Behind the Scenes with Dr. Mike and PediaCast

One of America’s most popular health podcasts originates from Nationwide Children’s Hospital

If only kids came with instruction manuals!  Unfortunately they don’t but the next best thing is PediaCast; our weekly podcast created just for parents who want to raise healthy, happy kids.

Thousands of parents across America check in weekly to download this free, award-winning audio program available from our website or on I-Tunes (and coming soon to iHeartRadio.com)  Each episode provides trustworthy, detailed and up-to-date answers to real-world questions.

The voice behind PediaCast is Dr. Mike Patrick a pediatrician in our Emergency Medicine Department here at Nationwide Children’s.  Dr. Mike has more than 15 years in practice and he’s seen just about everything when it comes to kids.  He’s also a dad – with two teenage children at home – so he understands first-hand challenges of parenting.  He also knows how to make complex medical topics easy for parents to understand.  He takes the mystery out of the medicine.

I sat down with Dr. Mike to get the “behind the scenes” story of PediaCast.

Mike has been interested in broadcasting since age 10 – when he was hired to DJ at his local skating rink.  Even while studying for his pre-med degree he continued to work for his college radio station.  The idea for PediaCast was born in 2006 when podcasting first began and Mike was seeking a helpful parenting resource for patients in his practice and no relevant webcasts were available at the time.  He realized he could marry his love of broadcasting and education and PediaCast was born.

Now – downloaded more than 12,000 times per month, PediaCast has grown to one of the top health-related downloads from I-Tunes popular Kids and Family Section.  Listeners report that they enjoy PediaCast for the “edutainment” factor – great practical information they enjoy listening to.

Each week Mike presents news parents can use, he answers listener questions and frequently interviews  pediatric experts on key topics.  Some of Mike’s favorite and most-popular episodes?

The Foodies – Not experts but interested in food (pediatric allergies) – Tackled all those tough questions about foods (additives, artificial flavors) – Learned a lot

Parenting 101: Baby Basics –  Everything a brand new parent needs to know about infant care – A great resource for new parents

All About ADHD – An in-depth look at the causes, treatments and parenting a child with ADHD

Finally, I asked Mike what are the 3 best pieces of healthcare advice for parents? As always, he delivered practical pointers:

1)      Make good nutrition and exercise part of your family routine right from the very beginning.

2)      Kids get sick a lot in their infant and toddler years and expect that – That’s part of building immunity and perfectly normal – it makes for a stronger immune system later

3)      Make quality time for your children but also quality time for yourself as parents – Date nights are important and will make you a better parent for your kids.

Click here to join the PediaCast Community – Don’t miss an episode! You can also ask Dr. Mike a question on our Facebook page and he will answer with a video!