I’m always on the lookout for new ways to extend the benefits to my MedicCast Listeners. Here’s another one. Blockbuster has come on board with a special advertising deal here at the MedicCast Network.

Special Promotion
Your first month is only $9.99 (plus taxes), a $10 savings from the regular $19.99! The plan includes 3 DVDs at a time, with up to 5 in-store exchanges per month for free movie rentals or discounted game rentals. When you’re finished watching a DVD, just send it back in the provided envelope or return it to a participating BLOCKBUSTER� store. The next available DVD in your rental Queue will be sent automatically.

BLOCKBUSTER Total Access click to activate coupon for $10 off your first month.

Good news has been coming in left and right here at MedicCast Productions.

First, we have launched the new premium members side of the MedicCast Network — The MedicCast Extra!

Check out the Extra Site Video Tour to see what you are missing.

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Second, I have been asked to speak on podcasting, new media, and education at this year’s New Media Expo in August.

Here’s the link to my session

If you are involved in education or corporate communications, you won’t want to miss all of the fantastic speakers and information sessions at this year’s expo. Stay tuned here at the MedicCast, I have a special badge for you to use to register and help out the show here by doing so.

The MedicCast is proud to announce the newest service here at the MedicCast. Many listeners have asked for access to just the tip and med of the week files so that they can review the MedicCast information without the news and listener mail segments.

That is now available plus a whole lot more at the MedicCast Network’s new MedicCast Extra.

New tip and med content added weekly!

Extra content only available to MedicCast Extra subscribers

Educational content from other medical podcasters and instructors

all for less than $1 per week!

Check out the Video Tour below to learn more –

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

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Sign up for the MedicCast Extra now! CLICK HERE

I do a lot of listening and reading to podcasts and blogs about the business of the internet. The reason being that I have kind of fallen into that business by producing the MedicCast Podcast and running the website and MedicCast Forums.

So when I come across an article that asks questions about what the readers and listeners think is the real worth (i.e. what would they pay for the site/podcast/or blog access) I perk up and pay attention. The article to which I’m referring talks about blogs looking at charging $1 per month for access to their full, un-filtered RSS feed.

I want to say that I’m not proposing this model for the MedicCast Podcast or the MedicCast blog feed, yet. But here is why the conversation they propose intrigues me:

1. Doing the MedicCast Podcast is WORK! I spend at least 10 hours over the course of the week just researching news and information, and gathering credible links. That doesn’t include the time spent recording and producing the show.
2. I spend 5 to 10 additional hours each week responding to email from listeners, chasing down links for them, and posting articles on the website for discussion or linked to interesting studies or sites that I have found.
3. If you add in additional time to run the website, forums, and newsletter and the MedicCast becomes close to another full time job.
4. I hear from you (the EMTs, Paramedics, and students who read the blog and listen to the MedicCast) that I helped you pass a test or class — or that my show has helped you on the street or to advance your career goals.
5. My wife wants to know what value this show has that takes me away from my already limited family time.

As I get ready to record my 2nd anniversary show this weekend and give away a few hundred dollars worth of prizes to listeners, I was bit surprised when I looked back at what the MedicCast has become.

Over the past two years the MedicCast has:

– Produced over 100 hours of unique content for listeners (103 regular episodes and 11 special panel discussion shows)

– Created a monthly live call-in show just for Emergency Medical Services. An opportunity for each listener to ask their questions about our monthly topic, or whatever else they have to chime in about.

– Released more than 20 episodes with specialized content and expert interviews

– Reached thousands of EMS providers and other medical professionals around the world with news, tips, and training.

– Made the MedicCast a place that EMS and other medical people can trust to have high quality links and discussions on the topics that are important to us.

– Raised the bar for EMS personnel to become the medical professionals they are trained to be and not just the “ambulance drivers” that the public thinks they are.

So my question to you as listeners to the show, what is the MedicCast worth to you?

Is it worth $12 a year — or $20 — or $50?

Let me know by commenting below or by emailing me here at the MedicCast.

This weekend is the second anniversary of the MedicCast podcast.  We will be looking back and looking forward to see where the MedicCast is headed.  Along with all of the celebration on the show, we will also be giving away some great prizes to the listeners.

Who do we have to thank for that?  Alliance Medical (AllMed.net) that’s who.

Here’s a short list of the items that Dan White at AllMed.net sent in to give away to the listeners this weekend.  Check out the links below to see items at Allmed that are similar to the ones we’re giving away:

A Reflective Safety Vest in Orange

Red Soft-sided Small First Aid Bag

Red Multi Pocket Fanny Pack with Reflective Trim

EMI Multi-Purpose Rescue Shears w/ Belt Pouch

EMI CPR Barrier Shield Pouch with Airway Barrier, Latex Gloves

Two Blood Pressure Cuffs (Adult)

And a Stethoscope

Plus a few T-Shirts and MedicCast Polycarbonate Water Bottles from the MedicCast Store (store.MedicCast.com)

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How do you get in the running?  You need to be on the free email newsletter list!

That’s it.  Just sign up before Midnight Saturday Night, February 2, 2008.  We’ll be choosing the winners from the list on Sunday while recording the show.

Great news for one of my other podcasts!

The Nursing Show is listed as a “New and Notable” medical podcast over at the iTunes store’s Medical Podcast Section.  If you are a nurse or know of a nurse who might be interested in the Nursing Show — point them in that direction.

It can be found at www.nursingshow.com.

If you use iTunes and listen to the Nursing Show you can leave a comment or review on iTunes when you click on the iTunes subscribe button below:

click here if you use iTunes to leave a review.
It will take you right to the Nursing Show page on iTunes.  You can write a review of the show and help others find the podcast there.

Thanks,

Jamie, the Podmedic

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the listeners of the show, especially those of you who have contributed with your emails, voicemails, and forum comments. The MedicCast is a community effort and the success of the show is due, in no small part, to the participation of all of you.

I wanted to take a moment and thank a few people specifically.

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Some regular contributors to the show:

(If you are looking for a different way to say thank you to the MedicCast, you can head over to their links below and throw some support their way by leaving a “Thank You” comment on their sites.)

Rick Russotti of the Mitigation Journal podcast for helping out with lining up guests for the MedicCast Live and for promoting the MedicCast on his blog and show. Rick, your thoughtful comments and professionalism, both on the MedicCast and on your own show, are a great example for the rest of us to follow.

Chris Black, our Alabama connection and my helper in the MedicCast Live chat room as well as stirring up the discussions here at the blog once in a while.

John Bignell of EMS Live (which is back up and running with a whole new content layout and contribution model). John was the pathfinder in the EMS podcasting space and his support of the MedicCast is highly valued. Thanks John!

Eric Augustus of the EMS Haiku Blog for calling in, even while on the tail end of a long 24 hour shift, and lending his experience and training to the MedicCast Live!

Kenny Schneider in Colorado, who has become a regular on the MedicCast Live and has shared his personal experiences and viewpoints fearlessly with the rest of us. Kenny, I really appreciate it.

Peter Canning of the Streetwatch: Notes of a Paramedic blog for contributing to the show and linking over to the MedicCast podcast site. Peter you have set the bar for professionalism in your writing about your experiences in the field. Thanks from all of us!

Dr. Mike of the PediaCast podcast. Dr. Mike graciously contributed his time to talk with us about pediatric sports injuries.

Dr. Will of the My Trivia Podcast. He took some time to share his expertise as a pediatric anesthesiologist and talk peds airway management with us.

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All of the iTunes reviewers! You know who you are but here is a list of you anyway:

• Nirgal
• EMTP424
• Fever Dog
• NJ EMT-D
• nyr9935
• afd767
• DigitalLogic
• AnthonysAudioJournal
• babygirl2882
• xpsm1710rocks
• BigMike53

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Here are some of the other bloggers who contribute and link in to the show:

• My Life in the Firehouse
• I Heart EMS Blog
• Blue Ridge Medic
• Elm Blog
• Paramedic Blog (Dan White)
• Way Out EMS Blog
• New Brunswick Medics Site
• We Go To A Bleeder Blog
• Bayou Medic
• Edmonton Emergency Services Forums
• Medic 110 Blog
• Ted Lenze’s EMS Site

I know that I have missed somebody. That is the danger of lists like this one. If I have missed you it is not because I merely forgot about you. I have been so blessed with the overwhelming support for the show that there are literally too many to count. For all of you I say again:

THANK YOU!

As I look forward into 2008, I hope to continue to offer you high quality content on which you can build your EMS practices. I will also be offering different ways for you to get to the information you need and more new content from other producers and viewpoints.

Stay tuned here to the MedicCast site next year!

Some people reported a problem downloading the most recent episode on Patient Refusals (Episode 97).  They reported that the last half of the show did not play as expected.  I have checked and re-uploaded the file.

You can go directly to the Episode 97 shownotes here to listen or download the show with the new file.  Sorry for the technical difficulties.

Jamie, the Podmedic

I have been asked by many listeners to add a forum page to the MedicCast site. The work involved has been prohibitive up to this point — finding the right software, creating a MedicCast template for the site, managing forum spam, and just the work of overseeing the posts themselves in order to provide the quality that I know this community demands — all have kept me from setting up forums to date.

Now I have found an option — a social community site that will allow me to manage the forums — look, content, and access — without taking too much time away from those things with which I already am already over-extended. Visit forums.mediccast.com and sign up as a member of the Ning community with the MedicCast network there.

You can even add a badge to your own site, MySpace, or Facebook page like the one below.

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These forums are yours to use and support. Forums won’t work unless you post to them and reply to other’s questions and comments when you have something to say. You can use them to suggest story and topic ideas for the MedicCast podcast or the MedicCast Live show. You can also share tips and tricks with each other there. Try it out and see for yourself!

Some of you may have noticed the new button over on the upper left side of the page.  It is a link to a new service I am trying out called Podlinez.  Podlinez is a service that assigns a phone number to the subscription feed for the MedicCast.  This will enable you to call in and listen to the most recent episode of the MedicCast on your cell phone.

For those of you on a long night shift with free off-peak cellular minutes, this could be a good way to catch the show if you don’t have an iPod with you.

The audio quality is what I would term “phone quality.”  It’s not the best, but since the service is free, I guess we can’t complain too much.  Let me know what you think.  The number on the button is correct for the MedicCast access to this service —

+1 (360) 227-5581

Call in and listen to the show when you can’t reach the show by another method.

Jamie, the Podmedic

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