Here is a new paper that is relevant to our recent TDR-supported discussion on Communicating health research to policymakers.
The authors claim 'This is the first study to produce an evidence summary template conducive for evidence informed decision-making in health and humanitarian emergencies and an example of an application of the summary to a real-world health and humanitarian emergency.'
Citation, abstract, quotes, comment from me below. Full text: https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-023-0...
CITATION: BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Mar 25;23(1):282. doi: 10.1186/s12913-023-09302-0.
Decision-makers' experiences with rapid evidence summaries to support real-time evidence informed decision-making in crises: a mixed methods study.
Khalid AF(1)(2)(3)(4), Grimshaw JM(5)(6), Parakh ND(7), Charide R(8), Rab F(9), Sohani S(9).
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is a clear need for research evidence to drive policymaking and emergency responses so that lives are saved and resources are not wasted. The need for evidence support for health and humanitarian crisis is even more pertinent because of the time and practical constraints that decision-makers in these settings face. To improve the use of research evidence in policy and practice, it is important to provide evidence resources tailored to the target audience. This study aims to gain real-world insights from decision-makers about how they use evidence summaries to inform real-time decision-making in crisis-settings, and to use our findings to improve the format of evidence summaries.
METHODS: This study used an explanatory sequential mixed method study design. First, we used a survey to identify the views and experiences of those who were directly involved in crisis response in different contexts, and who may or may not have used evidence summaries. Second, we used the insights generated from the survey to help inform qualitative interviews with decision-makers in crisis-settings to derive an in-depth understanding of how they use evidence summaries and their desired format for evidence summaries.
RESULTS: We interviewed 26 decision-makers working in health and humanitarian emergencies. The study identified challenges decision-makers face when trying to find and use research evidence in crises, including insufficient time and increased burden of responsibilities during crises, limited access to reliable internet connection, large volume of data not translated into user friendly summaries, and little information available on preparedness and response measures. Decision-makers preferred the following components in evidence summaries: title, target audience, presentation of key findings in an actionable checklist or infographic format, implementation considerations, assessment of the quality of evidence presented, citation and hyperlink to the full review, funding sources, language of full review, and other sources of information on the topic. Our study developed an evidence summary template with accompanying training material to inform real-time decision-making in crisis-settings.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study provided a deeper understanding of the preferences of decision-makers working in health and humanitarian emergencies about the format of evidence summaries to enable real-time evidence informed decision-making.
SELECTED QUOTES FROM DECISION_MAKERS
There are several complimentary quotes about AuthorAID.
“When you need evidence and information right away, Google can give you that immediately. Journal articles don’t provide that type of information right away”
“Most of the people who are in the field working in crises do not rely on scientific and evidence-based data in their work, instead they rely on lessons learned and what they have seen in their careers.”
“If it is not free of charge, then it is not useful."
“One of the most important things that I care about is language availability."
“When I need that quick review of the current evidence then evidence summaries are awesome – they are great”
“The simpler the evidence summaries are, the easier it will be to digest.”
COMMENT (NPW): The template is unfortunately an image file that cannot be cut and pasted. However, the authors provide a link to an example brief, which provides the section headings:
Title: Vaccine Mandate in the Pandemic to Endemic Transition Phase of COVID-19
Target Audience: Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), Senior Management, and Leadership of CRC
Focus of Summary: Research evidence on whether a 2-dose vaccine mandate for CRC staff provides sufficient protection during the pandemic to endemic transition phase.
Key Recommendations and Findings:
[...]
Implementation Considerations:
[...]
Best wishes, Neil
Joint Coordinator, HIFA Communicating health research
https://www.hifa.org/projects/new-effective-communication-health-researc...
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
