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The Information Needs of Medical Journalists

The Information Needs of Medical Journalists. A role for information specialists? Ann Bett-Madhavan MS LIS. Who are they and what do they do? What is their educational background? What problems & issues do they face? What does the literature tell us? How can we help them?

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The Information Needs of Medical Journalists

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  1. The Information Needs of Medical Journalists A role for information specialists? Ann Bett-Madhavan MS LIS

  2. Who are they and what do they do? • What is their educational background? • What problems & issues do they face? • What does the literature tell us? • How can we help them? • How will we know we helped them?

  3. Medical Journalism… The collection, writing, and editing of current interest material on topics related to biomedicine for presentation through the mass media, including newspapers, magazines, radio, or television, usually for a public audience such as health care consumers.-MeSH

  4. Medical Journalists… • Health Care Journalists • Medical Reporters • Health Care Reporters Part of a larger group known as Medical and/or Science Writers

  5. Educational Requirements • Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism or Mass Communications • Subject specialty • Practical experience -US Dept of Labor

  6. Complaints, complaints, complaints… • Don’t quantify the magnitude of the benefit • Only report relative risk vs. absolute reduction in risk • Confuse an intermediate outcome with a health outcome • Don’t report side effects or costs • Accentuate the positive and ignore the negative • Generalize from anecdotes • Don’t understand clinical trials • Report preliminary findings • Don’t recognize weaknesses/limitations in scientific studies • Fail to interpret the statistics • Ignore conflicts of interest • Use vague, ill defined, sensational terms • Provide no follow up on stories • Miss stories that should receive coverage • Offer tips that may be misleading or harmful • Don’t place findings in context of other research

  7. What’s The Problem? No specialized training • Lack of knowledge of critical appraisal and EBM principles • Lack of statistics skills • Lack of knowledge of medical jargon Uninformed editors • Missed errors • Time, space, background constraints • Sensationalism versus truth • Competition among journalists

  8. Problems… Researcher vs. Reporter • Lack of understanding of each others role in disseminating information • Distrust in each other • Failure to assess conflicts of interest • Lack of access to information and experts • Commercialization of medical research

  9. How Journalists Look At Themselves Hartz, J. & Chappell, R. (1997). World’s Apart: How the Distance Between Science and Journalism Threatens America’s Future. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.

  10. How Scientists View The News Media Hartz, J. & Chappell, R. (1997). World’s Apart: How the Distance Between Science and Journalism Threatens America’s Future. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.

  11. Medical Journalism Programs… • Boston University • Colorado State University • Emerson College • Texas A&M University • University of Kentucky • University of Minnesota • University of Wisconsin-Madison • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  12. Continuing Education • Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) • American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) • National Association of Science Writers (NASW) • Medical Journalists’ Association/UK (MJA)

  13. Continuing Education… • Medicine in the Media: The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research (NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research, July 11-13, 2004, Bethesda, MD) • Health Reporters Internet Seminar (MLA) • BCBSMA Foundation Health Coverage Fellowship • Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT: Evidence Boot Camp

  14. Literature Review • Bartlett, et al. (2002): “What is newsworthy? Longitudinal study of the reporting of medical research in two British newspapers” • Campbell, F. (1997): “Journalistic construction of news: information gathering” • Guyatt, et al. (1999). “A journalist’s guide to writing health stories” • Hartz, et al. (1997). Worlds Apart: “How the Distance Between Science and Journalism Threatens America’s Future” • Lantz, et al. (2002): “Observations from the Mayo Clinic National Conference on medicine and the media”

  15. Also Consider… • Larsson, et al. (2003): “Medical messages in the media – barriers and solutions to improving medical journalism” • Lieberman, T. (2001). “Covering Medical Technology” • Nelkin, D. (1996): “An uneasy relationship: the tensions between medicine and the media” • Nieman Reports (Spring 2003). Reporting on Health • Nieman Reports. (Summer 2003). Medical Reporting

  16. And… • Moynihan, et al. (2000): “Coverage by the news media of the benefits and risks of medications” • Schwartz, et al. (2004): “The media matter: A call for straightforward medical reporting” • Schwitzer, G. (2003): “How the media left the evidence out in the cold” • Shuchman, et al. (1997): “Medical scientist and health news reporting: A case of miscommunication” • Williams, et al. (1997): “Journalists, news librarians and the Internet”

  17. A role for information specialists?... • Information gatekeepers • EBM translators & educators • Health literacy experts • Internet guides & Webmasters

  18. How Can We Help? • Facilitate access to print/electronic resources and medical experts • Educate and consult with medical journalists regarding EBM and health literacy issues • Work together to inform health care consumers

  19. Meeting the Needs • Assess the needs of local and regional medical journalists and the News Librarians on whom they may depend • Create a health sciences library consultant position at UW (demonstration grant?) • Create a Medical Journalism Toolkit • Facilitate partnerships among MLA, NIH & NN/LM,UW Dept of Communication and the AHCJ • Explore long term funding options

  20. Evaluating Effectiveness • Needs analysis(~Warren King @ Seattle Times) • Benchmark health sciences library consultant user stats • Provide opportunities to submit evaluation of educational sessions (i.e. EBM instruction) • Collect online user stats for Medical Journalist Toolkit and print/electronic resources • Provide opportunities to submit user feed back, comments, evaluation of Toolkit resources • Generate interest via association listservs to assess interest level in partnerships

  21. Doctors bury their mistakes. Lawyers hang them. But journalists put theirs on the front page. -Anonymous

  22. Ann Madhavan5557 Lakemont Blvd.S.E.Unit #1204Bellevue, WA 98006(425) 746-0840 annmadhavan@yahoo.com

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