This week’s EBN Twitter Chat on Wednesday 6^th July between 8-9 pm (UK time) will focus on reaching families with evidence-based health information. The Twitter Chat will be hosted by Dr Christine Chambers (@drcchambers) and Dr Abbie Jordan (@drabbiejordan). This Blog provides some context for the Chat. The examples given relate to paediatric pain but the principles apply to pain in patients of all ages.

Participating in the Twitter Chat

Participating in the Twitter chat requires a Twitter account; if you do not already have one you can create an account at www.twitter.com. Once you have an account contributing is straightforward, You can follow the discussion by searching links to #ebnjc, or contribute by creating and sending a tweet (tweets are text messages limited to 140 characters) to @EBNursingBMJ and add #ebnjc (the EBN chat hash tag) at the end of your tweet, this allows everyone taking part to view your tweets.

Reaching Families with Evidence-Based Health Information

Families are increasingly going online for health information about their children. Unfortunately, the quality of the information they find there is usually questionable at best. It can take as many as 17 years for research findings to find their way into improvements in clinical practice. It can take even longer for research results to find their way into the hands of parents and families who need them.

During this Twitter Chat we will discuss the importance of ensuring that families receive access to evidence-based health information, but in parent-friendly ways. We will share examples of how social media can be used to help speed up this process. In particular, we will discuss two ongoing social media projects in the area of pediatric pain. #ItDoesntHaveToHurt aims to increase parent awareness and use of evidence-based knowledge on children’s pain through a partnership between health researchers and an award-winning online publisher targeted primarily to Canadian mothers, the YummyMummyClub.ca YMC). #KidsCancerPain is a similar social media partnership, but with the Cancer Knowledge Network, North America’s most widely read online cancer education resource, to bring parents the best research evidence about pediatric cancer pain.

We will share some of the success and challenges encountered as part of our efforts to get research evidence to families.

Question to think about before the Twitter Chat:

1. What do you feel are the biggest barriers to reaching families with evidence-based health information?
2. How can we make evidence-based health information more accessible to families?
3. How can we make sure evidence-based health information is tailored to the needs and requirements of families?
4. What role can families themselves play in ensuring they access evidence-based health information?
5. Other than over social media, what other forums or partnerships could be developed to help reach families with evidence-based health information?