New Style of Research Paper on Virtual Care - highly graphic - take a look and let us know what you think

[Alies Maybee]

I have had the pleasure of working with Melissa Frew on a couple of projects. Melissa is a graduate of OCAD University and has an exciting and novel way of presenting her material -- a far cry from the solid text research reports. As a patient partner, I found her approach easy to digest even with complex information. I thought to share the report for 2 reasons: a) the content which is pertinent of all of us interested in the use of virtual care and b) the format and approach to presenting the data and the analysis. Enjoy! Alies

TheFutureofVirtualCare_MFrew.pdf

[sarah hamilton]

thank you! This is a great resource --it is very digestible. I just spoke to a research group (digital health focus)at University of BC last we on " How digital health has helped me be the smarter engaged patient " Would it be ok to share this paper with them ? This helps support my presentation and also would connect Melissa with colleagues out west. By helping connect healthcare folks helps us in the long run too ! thanks so much..

[Alies Maybee]

By all means. I checked with Melissa before posting it. I believe she has her contact info in the document. If not, let me know. Alies

[Candace Skrapek]

What a great resource! It provides an innovative way of presenting complex information and the importance of health system and researcher partnerships that can enhance patient engagement

[Troy Stooke]

This is an excellent paper/visual!
IMAGINE Citizens Collaborating for Health has held a few community conversations recently and looked to create a 'map'. Melissa's work is on point for sure with what we are hearing!

[Alies Maybee]

I would love to see more research papers taking this approach. It would go a long way to improving the public's understanding of research and it might it easier for policy makers to act on it too.

[Carolyn Canfield]

Hey Alies,
Thank you for this posting. Exciting! I have a few questions and comments.

Is the research team planning on finding a way to publish this in a conventional journal? That's traditionally the way they would share their findings with the world. Or have they also prepared a conventional formatted manuscript for publication? Also I wonder how they plan to spread this graphical version to the research community?

Now for some problems... I have real trouble reading the small font size of the actual text. Most people will be reading this on a laptop or desk top with no more than a 27" screen and most in the 11-13" range. Even then it is very tiny (as small as 6pt) and the lines of text are often quite wide, making for a difficult read. Many print and online journals use two columns to avoid this. Do you find the same? I'm constantly zooming in and out that sort of destroys the graphical layout. I also find the choice of the fat serif font difficult to read.

These kinds of fonts would be fine for a one meter wide poster display, but there are too many pages for that. On a screen, the variability from huge to tiny text is difficult. Most research employing this kind of graphic design that I've seen before limits the product to an infographic, either 1-2 pages or a continuous long vertical or horizontal strip.

Or maybe my old eyes are just not up to the task, as this might be a snap for some younger people in the research community. Perhaps this could be seen as another facet of "accessibility"?

Thanks for giving us a glimpse into what imaginative researchers are producing. I hope this creative development for dissemination to a broader readership continues.
Cheers,
Carolyn

[Alies Maybee]

I've been in touch with Melissa Frew and shared some of the feedback with her. She is pleased to receive it and learn of the interest this has engendered.

Melissa: I do understand the concern over the font size, and I definitely try to be conscious of this when developing documents. I myself work on a smaller laptop and have not had a hard time reading this (and I wear glasses) but I will definitely take this as a consideration moving forward.

As for publication, I am working towards finding somewhere to publish this work. In its current form it will not be likely I can find a publisher, it will be more likely that I am able to publish the research report and I will certainly let you know if and when this happens. Publication can take quite some time. I chose to share this graphic version widely as this research is quite timely and I would hate for it to be locked in a file somewhere if it can add value to the conversation.

[Carolyn Canfield]

Alies, how great to have this quick turnaround. Thank you, and thanks to Melissa!! Her receptivity to feedback illustrates the potential value of co-design and co-production. And quick impressions from my first read just scratches the surface.
Best wishes to all in the PAN community who are working hard to prove the point. Cheers, Carolyn

[Jeanette Smith]

I thought this was a great way of presenting information, and am hoping that the journals can adapt to this style. The small blocks of text, and the use of colour, certainly made it seem less intimidating, but there is some jargon used. Like Carolyn, I had difficulty with some of the text - particularly white text on the light teal background (but, I have to add, I do wear glasses, and need an update ... but Covid and lockdowns has made it difficult!)

[Kathleen]

I I really liked this paper both for the content and the format, though I agree with others about the readability of some sections. Melissa's comment makes it sound like it can be shared with other organizations; is my assumption correct?

[Alies Maybee]

Kathleen, go ahead and share. Melissa has given the go ahead. Alies

[Toby Stewart]

Thanks for sharing this -- quite innovative presentation tool. On first glance, I too found the text size difficult for almost 8 decades-old eyes (even with my specs on)
BUT then I discovered the upper left corner menu icon... clicked on it and that gave me at least a 30% larger screen view -- without any more "+/-" clicking!! That might help some of us geezers?

I'd like to reinforce this slide's (#21) message as reflecting what I've heard from others (and felt myself) -- in our healthcare interactions:
" Patient Preferences Technology has the ability to connect patients to care at a distance, elevate patient voices, and support patients in feeling heard, connected, and part of their own experience. Over the course of this research, patients overwhelmingly made note of their desire to be heard and acknowledged in their personal needs and knowledge of themselves. Patients also noted a desire to be included in their own care decisions and to have greater oversight in the process and outcomes. Preference tools and care reports provide patients with oversight, ongoing opportunities for input, identifying needs, error corrections, and knowledge building. Providing transparency in processes facilitated by technology ensures patients can remain informed as to the status of referrals and test booking reducing stress, anxiety, and continual outreach for clarity and resolution. The availability of patient friendly diagnostic results with integrated time delay ensures providers can deliver complex explanations and support reflection, review, and comprehension. Creating an ongoing mechanism for patients to identify needs, preferences, personal stories, and health history might ameliorate feelings of helplessness and frustration. However, this also requires a mechanism to ensure information is provided and accessed at appropriate moments by providers. "

To which I might add: if some new and shared technologies do/can actually make patients' understandings (eg. of test results) simpler and more digestible, then that should also save providers' time -- because patients won't need to be asking as many questions (eg. especially about Med-ACRONYMS during the initial consult and follow-ups) ... or their phoning/writing back to ask for the name or number of something specifically verbally discussed/communicated to them (as they'll have their digital record to re-check that specific forgotten thing).

Overall, this presentation paper has a lot more to digest than I managed in my initial reading, but I applaud Melissa's initiative and I agree with other PAN commenters about its more attractive graphics style reinforcing the written research findings.
From my own training/consulting experiences, in adult education, the technical term is "concurrent channels of communications" -- which significantly improves not only retention/recall of the information presented, but also facilitates "interactions" between trainer and students (or in this case "patients and providers").

Well done... and I'm looking forward to this revolution's evolution into my/our healthcare environments.