When I made the move from local news to Penn Medicine’s department of Communications at the beginning of the year, I took over Penn Medicine In the News, our daily e-newsletter that goes out to faculty and staff. Besides serving as a showcase for much of the great work that is done here, it’s helped me get a grasp of what our readers find most interesting each day.
In the newsletter, there are three spaces to feature stories: one for news stories of all types which mention Penn Medicine in any way, another for health news unrelated to Penn Medicine, and the third section is for press releases written by our communications staff.
Once you take into account that all of our readers are Penn Medicine employees, it’s unsurprising that news regarding our health system tends to among the most popular. Whether it’s a story about the 250th anniversary of the Perelman School of Medicine or its top 5 ranking in U.S. News & World Report, stories about Penn Medicine are almost always the most read that day.
Readers also seem to respond to pressing issues in health care, which again is not necessarily surprising. On Monday, the most clicked on story in the newsletter was a news item in Bloomberg Business about the struggle between insurers and the makers of expensive specialty drugs. An opinion piece in the New York Times by a University of Minnesota medical ethics professor also led the day it was included. The professor wrote about a long history of scandals at his university and used them to talk about the overall review process for studies.
It’s also no surprise, this being the Internet and all, that emotional or heartwarming feature stories can grab attention as well. A recent New York Times story about how, through routine walks with his new dog, a cancer survivor realized he would likely live a full life was the most read that day.
Articles that offer health advice also tend to be popular, as they are across the web. An article in the New York Times about the benefits of a two-minute walk and another in Men’s Health about how to take the perfect nap led the newsletter that day. That second one included advice from our own Michael A. Grandner, PhD, a Psychiatry instructor and member of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology.
A quick look at the newsletters that went out from March through the end of May shows most interest lies in news stories about the health care industry and its many facets. Leading 46.9 percent of the days were your typical news stories about health. That could include any new discoveries, medical meetings, etc. News about Penn Medicine itself led 21.9 percent of the time and not far behind that at 15.6 percent are the health features, including a piece in the New Yorker about British neurosurgeon Henry Marsh and his new book, Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery.
Of all the most-viewed stories during that time period, Penn Medicine is featured in the great majority. That makes sense too, considering the incredible work done here at Penn Medicine and what my department does to shine a light on it.
What does it all mean? This information gives me and my colleagues a chance to see what our readers respond to and using that, consistently craft a newsletter that grabs your attention in the morning and provides the information that keeps you up to date, both what’s happening here at Penn Medicine and elsewhere.
And feel free to send any feedback regarding the newsletter to PennMedicineCommunications@uphs.upenn.edu.