A new magazine aims to alleviate the boredom of the doctor’s waiting room
VETERINARIAN AND crime writer Maurice O’Scanaill isn’t normally the type of self-proclaimed “adrenaline junkie” you’d expect taking up legroom in a doctor’s surgery.
That is until recently, when he came across a gap in the market that screamed, “Why is there never anything decent to read?” when you’re waiting for the doctor to call “next”.
Looking for an answer he came up with the plan to launch The Waiting Room, a free glossy eye-catching magazine – found, naturally in waiting rooms – covering mainly health-related topics like cancer, phobias and diseases, among other subjects, with a sprinkling of features on lifestyle, books and travel.
Initially, O’Scanaill acknowledges, it was a simple idea that came to him sitting in his local doctor’s surgery when he couldn’t see one magazine to pick up that interested him, and even fewer that appealed to a room full of sick people waiting to see their doctor.
“So, in the spirit of a bit of research I thought I’d do something about it. Occasionally, I’d pop into various doctors’ surgeries in or around Galway to see what other people were reading. And, if the receptionist asked me, ‘Did I want to see a doctor?’ I’d say, ‘I was waiting for someone’.”
Not surprisingly, O’Scanaill found generally that most people just poked at the odd, old and tattered copy of a dated celeb-filled glossy, and sat back in their seats waiting for the doctor to call them.
It was obvious to O'Scanaill that while waiting rooms aren't exactly libraries, there was certainly a market for a magazine that passed the five or 10 minutes as you took your place in the queue. While some surgeries ply their patients with magazines that you suspect the doctor, nurse or receptionist have recycled, O'Scanaill discovered that others take out single subscriptions – not that it's led to patients fighting over the only copy of National Geographic'sMarch 2001 edition or such like in . . . well, best not to name names.
It also led to another realisation. “Sitting in such surgeries, you notice the incredible amount of information available in leaflets packed in plastic racks or laid out on wall posters.
“You also notice that nobody is going to pick them up, particularly, for instance, if you want to inform yourself about sexually transmitted diseases [STDs], drug problems, erectile dysfunction, alcoholism or domestic violence, all incredibly personal issues.
“Whereas you are much more likely to read it in a magazine; and, if it is free, you can take it home, and you don’t have to worry that someone is looking over your shoulder, all the better.”
And so, The Waiting Roomwas born – an obvious title – that aims to fill this void offering 50-odd free copies to every waiting room that wants them. "The concept is hardly rocket science, but nobody else has thought of it before."
Now in its third edition, The Waiting Roomhas a circulation of 80,000 copies and is available in 90 per cent of the 1,450 surgeries and hospital waiting rooms throughout the country, say its distributors. There are also plans to include dentist waiting rooms in subsequent distributions.
Maurice O'Scanaill also writes crime novels under the nom de plume, Rory McCormac, with Playing Dead, Outbreakand Malpracticeamong his better-known works.
In 2002, he returned to Ireland after many years working abroad and settled back into the Western Veterinary Clinic.
Looking to the future, the reaction so far to the quarterly magazine has been “good”. With interest in the magazine increasing, O’Scanaill foresees publishing the magazine more regularly with greater content while possibly making moves into Northern Ireland and the UK.
“With three good issues under our belt, all well written, well produced and well distributed, we hope to become the magazine of choice in every one of the country’s waiting rooms.”
Not bad for a start-up medical-related business in a recession. Time will tell if it’s what the doctor and patient really ordered.
