This year’s Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech delivered the important message that each of us has a voice and deserves to be heard. Thanks to two passionate, driven clinicians, satellite radio—specifically, ReachMD (XM160)—is providing another venue for NPs and PAs to reach new audiences and expand their message, not only to their colleagues but also to physicians and the general public.
Lisa Dandrea Lenell, MPAS, PA-C, and Mimi Secor, MS, MEd, APRN, BC, FNP, FAANP, are the co-hosts of Partners in Practice. They are also Clinician Reviews Editorial Board members, so we decided to turn the tables and put them in the interview chair.
CR: How and when did you get involved with ReachMD?
LENELL: Dr. David Preskill, who started ReachMD, is in our practice’s referral chain. He was advised that if he wanted to expand the listening audience, he needed to get an NP or a PA on board. So, one day he called and asked me if I wanted to get involved. At first, I wasn’t interested, because I had a lot on my plate and I wasn’t really experienced in radio. But he said, “Well, just try.” So I contacted Ed Lopez, PA-C, for my guest, and we put together a demo, and they said, “OK, we’ll get back to you.” And a month later, I was in my car listening to ReachMD, and my show came on! That was October 2007.
I did the show myself—we just called it “The PA Show” then—until Mimi came on board. There had always been talk about expanding the show and bringing out the roles that different people play in health care. Having an NP was always on the agenda.
SECOR: When I got involved was just about a year ago, and how was with the help of a PA [Clinician Reviews Publisher Gary Falcetano, PA-C] who gave my name as a possible host when he heard that ReachMD might be considering adding an NP host. So I actually have a PA to thank for that!
Lisa was so gracious and helpful in assisting me to “get up to speed” as a national radio host. She was supportive, offered constructive suggestions, and wasn’t intimidated when I was added to what had, to that point, been “her” show.
CR: What is your approach to the show, in terms of choosing topics or guests?
SECOR: I have two reasons for doing the show: One is to enhance the visibility of NPs in a positive way, to show how smart they are, how expert they are, what a difference they make in health care, really showcasing the profession in a positive light to the world. And the second is to get good content out there. So the good content is actually used to illustrate how great NPs are.
As far as topics, number one, I have to have my finger on the pulse of what’s going on in my profession. So I’m constantly scanning the literature and keeping an eye on the national monthly occurrences so I can try to coordinate some of the programs we do with, say, Breast Cancer Awareness Month or whatever is going on in the world. Often when I’m interacting with my colleagues at conferences, I’m looking for “the expert.”
LENELL: My goal is to provide a forum where people can get simple answers to simple questions that they might want to ask but for whatever reason won’t ask or don’t know who to ask or how to find out. The goal from the beginning has always been to educate the public, medical professionals, and anyone we can about what a PA is and what we can do, to move the myths and misconceptions out of the way and do a professional, responsible job.
If I hear someone say something about PAs, and I didn’t know that bit of information, I’ll start researching it for a show. I’ve done several on coding and reimbursement for PAs, because I think it’s super important and I get those questions all the time. It’s confusing, and there’s no really great source for PAs. So I’ve had great people on the show to help us walk through that. I’ve done malpractice shows several times, because that’s another one that is really confusing for PAs. So I ask the questions that people want to ask but don’t know how.
I’ve seen a progression from the early shows. Some of the original topics, I knew only what I needed to know. But as I started peeling the onion of the PA profession, something new would come out that interested me, and we’d go after that for a show. It became almost like detective work to get interesting stories that were different.