COMING OUT OF THE PANDEMIC, one hospitalist’s willingness to move out of her comfort zone and explore new ways to enhance patient education has led her in front of television cameras for almost two years.
In early 2023, Ijeoma Carol Nwelue, MD, a hospital medicine consultant who’s directed different hospitalist groups over the course of her career, was offered the chance to record several two- and three-minute TV segments a week from an old storage room turned “studio” in a hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Each segment focused on a health care topic that she chose, responding to questions from a newscaster with a local television station.
Over time, that remote recording morphed into her doing biweekly segments live with a news anchor in a TV studio instead. Several segments in which she’s featured have been picked up by other TV stations around the country and even in foreign markets.
“It’s given me the opportunity to educate many more patients than just one-on-one in the hospital.”
Ijeoma Carol Nwelue, MD
Dr. Nwelue, who is now recognized at supermarkets and at her local airport, has finally gotten used to being on camera. She spoke to Today’s Hospitalist.
Was this immediately comfortable for you? You have, after all, spent years talking to patients and in meetings as a hospitalist leader.
I was definitely not comfortable. I am a complete introvert and shy at my core, so it took some convincing for me to believe that this was something I could do.
But it’s all related to health care, which helps. It’s like I’m educating a patient about what’s going on in their disease process. But unlike talking to a patient, you’re in front of a camera with a much-shortened time frame. You have to transition to very short soundbites while making sure you get your main points across.
When we first began, I was being taped remotely so I was just looking into a camera and I couldn’t see the person I was talking to. That made it easier to retape if I didn’t like a particular take—but I find that being in a studio, it’s a lot easier speaking live with someone. You can read their body language and strike up a conversation.
But I still get the jitters every time. I also spend time doing a lot of background research, reviewing articles and recently-published studies to confirm that the data I am sharing are accurate and up to date.
How do you pick the topics you cover?
Often, I’ll speak about a study that’s in the news or a celebrity who has made headlines because they received a particular diagnosis.
I also think about common health risks and diagnoses, and I often focus on hypertension, diabetes, cancers, metabolic syndrome—the high-volume diseases we see the sequelae of in the hospital. For TV, I’m trying to prevent viewers from even needing to be hospitalized, so I talk quite a bit about prevention, avoidable risk factors, appropriate management and the importance of being diagnosed early as an outpatient.
Some topics can be local. If you’re in an area where excessive heat is a problem, for instance, viewers can certainly use reminders on how to stay hydrated and cool in the summer.
And while I typically pick and research one topic to discuss every other week, the news anchors usually ask me about some health-related trend—sleepy girl mocktails was one—that’s popular on TikTok. They give me a heads-up the day before or that morning so I can look into what they want to cover and speak to it.
What has surprised you about having a larger profile?
I did not expect viewers to try to find me. I’m a hospitalist so I don’t really have a posted number, but some folks did find the hospitalist office number of my last group and called to try to make an appointment with me.
I forward their requests on to other physicians, but I always get back to the people who call. It’s interesting the things I hear: I’ve reconnected with someone I went to college with, and I’ve talked to people after a New Year’s Eve segment I did on “dry January.” They told me they struggled with alcoholism, and they appreciated that message.
I also had one woman call to say that it was really nice to have someone who looks like her on television, which encouraged me to continue. It’s all been positive.
Do you enjoy it?
I do. It’s nice to try something I’ve never done, and it’s given me the opportunity to educate many more patients than just one-on-one in the hospital. It’s also interesting to see what happens in the background on television and how hard the industry works to get information out.
I know that hospitals and health systems are looking for ways to get the word out in their community about disease prevention, but I didn’t realize how many networks are looking for people to provide these types of insights. I’ve also been surprised at how many physicians have reached out to me because they want to do the same thing.
I’m working on an educational tool for clinicians on how they can learn to do this well, and I’m planning on doing an in-person seminar next year. I want to talk about media training, but it’s really about being able to create what a friend of mine calls “an executive presence.” Those skills can be helpful with patients or giving grand rounds—or speaking to the media.
Phyllis Maguire is Executive Editor of Today’s Hospitalist.
