Introduction
Always on the look out to make the most of our day and seize the opportunity to push technological boundaries, the three of us took advantage of this month’s cancelled AHP Leads meeting to arrange a Skype conference and chat about how to design and produce infographics.
In this often cluttered world, alternative options to page upon page of well thought out text is key to highlighting information to a busy audience and getting your message across. Just in the same way that Tweeting and blogging are accompaniments to good old speaking and writing; infographics are another way to visually highlight your key points.
We asked the question: Do inforgraphics have to be expensively produced by graphics companies? Or can three well-meaning and thrifty AHPs produce infographics on their own?
Following our discussion on how to pull an infographic together our competitive natures surfaced and we challenged each other to come up with one inforgraphic each by the end of the day. And being the conscientious multi-taskers we are we thought we could use these graphics to form the basis of this weeks AHPScot blog.
AHPs
[Debbie Provan, AHP National Lead for Cancer Rehab]
Very recently it was brought to our attention that there isn’t a great deal of information out there which tells the general public what AHPs are and what they do.
With this in mind we thought it would be helpful to pull together a short and sharp infographic which introduces ourselves.
N.B: The information contained within this infographic was taken from “AHPs as agents of change in health and social care. The National Delivery Plan for the Allied Health Professions in Scotland, 2012-2015″. Since its publication Paramedics have joined the list of AHPs in Scotland. There are approximately 1400 Paramedics in Scotland.”
Digital revolution
As the telehealth and telecare revolution moves on at a great pace have we considered how the Scottish nation is ready to accept
and engage with this great opportunity to make the most of every contact and provide cost benefits to the country and wider choice for our patients.
This infographic shows some of the areas that require addressing to ensure that telehealth and telecare are equally available to all.
Click on the image to see the full infographic
Four key features were:
1. Age: older people were far less likely than younger people to have home internet access or to personally use the internet
2. Need: Of those who don’t have IT access the most common reason given was that they felt no need for it
3. Costs: Prohibitive costs to accessing IT could be broken down into set up, hardware and service costs
4. Knowledge: People in Scotland reported a larger than UK average in a lack of IT knowledge
As the AHP telecare and telehealth strategy expands are we prepared to address these issues?
Quality Service Values
[Yolanda Strachan, Allied Health Professional. Leading Consensus Statement on AHPs]
The consultation for a Consensus Statement on AHP Quality Service Values tasked in the National Delivery Plan, chapter 5, draws to a close on June 7th.
The 13 Scottish AHPs are leading on this work to agree shared values which are strategically aligned and which can be easily referenced by our service users. At the mid way point there is strong support for the drafted value statements and some excellent suggestions coming in for improving reach. An infographic can quickly summarise key consultation findings.
Cancer Rehabilitation
[Debbie Provan, AHP National Lead for Cancer Rehab]
The UK incidence of cancer is increasing. This is a result of a number of factors including earlier diagnosis, better treatments and an ageing population. Whilst more cancers may not be considered good news; the silver-lining is that earlier diagnosis and better treatments mean that survivorship rates are also increasing and in some cases cancer is now being considered as a long-term condition.
With better survivorship we are starting to witness the long-term impact of a cancer diagnosis.
This infographic illustrates some of the problems the 200,000 people currently living with and beyond cancer in Scotland are facing and highlights how rehabilitation programmes can help.
N.B: AHPs are the only professions expert in rehabilitation at the point of registration!
Conclusion
Undoubtably infographics are an excellent way to visually get your message over. We found the process enjoyable and not to time-consuming, although there is the urge to keep on tinkering away. The biggest challenge and use of time was in finding the best matching templates to fit with our messages. There are lots of free resources available to help you. As a starter there are some links are below, which will hopefully encourage more of you to have a try to even post them in your future AHPScot blogs.
AHPs across health and social care. 