REPORTING YOUR PROJECT OUTCOMES HELEN MCBURNEY

PROGRAM FOR TODAY: Report Reporting to local colleagues Reporting to the Organisation Tips for abstract writing Tips for presentations (paper or poster at a conference) Tips for writing for a journal Review Did your project have an impact? Has this impact been sustained? When is it time for further review?

REPORTING: QUESTIONS How much do my colleagues/managers/executive know about my project? How much do they want to know about my/our project? Who are the authors? Decide this upfront.

COLLEAGUES Either they have a good idea because they have been involved or have asked along the way OR They aren’t particularly interested, but because of your common work background already have some idea.

COLLEAGUES Most likely first formal report is at an inservice Avoid telling colleagues what they already know – keep the background brief and to the point. Report what you did, what you found, what this means for practice & where to from here Allow plenty of time for discussion & questions

ORGANISATION Are interested in anything that promotes their interests  to the public (via local news channels)  to funding bodies (government, philanthropic organisations)  to others with common interests (other health providers, medicare local)  tend to respond best if this is in an easily understood format for lay people

WRITING AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 Overall needs to be one page or less (250 to 300 words) Give a very brief and easily understood rationale for the project in 2 or 3 sentences (or less if possible) Outline what you did (methods in lay language)

WRITING AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 Outline the results of most interest to the audience, in an easily understood manner Write 2 or 3 sentences on where do we go from here Acknowledge funding or other support from internal and external sources.

WRITING FOR PROFESSIONAL BODIES Conference abstract Journal article First question: Who is the audience? my profession other professions mixed professional backgrounds local/national/international

WRITING A CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Tip 1 Read and follow the instructions given on the conference website in relation to Abstract presentation  typescript, font size, word limit, freeform or with headings, how to indicate authors and affiliations etc….

WRITING A CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Tip 2 Think of a title that:  Is short and snappy  Fits with the conference themes  Describes your work. don’t get too obscure especially for international conferences

WRITING A CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Tip 3 Use an accepted reporting format whether you have a qualitative or quantitative project  Background  Aim  Method (subjects, intervention, measures, data analysis)  Results (describe subjects and outcomes)  Discussion  Conclusions

WRITING A CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Tip 4 Tell a story  Use simple language  Logical progression  Include results  Do not tell the audience what they already know

CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Usually 250 – 300 words - 4 paragraphs of 60 words Introduction or problem statement and Aim –one paragraph Method – one paragraph Results – one paragraph Discussion and conclusions – one paragraph

PRESENTING YOUR WORK Conference paper Tip 1 Check how long you have to speak Tip 2 As a rule of thumb have no more than one slide per minute of talk

CONFERENCE PAPER Tip 3 Check if there is a ‘corporate style’ you should use

CONFERENCE PAPER Tip 4 Make sure any slides illustrate your talk  Do not just read the slides Where possible  use pictures for hard to describe apparatus or set ups  use tables for data  use graphs or figures for results

CONFERENCE PAPER Tip 5 Practice, Practice, Practice  To get the timing right  To get the phrasing right  To see what questions you are asked  You may be able to use any feedback to improve your presentation before the actual conference

POSTER Tip 1 Check the instructions  What is the maximum size your poster can be?  Are there instructions about font size  For the title  For the body of the poster

POSTER Tip 2 This is a visual presentation of your work Does your workplace have a ‘corporate style’ you should use? Does your workplace have a logo you should use? Are you a good graphic artist? Can you get some help? Do you have photographs, tables or figures you can use to illustrate your poster?

POSTER Tip 3 Work out the poster content Tell a story in the same way you would for a paper, but ensure it has visual appeal Play around with the layout before you finalise the poster

POSTER Tip 4 Work out how you are getting the poster printed before you finalise the content and layout. Your computer file must be compatible with the printers – what format works for them? Power point? Publisher? pdf? Are you printing onto paper or fabric?

WRITING A JOURNAL PAPER Tip 1 Identify the journal you would like to publish in  be realistic  select a journal that publishes in the field  select a journal that publishes the type of paper you are writing Get on the journal website and down load their instructions for authors.

WRITING A JOURNAL PAPER Tip 2 read and follow the instructions for authors especially in relation to:  formatting the text, font style and size, line spacing, referencing system, presentation of tables and figures, number of tables, figures and references allowed

WRITING A JOURNAL PAPER Tip 3 Use a paper already published in the journal of choice as a model for your paper.  This will help you decide how much detail needs to be included in each section  It will also help you to balance the size of each section of your paper

WRITING A JOURNAL PAPER Tip 4 Get a colleague to proof read your work Ensure all typographic errors are corrected Don’t rely on spell check to tell you their is an error – it’s not very good at ensuring you have used the right word Ensure all authors are comfortable with the final version

GETTING YOUR JOURNAL PAPER ACCEPTED Tip 5 Follow the Journal instructions Submit your paper to the chosen journal using the method they request Ensure all tables, figures and any additional paperwork are included You may be able to track your paper on-line

GETTING YOUR JOURNAL PAPER ACCEPTED Tip 6 Don’t be disappointed if your paper is rejected, Use any feedback you receive to improve the paper and then resubmit to another journal It is common to be asked to make revisions to the paper before it is accepted for publication

GETTING YOUR JOURNAL PAPER ACCEPTED Tip 7 Once a paper has been accepted: You may need evidence of ethics approval You will need signed copyright forms from all authors. The journal will give you very short time frames for responding to any correspondence at this stage so ensure any proofs are corrected and returned quickly

REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Did the project have an impact? Has the project changed practice? Has the project changed outcomes? For both of these questions need to decide yes/no If yes how? If no, why not? Either way, now what will we try?

2. HAS ANY IMPACT BEEN SUSTAINED? This is a yes/no question. A better question might be: How can we sustain any improvements in practice? improvements in outcomes? What did we have or use in the project that could be sustained in daily work practices? (skills, computer programming, better ways of working…..)

2. HAS ANY IMPACT BEEN SUSTAINED? Are there skills that have been gained due to the project that can be utilised in daily work? Are there better work practices? Did we develop a computer program to improve…..?

3. WHEN IS IT TIME TO REVIEW? How fast is your service changing?  If change is not an issue, schedule in some kind of annual review process.  If rapid change is occurring, how long before we look and act like a different place? How fast is the evidence for your practice changing? What are new directions? Are we incorporating these or not? If not why not? If so, what are our outcomes?

Questions?