Content guide for doctors: what you can and cannot say

A doctor in Colombia can create social media content as long as they educate without promising results, never show patients without written authorization, avoid misleading advertising and respect professional confidentiality. Inside those four lines fits almost everything that grows a practice: explaining, debunking myths, showing how you work and stating clearly who you can help.

At D3lab Creativo we produce content for pediatricians, pediatric endocrinologists and other healthcare professionals in Medellín. This guide collects what we apply every month. It does not replace legal advice or the judgment of your professional board, but it does prevent the most common mistakes.

What you can say

General education. What a condition is, what its signs are, when to seek care. It is the content that gets saved and shared the most, and it builds authority without directly selling anything.

Myths and clarifications. "No, cold air does not give you the flu" is a reel that works in any specialty. Correcting popular beliefs with evidence positions the doctor as the trusted voice.

What the appointment is like. Show the office, explain what happens on a first visit, how long it lasts, what the patient should bring. It reduces anxiety for first-timers and increases bookings.

Who you are. Training, experience, why you chose your specialty. Patients choose people, not titles.

Your patients' frequent questions. If ten patients asked the same thing this week, that is your next reel.

What you should not say

Promises of results. "With this treatment your child will grow five centimeters" is misleading advertising and, besides, bad medicine. Content educates; it does not guarantee.

Diagnoses in the comments. Answering "is this normal?" with a diagnosis compromises the professional. The right answer is to explain the topic in general and refer to a consultation.

Patients without authorization. No identifiable image, voice or story of a patient without written consent. For minors, parents or guardians sign, and even then it is wise to avoid faces.

Comparisons with colleagues. "Unlike other pediatricians…" is a sentence that opens the door to ethics complaints. Talk about what you do, not what others fail to do.

Brand-name products as recommendations. Naming medication or supplement brands as a general recommendation can read as covert advertising.

How we make the content at D3lab

Each month begins with a list of topics that come from the practice: what patients ask, what the doctor repeats, what the season brings (respiratory viruses, holidays, back to school). From that we write scripts in clear patient language, no jargon, with a hook in the first three seconds and a close that invites booking, saving or sharing.

We shoot in the office, in a single session of up to four hours, all the month's reels. The doctor does not lose a morning of consultations every week; they lose one a month and walk out with eight or twelve finished pieces. We edit with subtitles, because health content is often watched on mute, and with on-screen text that helps the reel surface when someone searches the topic.

The cases of Dr. Pili Pereira, pediatric endocrinologist, and Pediatría para Florecer are in our portfolio.

The formats that work best in healthcare

The "myth or fact" reel under 40 seconds. The "five signs you should see a doctor" carousel, which gets saved a lot. The "a day at the practice" reel, which humanizes. And the frequent-question reel, with the question on screen from the first second.

What almost never works: the two-minute institutional video with background music and the doctor reading a text. Nobody watches it to the end.

Frequently asked questions

Can I appear with a patient if they want to? Yes, with a signed image release and, for minors, signed by the parents. We handle the form.

Should I include my medical license number in videos? It is good practice to include it in your profile and on your website. It is not mandatory in every reel, but clearly identifying yourself as a professional is.

How many reels a month does a practice need? Four to eight is a healthy range. See our healthcare plans on the content for doctors page.