Minervation

Evidence based healthcare consultancy

The Lifestyle Elf will help you keep up to date with the best evidence about healthy lifestyle

The Lifestyle ElfWe are really pleased to announce the launch of another elf blog, this time tackling one of the most important subjects there is: healthy lifestyle.

Sarah Chapman, Information Scientist from the UK Cochrane Centre is at the helm and the new site is going down a storm with health professionals, publishers, bloggers and the general public at large.

So if you have an interest in diet, obesity, nutrition, exercise, smoking and other public health issues, sign up and get daily alerts to help stay abreast of the latest reliable research, policy and guidance.

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Download André’s talk on social media, Cochrane reviews and the National Elf Service

The Mental ElfAndré was invited to give a talk at the UK Cochrane Centre 17th Annual Contributors Meeting in Loughborough on 20th March 2012.

It was an interactive session that explored the accessibility and usability of Cochrane systematic reviews and considered how the findings of these reviews could be more clearly communicated to health professionals and the general public.  André introduced the workshop participants to blogging and social media and also gave a brief overview of the soon to be launched National Elf Service.

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Usability testing for the NHS Commissioning Zone

We have just presented the results of a new usability study to the team at Primary Care Commissioning (PCC) who are responsible for the Commissioning Zone website. The Commissioning Zone is a website aimed at clinical commissioners.  It features links to a collection of information (reports, guidance, toolkits etc) to support clinical commissioning and is part of the suite of resources via NHS Networks.

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Calling all health writers

We are looking for experienced health writers to contribute to a number of international websites that we are producing for charity, public sector and commercial clients.

We are an evidence-based healthcare consultancy, based in Oxford.  We produce a wide range of health and social care websites, many of which require health information to be updated on a regular basis.

We need people with experience of writing for the web, working with evidence, summarising clinical research, writing for lay, professional and specialist audiences.

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National Elf Service on the way

Since the demise of the NHS Specialist Collections, we have noticed that there is a real gap in the market for simple and usable evidence updates that help keep health and social care professionals up-to-date.

This kind of work is our bread and butter and has been for over a decade, so we have decided to launch a series of health evidence services in a number of subject areas, to bring the latest research, policy and guidance to the busy people who need it most.

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Are you vitamin D deficient?

How are you getting your vitamin D?

The Vitamin D Council is a charity based in California who are working to raise awareness of vitamin D and the potential consequences of vitamin D deficiency. We get vitamin D through sunlight exposure or supplementation and there is emerging research that shows links between a number of health problems and vitamin D deficiency.

The new Vitamin D Council website features lots of information about vitamin D, what it is, how to make sure you get enough and how to find out if you are deficient.  It also contains 75 health condition summaries, which bring together the latest research on the subject in a patient friendly format.

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Minervation help with the speedy relaunch of the TVCN website

Ricky Gervais - helping to raise awareness for lung cancer in the Thames Valley

In April the Thames Valley Cancer Network revamped and relaunched it’s website with the ‘Early Diagnosis Saves Lives’ campaign. The campaign’s aim is to help educate people by highlighting the possible signs of bowel and lung cancer and urging them to see their GP.

Mark Palin (Communications and Engagement Lead) has been very pleased with our speedy response, which led to the campaign being launched in just a few days.

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Mental health carers and confidentiality website wins IVCA award

Mental health professionals have to consider their primary responsibility to the patient as well as a careful assessment of the patient/carer relationship

We are proud to announce an award-winning interactive website to help mental health professionals manage issues of confidentiality and negotiate information sharing dilemmas with carers who support people with mental health problems.

We have built the site with colleagues at Rethink and Seefood.tv and were delighted to hear that it was awarded the 2010 IVCA Clarion Award for best interactive website.

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