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Blogging the Evidence with the National Elf Service

In support of the development of the National Elf Service, we are holding a FREE one-day Critical Appraisal Masterclass in Oxford on 2nd July.

If you have an interest in writing accessible evidence-based summaries using a blog format, you may wish to attend.

Carl HeneghanAs well as active bloggers from the NES, you’ll work with Carl Heneghan, Director of the CEBM, Rafael Perera, Biostatistician from the University of Oxford, and Douglas Badenoch of this parish.

We’ll do hands-on appraisal of systematic reviews and get practical experience of turning them into digestible summaries for online publication.  We’ll also look at the background, processes and objectives of the NES.  Finally, and most importantly, we’ll have fun doing all this in an informal and friendly group of like-minded individuals.

We only have a limited number of spaces, so if you are interested, please let us know by 3pm on Friday 28th June via [email protected].

Can Journalists and Health Information Professionals ever be friends?

Arm wrestle

“Journalists are all heavy drinking hacks with no idea about healthcare or scientific research. They just want to sell newspapers and further their own careers.”
– Quote from an imaginary Health Information Professional.

“Health Information Professionals are all boring, mousey nobodies who wouldn’t know a good headline if it smacked their bifocals off their face. They just want to push their side of the story and get more money for their organisation.”
– Quote from an imaginary Journalist.

These are clearly extreme versions of the truth, but it’s undeniable that these two professional groups haven’t always got on. Journalists and Health Information Professionals often seem to be at odds over key health issues, but surely if we can build good working relationships we can help each other and dramatically improve the quality of information that gets out to the general public?

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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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