【Tomorrow at noon】

"The sound quality is like a TV series, but the cruel thing is reality."

A barrage reads in the popular science video of "Oncology Doctor Zhao Dongbing" on B station.

Most of his popular science videos record outpatient experiences. Patients with digestive tract tumors or relatives raised questions with panic and uneasy, and each of them was answered and sorted out by Zhao Dongbing. He gave a treatment plan and after ensuring that all doubts were answered, the consultation was over.

As the "national team" for tumor prevention and treatment, chief physician of the Department of Pancreatic Gastrosurgery at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the first member of the National Health Science Popularization Expert Database, Zhao Dongbing started doing short video popularization since May 17, 2020. So far, a total of 314 popular science videos have been uploaded, with 500,000 and 604,000 followers on Toutiao and TikTok respectively.

"In the past three months, at least half of the patients who visited my outpatient clinic have watched videos, so the influence is still very great." Zhao Dongbing said. Why does the outpatient clinic that doctors are used to have such great attention and influence?

Record the entire medical treatment process

It is said that it is a popular science popularization of short videos. Zhao Dongbing's videos are not short. Each outpatient video often takes 8-12 minutes. Not only does it record the complete medical treatment process, but it also attaches a professional popular science introduction to the end.

At the beginning, after the production team proposed to shoot outpatient videos, Zhao Dongbing was a little resistant: What is the best outpatient clinic? The number of his own outpatient clinics is large, and everyone's consultation time will be extended, which will affect work. Taking the medical treatment process can easily reveal privacy, and patients will not be willing to do so.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhao Dongbing's outpatient clinic was relatively not as busy as before, and shooting outpatient scenes became feasible.

"The process of going out of the clinic is actually a popular science process. Patients or family members need to understand the knowledge related to the disease, and normal people actually need this knowledge. How do they know? They need to explain medical knowledge in words that ordinary people can understand."

The prerequisite for shooting videos is that the patient is informed and agrees. Zhao Dongbing told the patient that the entire medical treatment process will be recorded. If agreed, it will be displayed in the form of popular science while protecting privacy.

"I initially thought the patients would be very reluctant, but later I found that they were very willing." Zhao Dongbing said that on the one hand, many patients did not understand medical knowledge. Dr. Zhao agreed to the patient or his family members to record his words when he went out of the clinic, so it was a two-way consent; on the other hand, every patient hoped that the doctor would explain as much as possible. After shooting outpatient videos, Zhao Dongbing's outpatient time was indeed extended, and sometimes it was only after seeing a doctor who came to work in the afternoon to go to the clinic.

"To be honest, the people of our country have a very shallow understanding of tumors and do not have particularly credible channels. Although there is a lot of information online, the quality is uneven, and patients have no choice between professional and non-professional, traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. So they especially hope to have a professional and authoritative voice."

The new crown epidemic in May 2020 was relatively stable. The production team set up machines and recorded videos when Zhao Dongbing went out of the clinic. He selected some videos with strong popular science and uploaded them to the Toutiao account "Oncology Doctor Zhao Dongbing". The content was divided into six collections: "diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer", "diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer", "rehabilitation after surgery", "gastrointestinal stromal tumors", "multiple tumors throughout the body", and "dry goods series - diagnosis and misunderstandings". Then Douyin, Bilibili, Penguin, Baijiahao and others also opened accounts.

After doing short video popularization, Zhao Dongbing began to pay attention to new media short videos. "There are some exaggerated contents in it, which is exactly this point. I think I should do short video popularization. After all, I represent the doctors in the regular hospital of the "national team". What I say is professionally scientific and rational, which is better than letting those who fool people occupy their positions."

In April 2021, Zhao Dongbing said at the "Tik Tok Popular Science Video Production Training Conference" held by Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing, he said that he would do scientific popularization with rigorous and scientific content. He had five major principles - not belittle his peers, not harm the rights and interests of patients, not recommend medication, and not popularize content other than professional science, and must remain neutral.

Speaking of maintaining neutrality, Zhao Dongbing said: "Tumor treatment is a comprehensive treatment. The disciplines that play a leading role in different stages and treatment are different. For example, patients are given surgery in the late stage of gastric cancer, but in fact they do not prolong their survival time. Staying neutral is to emphasize the limitations of the discipline and science. For new drugs in research and development, new treatment methods should also be discussed and maintained by the doctor's rigor and standardization."

The shooting of popular science videos has lasted for a year and a half. After watching Zhao Dongbing's popular science videos, many people flew to Beijing from Yunnan and Guangxi to hang out of his outpatient clinic, "I want to hear your judgment of the disease." They did not watch one or two of them, but watched almost all more than 200 videos, and then made a judgment that Zhao Dongbing's diagnosis and treatment was closer to what he believed to be scientific, professional and rational.

In Zhao Dongbing's view, surgeons perform surgery on people is a treatment. However, the meaning of saving people is broader, and many people may be in a sub-healthy state. "The biggest role of popular science is to give the public a healthy lifestyle. This is more meaningful than getting sick and then treating it."

After showing the real outpatient clinic, the end of each video is about 2 minutes of professional popular science introduction, how to choose the best treatment method for patients. "I said plain language during outpatient communication, but popular science should emphasize professionalism. I believe that most ordinary people cannot understand the final link, but this thing needs to be done."

"This is for patients to show it, and it is also helpful to the grassroots doctors below." Zhao Dongbing's comment section benefited many doctors. A doctor who studied at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences accidentally saw his video. After listening, he found that the therapy he had learned had been updated and expressed his gratitude to him on WeChat.

In addition to professional knowledge, medicine also requires strong communication skills and high humanistic literacy. Another idea of ​​Zhao Dongbing's outpatient science popularization is: the outpatient clinic is a process of medical treatment, and it can also be a classroom for doctor-patient communication.

Unlike the "sentences" of the audience wearing a suit jacket to the TV station in traditional TV programs, the outpatient clinic faces real tumor patients and family members. Although everyone knows the tumor and is no longer "fearing talking about cancer", the patients and family members are very panicked.

Zhao Dongbing said that he would speak relatively implicitly to the patient and might tell the truth to his family. "The same thing can also be explained clearly in a more soothing or encouraging tone."

In the video, he always spoke in a tone of discussion. He would gently take the film from the lights to put it into a pile. When the patient was unable to make a decision, he said, "I will not get off work before twelve o'clock. If I think of other questions again, I can come in and ask again if I don't understand."

Someone commented under his popular science video: "It turns out that this is the last period of life. The doctor's wording is also gentle, tactful and fresh." "I especially like to listen to Dr. Zhao talk about the patient's condition, be patient and meticulous, and speak gentle and elegantly." In addition to professionalism, "patience" is the keyword in Zhao Dongbing's comment section.

Patience is to give enough time for patients and their families. Zhao Dongbing believes that the trick to communicate with doctors is to think from the perspective of others: What kind of doctor do I want to see when I am sick?

"Doctors should be willing to listen and speak. These two points are very important. After almost every outpatient patient has a medical treatment, I will ask you if there is any other problem? The patient has no problems and takes the initiative to leave. Most of my outpatient hours will not be over until the doctor who comes to the hospital comes in the afternoon. Because a patient must give so much time to complete the communication. Listen, he must finish the conversation; if you talk, you must make it clear that this process is at least 3-5 minutes, and some patients may need 10-15 minutes."

During the treatment process, patients should also be guided appropriately to teach useful information. Some patients who are difficult to communicate will even talk about their lives to the doctor. This is also a test for doctors. How to lead this topic to the disease?

"He has fallen into the matter, you have to pull him back from that scene. During the pause, the doctor needs to interrupt it in time. I have already understood this matter. Let's go back to the disease now."

Most people who are cancer patients or their families are confused when they see a doctor and don’t know what they want to ask the doctor. Zhao Dongbing suggested that before meeting the doctor, list the 1,234 most concerned questions, so as not to forget when they are outpatient and their minds are blank when they leave the clinic.

Many medical students also like to watch Zhao Dongbing's popular science videos and regard him as a benchmark in their hearts. What impressed Zhao Dongbing was that last year a classmate who was preparing for the graduate exam sent him an email, "After watching your popular science video, I know how to communicate with patients. I want to take the graduate exam and become a doctor like you in the future." It was changed to "I was a super fan of you in bilibili a long time ago. I watched every video carefully. In your communication with patients, I was impressed by your personal charm and professional qualities."

"This type of vlog popular science video also has a demonstration effect on young medical students. Because doctors and nurses on TV are interpreted, real life is very hard, especially young surgeons. Let more people understand the profession of doctors, make the younger generation love the medical profession, and think that being a doctor is a cool thing." Zhao Dongbing said half-jokingly and half-seriously: "Otherwise young people are unwilling to be doctors, and it will be a very troublesome thing in the future."

A normal mind

"I'm not trying to be an internet celebrity, nor do I pursue traffic. If it's meaningful, I will do it; if it's meaningless, it won't affect my work." Zhao Dongbing has a normal attitude towards popular science.

Since 2012, Zhao Dongbing has participated in the TV station in recording popular science programs related to gastric and pancreatic tumors. Since then, medical treatment, surgery, scientific research, and popular science are all part of Zhao Dongbing's life. He said: "Popular science is a sublimation of medical treatment. I have not set off any time to do short video popular science. I just moved from TV station to self-media, but my original intention has not changed."

Zhao Dongbing now has 1.3 million fans on major online platforms, with a cumulative video viewing volume of nearly 150 million times, and won the "Top 20 Top 20 High-quality Creators of 2020" and "No. 1 in the Top 10 Health V Creation Camp in the First Season" awarded by Toutiao.

Zhao Dongbing and the production team each contributed half of each episode. "I don't pay attention to the traffic of the video, but only control the professionalism of the content, not the communication. I still think so."

Team members argued with him: You are not right to think this way. If there is no video or dissemination, how can medical popularization be achieved? Zhao Dongbing knew that they were right, but he had his own persistence: I think I would go astray for the sake of traffic, and that was not our original intention.

"The popular science content I have prepared carefully will do as long as it is helpful to others." Zhao Dongbing summarized this kind of helping spirit into a professional habit of a doctor.

In fact, most of the feedback he received came from people around him or patients who came to consult. Some of them, who were "off the Internet", rarely visited short video apps, and did not know why young people like B station. Zhao Dongbing did a step-by-step approach to treating patients, surgery, scientific research, and took time to prepare materials and record videos during weekend breaks. "Preparing popular science content is sometimes a kind of rest. It is not that people sleeping while lying down is called rest, and charging is also rest."

This kind of normal mentality is also reflected in Zhao Dongbing's outpatient clinic. Zhao Dongbing still remembers that a young man with gastritis was worried about whether it would become cancerous. Overall, the patient is anxious, has a lot of work pressure, and has a little insomnia. The young man looked for 15 minutes, but he did not have tumor diseases. After consultation, he said to Zhao Dongbing: "You have not solved my problem, and you should refund the registration fee of 100 yuan."

Zhao Dongbing's first reaction was that this idea was very strange, "Although these 15 minutes did not help you, it took time and the diagnosis and treatment had been completed." Later, the young man felt that what he said made sense and did not persist.

Zhao Dongbing said that if he insisted, I would also quit, no problem. Since you satisfied him at the beginning, why bother him dissatisfied in the end?

A doctor who is very kind to the patient is unexpectedly a strict teacher for the students.

Peking Union Medical College is a special school in a junior college, and the teacher only takes one student every year. He said that it is not easy for students to get in. It is not a matter of training a surgeon. The job of a surgeon is like fighting a war. A relatively strict environment will make a person successful. In a relatively comfortable and stress-free environment, students will not grow. In order to make his students grow faster, Zhao Dongbing created a strict atmosphere.

His students also participated in popular science work, and most of the Q&A in the comment area below the video were completed by the students. They also set up a Q&A team.

In the past three months, at least half of the patients in Zhao Dongbing's outpatient clinic have watched videos. He said that the significance of popular science is to avoid getting sick, get sick less, and not go to the hospital. "It's not that I came to see me after watching the video. I hope that the audience who watch the video has a particularly good sense of cancer prevention. Those who don't have cancer know how to prevent it. Patients with cancer can avoid or not take detours during treatment."
Chapter completed!