On this interview, NewsMedical discuss to Karger Publishers’ Sharon Redston in regards to the Quick Info collection.
Quick Info marks its 30th anniversary this 12 months. Are you able to share with us the preliminary imaginative and prescient behind the collection and the way it first got here into existence?
Quick Info was Sarah Redston’s brainchild. Having labored in medical publishing and Med Comms for a number of years, she noticed a niche available in the market for, as she favored to name it, ‘refreshingly readable’ materials that met the wants of busy healthcare professionals whose time was at a premium.
She arrange Well being Press Ltd, an impartial medical publishing firm, in a spare room in her home. From there, she set about constructing the Quick Info collection, with every title designed to deliver clinicians on top of things shortly on a particular situation, therapeutic space or subject in drugs.
For every e-book, she commissioned two Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from completely different nations, normally on completely different sides of the Atlantic, to offer the content material a world perspective, with any variations in observe or pointers between geographic areas being mentioned inside the textual content.
In 1994, she printed the primary Quick Info handbook for clinicians on prostate most cancers. We printed the eleventh version of that title this 12 months.
Picture Credit score: S. Karger Publishers
What distinctive wants in healthcare publishing did Quick Info initially got down to handle, and the way has that imaginative and prescient developed over time?
The Quick Info titles have been (and nonetheless are) aimed toward a broad vary of healthcare professionals and aimed to deal with the biggest academic gaps in healthcare. The aim was to offer all members of the multidisciplinary healthcare crew with a concise however complete primer on a particular situation or subject in drugs.
The readership contains main care suppliers, junior hospital medical doctors, specialist nurses, and specialist trainees. Some titles have been common with medical college students, and we’ve additionally heard, anecdotally, that the books are common with consultants studying exterior their subject of experience. A number of Quick Info titles have additionally been used for inner coaching inside pharma firms to deliver their medical affairs crew on top of things in a specific illness space.
Every Quick Info title is impartial, extremely readable, and visually interesting, offering element and depth on a subject. Every chapter ends with a listing of key factors that reiterate the principal take-away messages, and the information are absolutely referenced.
Though the collection has undergone a number of design adjustments over time, the format of the books has remained the identical—as a result of it really works. The collection was effectively thought out and obtained in the beginning, profitable a number of BMA Guide Awards and commendations. So, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t repair it.’
Because the collection has grown, how have Quick Info eBooks tailored to satisfy the altering calls for of healthcare professionals and sufferers alike?
Healthcare professionals are nonetheless ridiculously busy, with many calls for on their time, and we all know that everybody has other ways of assimilating info, be it by studying, listening or watching. So, lately, we’ve been discovering other ways of offering ‘Quick Info’, for instance, within the type of interactive eLearning applications, podcasts, movies, animations, and plain language summaries, so that there’s a format to go well with everybody.
Importantly, we’ve additionally expanded the Quick Info providing to sufferers with a collection of workbooks that assist to facilitate the dialog between sufferers and their healthcare crew, alongside abstract info sheets for newly identified sufferers. Sufferers and affected person advocacy teams (PAGs) are concerned in content material creation from the beginning of each affected person useful resource in order that the affected person’s voice is really heard. These assets have been lately awarded the PIF tick, reflecting our function as a Trusted Info Creator, producing well being info of actual worth that’s evidence-based, up-to-date, and straightforward to make use of and perceive.
Are you able to stroll us by means of the method of making a Quick Info title? What steps are taken to make sure the content material is each accessible and authoritative? How do you examine the standard (and compliance) of the content material?
Once we determine academic gaps or unmet wants in a particular space, we start by creating a content material define that aligns with the audience’s wants whereas contemplating the specified studying goals and outcomes. Subsequent, we fee 2-3 (or typically extra) KOLs, talk about the objectives and framework with them, and permit time for them to arrange an preliminary draft. For affected person assets, we collaborate with sufferers, affected person advocacy teams (PAGs), and medical reviewers to make sure the content material is correct, related, and patient-centered.
Skilled editors with in depth trade experience, together with myself, refine the manuscript to make sure it aligns with compliance necessities and finest practices. This collaborative course of continues till each Karger and the writer crew or school are happy that the content material hits the mark. As soon as the manuscript is typeset, the primary proof is shared with all related stakeholders, together with authors, peer reviewers (HCPs and/or sufferers), and pharmaceutical firms. All suggestions is rigorously collated, however the impartial writer crew or school retains the ultimate authority over the content material.
Picture Credit score: S. Karger Publishers
In what methods has know-how influenced the distribution and accessibility of Quick Info over time? How has this impacted your readership?
As talked about earlier, Quick Info has developed past printed books into a variety of codecs, together with eBooks and eLearning, most of that are freely accessible on-line. This digital enlargement permits us to succeed in a wider viewers worldwide. The rising variety of translations inside the Quick Info collection displays this international attain and accessibility.
With every thing on-line, we are able to additionally take a look at the metrics (downloads, course participant numbers, variety of viewers, and direct suggestions) to search out out what works and what doesn’t in order that we are able to frequently adapt our merchandise to satisfy the wants of busy HCPs and sufferers in search of authoritative, trusted info.
One of many standout options of Quick Info is the concise, clear approach info is offered. How do you obtain this stability between depth and accessibility, particularly on complicated medical subjects?
Firstly, our authors usually write with their junior colleagues in thoughts, making certain they supply the correct degree of element and probably the most related info. I’d additionally like to offer a giant shoutout to the editors—that is skilled enhancing at its most interesting.
Regardless of the rising use of AI in publishing, I firmly imagine the function of the Developmental Editor is irreplaceable. An skilled editor who can rework a wordy, typically disorganized doc into concise, logically ordered, and fascinating content material is really invaluable. Developmental enhancing goes past copyediting; it usually includes substantial writing and rewriting. We dedicate vital time to this stage of the method, making certain our merchandise are of the very best high quality. This contains incorporating all points of the preliminary content material define and collaborating carefully with our authors to strike the right stability of knowledge.
Taking a look at right this moment’s healthcare panorama, what new tendencies or challenges are influencing the route of Quick Info publications?
Our impartial content material is funded by pharmaceutical firms, both instantly or by means of academic grants. This implies we rigorously contemplate the wants of trade funders alongside these of HCPs and sufferers. We ask key questions: Who do they wish to attain? How do they wish to have interaction with their viewers? With so some ways to ship info right this moment, our focus is on discovering the correct strategy for all stakeholders.
We’ve seen vital development in our titles on uncommon ailments, which has been extremely rewarding. Offering high-quality info for HCPs and sufferers in areas the place assets are sometimes restricted or of poor high quality is an important a part of what we do. More and more, sufferers are concerned from the outset of our tasks, making certain their questions and views are absolutely built-in into the ultimate product. This patient-centered strategy is essential. As communicators, we’ve the instruments to foster higher dialogue between sufferers and HCPs, in the end resulting in improved outcomes. To reinforce this, we’re at present creating shared decision-making aids as a part of our increasing providing.
Our authors and college members are extra time-constrained than ever, so we do as a lot as we are able to to help them and make working with us a satisfying expertise.
In right this moment’s healthcare panorama, saturated with each good and dangerous info, it’s extra essential than ever for us to provide high-quality, high-value assets that meet the wants of HCPs, sufferers, and trade companions alike.
Reflecting on the previous 30 years, what do you suppose has been probably the most vital milestone or accomplishment for the Quick Info collection? And what are your hopes for the way forward for these publications?
I believe the most important accomplishment of Quick Info has been its exceptional sturdiness. From the primary version 30 years in the past, the collection has grown into a group of over 130 titles, together with a spread of affected person assets and inventive codecs. It began with a powerful set of ideas and a small, agile crew that prioritized the standard of knowledge above all else.
My hopes for the longer term are a twelfth version of Quick Info: Prostate Most cancers and a trusted and revered portfolio of healthcare info merchandise that persistently meet the wants of our readers. Briefly, I hope that we preserve doing what we’re doing.
Concerning the Speaker
Sharon began her profession in publishing in journals, first as Editorial Assistant on the British Dental Journal earlier than turning into Information Editor and Deputy Editor of the weekly Veterinary File. After taking a break to journey world wide (a late hole 12 months), Sharon returned to publishing as UK Editorial Supervisor at Rogers Medical Communications company. She later freelanced as a medical editor earlier than becoming a member of Well being Press in 2004 to work as Senior Healthcare Publications Editor on the Quick Info collection of medical handbooks. Karger Publishers acquired the Quick Info collection in 2018. When she isn’t enhancing or writing, Sharon will be discovered within the backyard or on a tennis courtroom.
About S. Karger AG
Connecting individuals and science since 1890, Karger gives scientists, healthcare professionals, sufferers, and the broader public with dependable and tailor-made info in Well being Sciences.
Constructing upon a publishing portfolio of greater than 100 respected scholarly journals and the award-winning Quick Info medical information collection, Karger excels in medical training and omnichannel HCP engagement in a number of codecs, together with 3D animations, podcasts, AR/VR environments, and extra. Educational establishments and each medical affairs and pharma advertising and marketing groups within the company area entrust Karger with their most demanding communication challenges. Unbiased and family-led within the fourth era by Chairwoman Gabriella Karger, Switzerland-based Karger is current in 15 nations with a crew of 200 devoted professionals worldwide.