll want to create an interactive presentation. Maybe hire a programmer to create a simple game that lets the player explore the anatomy of the human body, or one that puts the player in the role of a white blood cell attacking harmful viruses. An easier presentation to implement is a simple slideshow or Power Point program. Really, the possibilities are endless – you can pretty much try anything you want. That can be secretly difficult to pull off, though. When you have all the options in the world, it’s easy to get it wrong, so take care that you don’t get careless and flippant. Make it count for something.

The best way to advertise these DVDs is in a CD display holder. Don’t be fooled by the name; a DVD and a CD are identical sizes, so the CD display holder will definitely work.

We’ve been talking for awhile now about the importance of getting informational material out into the examination and waiting rooms of your offices. I think I’ve done a pretty thorough job of urging you doctors to take an active role in making sure your patients are well informed, engaged, and never bored. And, for the most part, I bet you doctors reading this blog will most likely take my advice to heart and start focusing on the little details that make a doctor’s visit a good one, or a bad one.

First, put up informational signs in the waiting room. Waiting room visits are taking longer and longer nowadays, and people will eventually get sick of all the old outdated magazines for which doctors’ offices are famous. If you fill the customer’s periphery with great medial informational posters and signs, you’ll have an engaged, informed customer clientele. Put up some cool pictures of the human body or something, too – the kids love that stuff.

Use much the same method in the examination rooms, too. Imagine this: you’ve been sitting in a noisy waiting room with screaming children for half an hour, only to be ushered into a plain examination room with the assurance that “the doctor will be right with you.” But be honest, docs – you’re never “right with us.” Have a heart and apply the waiting room poster concepts to the exam room.

Whichever you choose, be sure to use acrylic sign holders to protect your posters and give them a professional appearance. You can opt for wall-mounted holders – most do – but another option is to use sign bases. The sign base simply allows a poster or sign to stand up at a slight angle (perfect for viewing) on a table or desk. You don’t want the walls to be absolutely choked by covers, so use sign bases to give your poster arrangements some three-dimensionality.

One more piece of advice for all you doctors out there looking to spruce up your waiting room environment and make it more inviting and welcoming to patients: put up posters! People aren’t going to be satisfied with your old, outdated magazines for very long. They can only read about Brangelina and Bennifer news for so long. Patients are people, too, and they have a breaking point! But don’t be lulled into the ugly habit that most offices – not even just doctors – have when displaying posters: those cheap, totally inauthentic posters with pseudo-inspirational terms like “Integrity” or “Persistence” accompanied by some random, cookie-cutter nature scene. People don’t like those and they’ve become a huge parody of themselves, so lose the sunset shots. A better option would be to put up informational medical posters. That way, the patients will have something substantive to look at while they wait and wait for their names to be called.

I would suggest using a poster detailing all the segments of the human anatomy; that one’s good with the kids and it actually teaches them something useful. If you’re, say, an orthopedist dealing with knees, put up a poster with the interior view of the knee, including tendons, joints, bones, ligaments, with an explanation describing each part. Or this could even work for you dentists. Get a nice poster with comprehensive cross-sections of the teeth from all angles, including what a cavity or decay might look like, and put it up. You could even take it a step further and include some brochures with even more information to clarify just what the patients are looking at on the poster.

Whatever you decide, it’s a good idea to put your posters up in poster holders. That way, you can protect your possessions while presenting them in a professional, distinguished manner. Just slapping some bare posters up on the wall makes your waiting room look like a ten year-old girl’s bedroom; you want to inspire confidence in your patients, not ridicule. Your best bet is to use the style A acrylic sign holder. It’s angled and fits perfectly on a desk or table, so you can display your poster to align with the patients’ eyes. They won’t even have a chance to get bored and annoyed – your style a sign holder will leap out at them! And even better, use a style A with brochure pockets to hold your information brochures and expand on the info presented in the poster.