Jenna Lisenby isn’t shy but it took her a few minutes to relax with lights, high-tech microphones and a professional video camera trained on her.
Once the physical therapist started talking, then the passion for her work emerged. She works mostly with children: toddlers who can’t yet walk, children with orthopedic problems, teenagers with sports injuries.
She believes in working closely with patients. As she put it: “It’s not, ‘Take two of these and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.’”
Lisenby is one of hundreds of Everett Clinic providers being professionally filmed in an effort to give patients a chance to get to know their doctors before they walk through the door.
“There’s a personal connection that takes place,” she said. “We know that if you like your practitioner, you’re more likely going to stay and agree with what they have to say.”
More hospitals are trying it, and the clinic is on the leading edge of that trend, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the videos of all its 500 providers. So far, they’ve filmed 450.
Lisenby liked the idea so much that when she needed hip surgery she used videos as one tool for choosing the right surgeon.
She checked credentials and work history, but the clincher was watching a video of doctors talk about their work. She knew she had the right one before she walked into the exam room.
“When the physician walks in, you almost feel like you already know them,” Lisenby said.
The Everett Clinic films two videos with each provider. The first is a biographical video so that patients can get to know the provider before the first visit. The second is an educational topic that gives a little information on a commonly asked health and wellness topic.
For her second video, Lisenby chose to talk about a subject she’s passionate about as a coach and soccer player: a knee injury in young girls called Patella femoral. She sees it all the time in young female athletes.
It’s caused by weakness in the hip and tightness of the thigh muscles. As a physical therapist, Lisenby knows that a few changes in how coaches warm up their athletes can help prevent this injury.
Seeing and hearing a doctor speak about their practice gives people a better sense and connection to the provider than simply reading a biography online, said Kim Griffis.
Her company Northwest Video Edge filmed Lisenby’s videos in November and many others for the clinic. When she’s interviewing the doctors, Griffis said she can see the passion providers have for their jobs coming through. And that’s something patients can see, too.
“It helps people feel more comfortable,” she said.
The Everett Clinic spends about $1,000 per video and the clinic gets about 5,000 hits a month total on its YouTube channel.
Patients say they appreciate the videos, and one provider told clinic officials that he saw three new patients in one week who chose him because they liked what they heard on the video, said Michele Graves, a spokeswoman for the clinic.
In addition to the videos, the clinic tries to reach patients through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
To watch
The Everett Clinic has already interviewed 450 of its 500 providers. To see the videos, go to www.youtube.com/user/TheEverettClinic.
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