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March 1997
Volume 61 |
Number 3
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| News of ASA Scientific
Presentations Reaches 48 Million People |
Media relations efforts by ASA before and during the 1996 ASA
Annual Meeting last October resulted in an extraordinary response
from national and local media outlets throughout North America.
A total of 48 million television viewers, radio listeners and
newspaper readers either viewed, listened to or read news stories
about several scientific presentations and research reported for
the first time at the ASA Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.
More than 800 media outlets received media kits mailed in advance
of the 1996 ASA Annual Meeting. The kit included news releases
on selected scientific presentations, refresher courses or panel
presentations on topics of interest to the general public, including
studies on pre-emptive pain treatments, pain relief methods for
childbirth, blood substitutes, postoperative recovery times and
quality control measures.
Based on audience and circulation figures supplied to ASA from
a media monitoring service, 450 consumer broadcast and print outlets
released news stories about these presentations at the ASA Annual
Meeting. Almost one-half of those news stories were devoted to
a presentation on pre-emptive analgesia, presented by Allan Gottschalk,
M.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. After USA Today and the Associated Press
ran stories on Dr. Gottschalk's studies, the ASA Annual Meeting
press office was contacted by the NBC Today Show program in New
York City. Within hours, Dr. Gottschalk was on an airplane to
New York so he could be in the studio the following morning for
an interview with Today Show host Katie Couric. More than 4.5
million television viewers saw that interview with Dr. Gottschalk
explaining his research about improved postoperative results when
patients are given pre-emptive pain medications.
Table 1
| Print
Media Coverage |
|
Lead Author
|
No. of Placements
|
Circulation
|
|
Gottschalk
|
207
|
14,493,470
|
|
Weber
|
91
|
9,567,314
|
|
Massand
|
60
|
8,762,946
|
|
Glass
|
51
|
6,684,721
|
|
Tung
|
34
|
5,660
|
|
Carpenter
|
6
|
60,014
|
|
Birnbach
|
2
|
245,338
|
|
TOTALS
|
451
|
39,819,463
|
| Figures
were provided by Bacon's Media Services, Chicago, Illinois. |
|
In addition to the Today Show, several other scientific presentations
received prominent attention in USA Today, on the CBS Radio Network,
the Associated Press (newswire and radio), United Press International
and the Mutual Broadcast Network, to name just a few. [See Figure
1]
The other presenters and the title of their news releases that
were also included in the ASA media kit were:
- David J. Birnbach, M.D., "Walking Epidural Blocks Labor
Pain But Lets Mom Move";
- Eric L. Bloomfield, M.D., "Blood Substitute Could Offer
Safe Alternative to Transfusions";
- Randall L. Carpenter, M.D., "Pain-Relieving Technique
May Reduce Complications After Surgery";
- David W. Edsall, M.D., "Demings Quality Control Methods
Can Improve Anesthesia Too";
- Peter S. Glass, M.D., "Women Wake Up Twice as Fast as
Men From Anesthesia";
- Arun K. Gupta, M.D., "Fiberoptic Probe May Help Prevent
Secondary Brain Damage";
- Nadine J. Keegan, M.D., "Parent's Vital Signs Soar Seeing
Kids Anesthetized";
- Bimal Massand, M.D., "Secondhand Smoke Hinders Children's
Recovery From Surgery";
- Christopher J. O'Connor, M.D., "Does Hospital Cost-Cutting
Hurt Patients?";
- Avery Tung, M.D., "Test For Cyanide Poisoning Could Save
Burn Patient's Lives";
- Lee K. Wallace, M.D., "Study Finds Link Between Blood
Sugar And Surgical Infections";
- Florence L. Watts, M.D., "Simple Test Can Detect Severe
Asthmatics Before Surgery";
- Joseph G. Weber, M.D., "Caffeine Before or After Surgery
Prevents Postoperative Headaches."
The process of selecting the 14 scientific presentations for
the Annual Meeting media kit began four months before the ASA
Annual Meeting. More than 1,200 scientific papers were reviewed
for their timeliness and possible news worthiness, and on June
21 in Chicago, the Annual Meeting publicity meeting was held,
chaired by Bradley E. Smith, M.D., Chair, 1996 Section on Annual
Meeting. Anthony D. Ivankovich, M.D., 1996 Vice-Chair and 1997
Annual Meeting Chair, with members of the ASA staff and a Chicago-area
science writer also attended.
Each year at the ASA Annual Meeting, participants featured in
the media kit and ASA officers are offered the opportunity to
be interviewed for radio news stories that are then distributed
across the country immediately following the conclusion of the
meeting, with priority given to each doctor's hometown. In 1996,
these radio reports produced by News Broadcast Network, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, generated another 8.9 million radio listeners.
In all, 48.7 million people either read, saw or heard a news
story connected to the 1996 Annual Meeting and the medical specialty
of anesthesiology. [See Figure 2] ASA
gratefully acknowledged the cooperation and time involvement by
those members who participated in this vital media event.
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