NIHR Evidence – how all libraries can support Health Literacy
Category: Blog, News, Professional Development
What is NIHR Evidence?
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds and delivers world-leading health and social care research, which is usually published in academic journals. Long and complex papers can be unappealing to the public or to time-pressed clinicians.
Our team, NIHR Evidence, writes short, jargon-free summaries (called Alerts) of research papers that anyone can read in a few minutes. We also write Collections that group studies on a single theme.
We understand that everyone processes information in different ways, so we’re always exploring different formats and ways of presenting information. Our website includes podcasts and infographics, with webinars coming soon.
But we’re not just plain English summaries…
We reach out to the lead researchers of the studies we cover to find out more. What has happened since the study completed? Has the work been implemented anywhere or guidance been changed? We include this information.
Our Alerts and Collections contain commentaries from professionals and members of the public. Our professional reviewers span all areas of health and social care. Our public reviewers include people interested in research generally as well as those who care for people with illnesses or disabilities, or people with lived experience of conditions. Their commentaries bring a reality check to the research, describing what it means to a clinician working in that area, or to a family member of someone living with a condition.
We’re always on the lookout for people to become reviewers. Whether or not you have professional knowledge or personal experience of an issue in health or social care, we’re interested in your thoughts about our studies! When you sign up, don’t be disheartened if you don’t hear from us straight away. We will be trying to match your interests with the papers we’re covering.
What papers do we select?
The papers we cover should not be already widely known by relevant audiences. Each has a clear call to action, from direct implications for practice to raising awareness of a neglected or little-known area of health and social care.
How many papers do we cover?
We’re a small team, which means we can’t cover every excellent paper. We produce 80 Alerts per year. This is a tiny proportion of the total NIHR output, so being selected by our board is something to celebrate for researchers.
What challenges do we face?
We’re keen to get the word out about what we do, since we believe we’re a great resource for many different groups. But we need help. We try to optimise our writing for search engines, but it’s not an exact science. We use social media to raise awareness of the work we do, and have a monthly newsletter for subscribers.
That’s where you come in…
As valued librarians and information specialists, you can share our website with your colleagues, interested clinicians and members of the public. NIHR Evidence content already pulls into KnowledgeShare. Your support will really boost our website!
Thanks for reading!
The NIHR Evidence team