Healthcare is hard to make funny without making light of it. The clinic videos that work show the people, explain treatments plainly and keep the humour on the team. Here’s how we approached it for a primary care practice in New York, and the rules an Ontario clinic works within.
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Meet the practice
For Station Medical, a primary care and wellness practice in Brentwood, New York, every member of the team took the white chair in turn, with their role on screen: nurse practitioners, the office manager, medical assistants. Behind each of them, the whole team cheers. Sixteen seconds, and the practice has faces.
A new patient’s first worry is who they’ll see. Answer it before they book.
Explain a treatment, start to finish
We filmed a microneedling treatment from the first step to the last: the skin prepared, the pen at work, the finish, with captions that explain each step as it happens, in plain words. A treatment explained calmly is reassuring; a treatment shown without explanation can look alarming.
Keep the jokes on the team
Station Medical’s jokes are about the people and the industry: a skit in the style of an office mockumentary, filmed in the clinic, and ten seconds on too-good-to-be-true “before and after” ads. Patients laugh with a team that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and trust a team that takes care seriously.
Ideas for your clinic
- Meet the team, one person at a time, with their role.
- Your first visit, from the front door to the exam room.
- A treatment, step by step, with each step captioned.
- The questions patients ask, answered by the people who answer them every day.
- A day at the front desk, told as a skit.
- What to bring, and what happens after the appointment.
Ontario’s advertising rules for physicians
In Ontario, the general regulation under the Medicine Act sets what a physician’s advertising may say, and a clinic’s videos are advertising. A physician “may communicate any factual, accurate and verifiable information that a reasonable person would consider material in the choice of a physician”, and that information must not “contain a testimonial or any comparative or superlative statements”, or “any reference to a specific drug, appliance or equipment”; it must be “readily comprehensible, dignified and in good taste” (O. Reg. 114/94, section 6). For short video, that means:
- No patient praising the clinic on camera, and no reposting patients’ praise in your own posts.
- No “best” or “better than”: no “Toronto’s best clinic”, no comparisons with other practices.
- No reference to “a specific drug, appliance or equipment” in a treatment video, whether or not it names a brand.
- Facts a patient would use to choose: who works there, what services are offered, languages spoken, hours, how to book, what a visit involves.
Dentists, physiotherapists, chiropractors and the other regulated health professions in Ontario each have their own college, with its own advertising rules. Read yours before the first post, and ask the college if a video idea is close to the line.
Patients on camera: PHIPA and consent
A video that shows an identifiable patient receiving care can reveal their personal health information. Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act says a health information custodian “shall not collect, use or disclose personal health information about an individual for the purpose of marketing anything … unless the individual expressly consents” (PHIPA, section 33). That rule is about a custodian’s use of health information for marketing. Beyond what it requires, film a patient only with their express, written consent to the filming and to each place the video will go. Many clinics film staff members, or a volunteer from the team, for treatment demonstrations instead.
A consent routine
- A written form for anyone on camera, staff included, that says what is filmed, where it will be posted, and for how long.
- A way to change their mind: who to tell, and what happens to posts already up.
- A clear frame: before filming, take charts, screens, schedules and other patients out of view.
- A check before posting: someone other than the person who filmed watches the cut for anything that identifies a patient’s care.
- A record: keep each form with the date and the video it covers.
Reviews and comments
If your college’s rules allow you to ask for reviews, ask patients for honest ones without picking the pleased ones, and never pay or reward anyone for one. Google’s policy for Maps forbids a business to “selectively solicit positive reviews from customers”, and forbids content “posted due to an incentive offered by a business - such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services” (Google Maps, prohibited and restricted content). In comments under your videos, never discuss a patient’s care in public, even if they raise it; thank them and move the conversation to a private channel.
A first month of clinic videos
- Week one: meet the team, one person a video.
- Week two: your first visit, from the door to the exam room, and what to bring.
- Week three: one treatment or service explained, step by step, by the person who does it.
- Week four: the questions patients ask most, one answer a video, and a light skit about the front desk.
Dental offices and other practices
The same approach works for dental offices, physiotherapy, chiropractic and med spas: faces first, treatments explained, jokes kept on the team, and each profession’s own advertising rules read first.
Let us film it
We plan the month, film at your practice and post on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Shorts, with the views guaranteed. Your own people sign our appearance release, and we get one from any patient or customer we feature, alongside the consent your own rules require. See the plans.
Questions owners ask
What should a clinic post on social media?
Its people, what a first visit looks like, treatments explained step by step, and answers to the questions patients ask.
Can a doctor in Ontario post patient testimonials?
Not in their advertising. Ontario’s regulation for physicians says advertising must not contain a testimonial, or comparative or superlative statements.
Can a clinic post videos of patients?
Only with their consent. Under Ontario’s PHIPA, a clinic using a patient’s health information for marketing needs their express consent; for any video showing a patient, get it in writing, and never show their records.
Is TikTok appropriate for a medical practice?
It can be, when the videos introduce the team and explain care, and the jokes stay on the team rather than the care.
How do I start?
Apply to work with us: a few quick questions about your business. We read every application, and if we can help, we write back to set up a free thirty-minute video call. Apply to work with us
Keep reading
- Making videosHow to write a short video script (template)
- PlanningHow often should a business post on TikTok?
- ChoosingAgency, freelancer or in-house for short videos?
- ChoosingWhat is UGC, and does a local business need it?
Sources
Updates
- : Rewritten at full length: Ontario’s advertising rules for physicians (O. Reg. 114/94, section 6, read), patient consent for marketing under PHIPA (section 33, read), a consent routine, reviews and comments (Google’s review policy read), and a first month of videos.