| Medical casting or "Medcasting" is the commercial | | | | web pages. Most institutions have numerous web |
| application of podcasting for medical related | | | | pages which deliver medical information in text |
| institutions. Medcasting is the distribution and | | | | format, by providing an audio or video link on that |
| publishing of audio and video feeds, that offer | | | | page it gives the user a different and potentially |
| medical information delivered over the Internet, | | | | more effective format for receiving the |
| for on demand listening. | | | | information. This is also a great way to teach |
| This is a new step in the evolution of on-demand | | | | your existing users how to start utilizing |
| medical information delivery, making it accessible, | | | | medcasting services. |
| informative, useful and appealing. This mix | | | | The popularity of portable on demand information |
| presents the medical industry with a very unique | | | | will grow even greater as wireless internet |
| opportunity to reach its community through this | | | | services continue to flourish across the country. |
| new medium. Those individuals, who are already | | | | These portable devices will no longer have to be |
| seeking medical information actively, will use RSS | | | | connected to the internet; they will receive |
| subscription technology built into each podcast | | | | information wirelessly as it is updated. In addition, |
| feed, to receive information immediately as it is | | | | as cell phones and portable devices continue to |
| updated by the medical institution. With one click | | | | merge together, the market grows larger. |
| of a button, a user can subscribe to a feed that | | | | Additional formats that are being used consist of; |
| may be interesting, and any related information | | | | medical talk shows, where various specialists |
| that is ever updated to that feed will be | | | | within each institution will speak or answer |
| automatically processed to their personal | | | | questions on a certain topic. Medical lectures and |
| aggregator. An aggregator is able to subscribe to | | | | seminars can be recorded and made available for |
| a feed, check for new content at | | | | the public or employees to download easily and |
| user-determined intervals, and retrieve the | | | | on-demand. In addition, any information that may |
| content. | | | | need to be delivered to employees can be |
| To take this process one step further, podcasting | | | | recorded and made available on an in-house |
| publishes each feed with the capability to be | | | | delivery network. For institutions that have |
| transferred to any portable audio or video device. | | | | thousands of employees, the distribution of |
| So with the growth of the ipod and all the other | | | | company information is very important, and once |
| portable media devices, you have the ability to | | | | again this offers each institution a method of |
| grab Medcasts and place them on your portable | | | | on-demand delivery which is convenient to all. |
| player for listening or viewing. Most users attach | | | | Medcasting can also be used as a direct line of |
| their portable players to their computers daily or | | | | communication, by recording video-casts of |
| weekly, and once the player is attached they | | | | company messages from executives for |
| automatically receive the new medcast updates. | | | | company wide distribution. |
| The flexibility of this medium is what will drive the | | | | There are numerous uses for medcasting |
| growth of Medcasting tremendously over the | | | | currently, and over the next few years it will |
| next few years. Currently the most useful | | | | explode in popularity. It is beneficial to institutions |
| application for medical institutions worldwide is to | | | | as well as the consumer, and it will be seen as a |
| compliment already existing medical information | | | | great tool in any medical organizations' operations. |