Disseminating the results of NHS R & D projects in South Thames
Summary
Project goal
To make the results of NHS R&D projects available to all who need them
Core product
Database of summaries of results available for on-line searching, on disk,
and on paper
Evaluation
Interviews and questionnaire study to discover target audience's
preference for information
RCT that measures awareness of NHS R&D project results
About: marketing; producing structured abstracts; potential problems
Douglas Carnall, research fellow
Jeremy Wyatt, senior fellow
Health Knowledge Management Programme
School of Public Policy
University College London
2 - 16 Torrington Place
London WC1E 7HN
0171 209 6595
Fax: 209 6594
Do contact us!
We would particularly welcome collaboration with:
- librarians
- research network co-ordinators
- newsletter editors
- NHS R&D principal investigators
in South Thames and nationally.
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Target groups
- Sponsors of DH and NHS R&D
- Users of NHS R&D
- R&D practitioners
- Other, non-NHS, R&D funders
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Database design
Inputs
- Abstracts
- Selected info from National Research Register Data
- Chunks of text 10-100-1000 words
- MeSH terms
- Principal investigator contact details
- email IDs
- URLs
- Tables of results?
Outputs
- Website
- Floppy/CD-ROM copies
- Text reports (standard formats)
- Text reports (custom formats)
Prototype
- in FilemakerPro 4.0
- easy-to-use Internet-enabled database
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Evaluating the impact of the project
- We will evaluate the impact of the project in a randomised controlled trial that randomises the results of eligible projects to inclusion
or exclusion from the database.
- We will survey knowledge and attitudes of the results among 50
to 100 users in the target groups before and after the construction
of the pilot database.
- We can measure the number of times the Web pages are accessed
and by whom, and seek comments and feedback on the design of the
database and the site.
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Marketing assumptions
For most people, knowing the database exists is sufficient. When
a question arises, users want easy access to information that
will answer it
Structuring the database to provide the right view on the data
for the target audience
Database as a source for newsletter articles, paper versions,
press releases, publicising the results (and the database)
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Producing structured abstracts
- It is easier to identify relevant project results if they are
available from one source, uniformly summarised and structured.
- Empirical work has shown that presenting the information as a
10-word headline, a 100-word abstract, and 1000 words of detail
helps.
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Potential problems
Redundant publication
- Possible dilemma between publication of results on the database
and in peer-reviewed journals
- Committee of Publication Editors (COPE) suggest analogy to publishing
full paper after abstract published in conference proceedings
(generally OK)
Lack of peer review
- Possible concerns about quality of information
- Guidelines for authors should help to increase quality of reporting
- Status of the results will be presented on accessing database
- Include critical appraisal guidelines
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