What physicians should know before they’re interviewed by the media [PODCAST]

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“Lights, camera, action!

You get a call from your hospital’s public relations office asking you to speak to the local news. Even though this isn’t your first time, your heart is pounding, with a mix of nerves and excitement. You start doubting whether you have anything valuable to say about the topic, even though, yes – you went through many years of medical school and residency before this moment. You are also worried about how to avoid looking foolish or unprofessional on-air. Or worse, how to avoid having your words taken out of context.

No? OK, then maybe that’s just me. There are still some key tips and tricks you should know to optimize your performance.”

Tyeese L. Gaines is an emergency physician and branding and media coach.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, “8 things physicians should know before they’re interviewed by the media.”

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Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.

Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show, where we share the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. My name is Kevin Pho, founder and editor of KevinMD. Today on the show we have Tyeese Gaines. She is an emergency physician as well as a media and branding coach. She wrote the KevinMD article “8 things physicians should know before they’re interviewed by the media.” Tyeese, welcome to the show.

Tyeese L. Gaines: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Kevin Pho: So we’ll get into your article in a little bit, but first off, can you share your story and your journey to where you are today?

Tyeese L. Gaines: Absolutely. As you said, I’m a board-certified emergency physician now, but I actually started medical school 20 years ago, which I can’t even believe. Between first and second year, I actually left med school. Everyone else was going off to do MPHs; I actually went and did a master’s in journalism. I had been writing since before I even went to med school, and I started interning for an NBC station while I was in the first year of med school and really just decided I needed to learn more. I really wanted to learn the craft of journalism.

So I did that and finished that master’s, came back, and finished med school, obviously. From pretty much that point forward, through residency at Yale and onward, I worked in news for most of the last 20 years, mostly with NBC outlets, but anywhere from freelance all the way up to full-time positions. At the same time, I did practice clinical emergency medicine, rose in the ranks of administration, and was chair of my department. Then I flipped over to urgent care for a while, ultimately opening up my own urgent care, which has since closed in COVID. So I kind of had the full breadth of medicine and journalism.

Kevin Pho: So where did your interest in journalism start?

Tyeese L. Gaines: That’s a good question. I’ve always had a creative side, and I found that I could take that and actually weave it in with health and medicine. So even when I was a pre-med, folks would come to me and say, “Hey, you’re taking all these science courses. We have this health topic we want covered. Could you write about that?” So I started with the column, like I said, even before I started med school, and continued that throughout med school and kind of formed a niche. But I would be lying if I said I started out thinking, “You know what? I’m going to be this health journalist in the future.” It was literally just two loves and me trying to figure out how to put them together.

Kevin Pho: Especially over the past year during COVID, I think it’s tremendously imperative to have that physician voice in mainstream media in terms of interpreting the studies, which are changing so quickly, and interpreting all that COVID news that’s coming out. In your assessment, what is the status of medical journalism today?

Tyeese L. Gaines: What’s interesting is I was working full-time in news as well as practicing up until the point that I created my media company, Dr. Ty Media. The reason why I created that was kind of the point that you’re alluding to: I wasn’t really seeing a lot of health care providers, particularly physicians, in front of the camera, and for me that was a problem. I felt like the researchers that actually know the data and the science, and the physicians that are actually on the ground, needed to be the ones talking about these issues. No disrespect to reporters, how great to have them, but the issue becomes that we’re not always trained to speak in that type of a forum, where we’re breaking things down, where we’re entertaining, as opposed to how we talk when we’re giving grand rounds. That doesn’t cut it when you’re talking to the news. So that’s kind of what birthed the coaching: realizing we have all these amazing people that have this information, but we need to really get them in front of the camera.

That being said, to your question, I’ve loved seeing all the various faces that have been in front of the camera lately. I would just say as tips, if you are talking to the media, just remember to really break it down. I think as health care professionals, especially those of us that get used to talking to other health professionals all the time, we forget what the average person understands and doesn’t understand. They may even use our jargon, but they’re not always using it correctly. So the safest thing, especially in journalism and news, is just to use a sixth-grade level. It doesn’t mean that you’re not going to have patients that understand more, or not going to have an audience that understands more, but if you can aim for that level, you’re going to get everybody, is the hope.

So I would just say, make sure that we’re really breaking this down on a lower level, because as much as I’m happy to see my colleagues on the screen, I definitely still get the texts and the emails of, “I heard this news story. They used this word, but I don’t know what that means.” So I still think we have to always work on breaking it down, because we have all this jargon running around in our heads that seems normal, but the average person is like, “What are they talking about?” Or they’re Googling, right? So I’d say, as far as the state of where we are, I really like that we’re getting more experts in front of the camera, because that was my passion. That was my reason for doing this for so long and then deciding to coach, because I wanted more of us to be able to do that, to have that access.

Kevin Pho: So let’s transition now into your KevinMD article, where you share more tips, and it’s titled “8 things physicians should know before they’re interviewed by the media.” So what are some other things that you could recommend to physicians when they’re being interviewed on a radio, on a podcast, or on television for the first time?

Tyeese L. Gaines: Yeah, so the important thing, and this goes for this article as well as even the other article I wrote about branding, is before you even sit down for that interview, be mindful of who your audience is, because you’re going to answer the questions differently, right? If you are doing more of a trade publication or trade site, where your audience is going to be another physician or a dentist or a nurse, you might speak differently, because they have different interests than if you’re talking to the average Joe Blow at home listening to it. So always remember: Who is my audience, and why do they care about what I’m talking about? Because they may care about that particular topic for a totally different reason than a fellow physician cares about that topic. It doesn’t mean it’s any more or less important, but it’s your job as a messenger to pivot based on who you’re talking to, right?

So let’s say you’re being interviewed by, like, Men’s Health. Well, you probably wouldn’t go into a whole explanation about how that disease affects postpartum women, right? Because that’s not your audience. So if you’re going to be effective, and you’re going to take your time to even be interviewed and put makeup on and buy a ring light, make sure that you’re being effective. The first step in that is always being mindful of who you’re talking to and what they care about. It may mean asking a couple of people in that demographic, because you may be out of touch with what they really are experiencing. But I think that’s one of the most important things to do, even before you sit down in the chair: to know who you’re targeting, what the issues are that they care about, and how you can be most effective for them.

Kevin Pho: When I talk to other physicians, one of the things that they’re most fearful of is really the delivery on camera. They may have all the knowledge in the world, and they may be great in the exam room, but once the camera and the lights are turned on, they freeze. Now, are there any ways that they can practice to become more comfortable when the lights are on?

Tyeese L. Gaines: Yes, absolutely. The key, like you said, is practice: practicing until you get comfortable and what you want to say just rolls off your tongue. Some people will say practice in the mirror. I think we have all of this technology now: Record yourself. Set up the camera and record yourself basically being interviewed, or practicing your answers to the questions that you think you’re going to be asked, and see what you do. Do you say “um” a thousand times? Do you seem too stiff? Even in the age of digital now, we’re responsible for our own lighting a lot of times, so is your lighting right? Do you sound right? Are you talking too fast? Are you talking too slowly? I think doing that a lot of times, and really just making sure that you look and sound the way you want, is one of the easiest things you can do.

Even better is to enlist the help of a friend or family member to actually sit down with you and ask you questions, and still record yourself, because, let me tell you, nothing is as humbling as watching yourself on camera. I’m sure you know. You think in your mind, “Oh, yeah, I said this, and I think I got my points across,” and then you see yourself and you’re just like, “Whoa, that’s not what I thought I was projecting,” right?

Very often, a common mistake when people start out is that they’re actually way more muted than they think they are. So a tip is, if you feel like you’re just a little bit over the top, you’re probably just right, because what you think is high energy isn’t coming across the same way to the audience at home. That, again, is something you would never know until you played it back, because it feels like you’re being engaging and you have high energy until you watch it, and you’re just like, “Oh my gosh, I was so dull,” and then you have to kind of pep it up a little bit. So I think utilizing camera phones, or even a regular video camera if that’s what you prefer to use, or a tablet to record yourself is key.

Kevin Pho: So I can attest to what you said about practice. I’ve done almost 300 episodes of this podcast over the past year, and I really started to look at those first episodes, but I can say that the communication skills that I’ve learned by interviewing guests like yourself have really helped me in the exam room, in terms of improving my delivery and being a little more fluid whenever I give patients advice. So I certainly second that advice: Practice, practice, practice.

Tyeese L. Gaines: Absolutely.

Kevin Pho: So the next question I want to ask is about breaking into the media industry. I know a lot of physicians are interested in sharing their knowledge with the public, but they just don’t know where to start. Now, what are some recommendations that you have for physicians who want to break into the mainstream media and perhaps have more of those opportunities?

Tyeese L. Gaines: Sure. I definitely think that geography makes a difference. If you are in a community or a city, like a major city that has multiple news opportunities, then you’re going to be much better off. My suggestion would be to start with your local news, whether that’s print, well, print slash online, or whether that’s television outlets, and kind of start watching and reading who’s producing the news content around health topics. Not every place is going to have a dedicated health producer. It may be your local reporter doing it, but they’ve been pegged as the person that does those stories, or they may mix it up between all of the different reporters. But try to get a feel for who’s doing that coverage.

You could either give them a phone call, you can call the station and ask for them, or you can send them a quick email introducing yourself and just letting them know you’re interested in doing this and you’re available for interviews. That would be a quick, easy way to get started. It doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to always get a call back; you may have to be a little persistent. But that’s one low-hanging-fruit way to do it: Just see who’s doing the coverage in your local community and reach out to them. A lot of times, what happens too is if you do some local spots, then national, of whatever that outlet is, will pick it up and will identify you as an expert, and then you may get into national opportunities. Now, if you’re in a place like New York or L.A., you may be able to get to national outlets a little bit faster by doing a similar method.

But definitely, I would say, one, the local outlets are good because you can get more practice in before you get to those kind of prime-time outlets, as well as just getting to know the folks that are in your community. If there are journalist mixers and networking events, and I know with COVID it’s a little bit different now, but if you can do that and network with folks. A lot of the journalists have associations that are dedicated to health care journalism, that are dedicated to journalists in general, or some of the different ethnic groups have their own journalist associations. It’s just a way to let them know you’re around, you’re available, and you want to talk about those things.

And then the flip side of that is, when you are contacted, if you are contacted, definitely be available. I’ve been on the side of reporter and producer, and the worst thing is contacting someone and they’re never available to actually sit down in a chair. That will quickly move you to the bottom of the list. So if you really want to do this, and you reach out to a reporter or producer and they call you, do your best to get there, and then do the best job that you can. Because when I say “we” and “me,” I’m talking about the journalist side: We’re creatures of habit. If we invite you on and you do a great job, we will continue to call you, because we like known entities. So definitely make sure that you show up, you do your best, and you make yourself available. If they call you a couple of times and you’re never available, it’s probably going to make the chances of them calling you again less likely.

Kevin Pho: We’re talking to Tyeese Gaines. She is an emergency physician as well as a media and branding coach. She wrote the KevinMD article “8 things physicians should know before they’re interviewed by the media.” Tyeese, what are some of your take-home messages that you want my audience to come away with?

Tyeese L. Gaines: So the main take-home that I want other health care professionals to really get is just that, whether you’re building yourself up as an expert, whether that’s in the news or social media, if you have a product that you’re selling, or if you’re growing your practice in a particular community, it’s not enough to just build it. You have to really understand marketing. You really have to understand what it means to have a brand, who your target audience is, and how you’re going to get to those folks and deliver what it is that they want. Long gone are the days of, “I’m just going to be great, and everyone’s going to love that I’m great and come see me,” even for patients, right? I mean, now patients are Googling. They’re looking at your reviews, they’re looking at your websites, your social media accounts. It’s just a different ballgame. So it’s not enough to just build it. You really have to focus on what your brand entails and how you target it.

Kevin Pho: And how can people reach you?

Tyeese L. Gaines: Sure. So on Instagram, I’m dr.tygaines, and also Dr. Ty Media, where “doctor” is all spelled out. We’re on all of the different social media platforms. If folks want to learn more, I put up tips every week about branding and media on the Dr. Ty Media page, and we also have a course going right now, with a boot camp for any health care professionals that want to work on launching their brand.

Kevin Pho: Dr. Ty, thank you so much for sharing your time and insight, and thanks again for being on the show.

Tyeese L. Gaines: You’re welcome. Thank you for having me.

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