On this interview, NewsMedical speak to Karger Publishers’ Sharon Redston concerning the Quick Details sequence.
Quick Details marks its 30th anniversary this yr. Are you able to share with us the preliminary imaginative and prescient behind the sequence and the way it first got here into existence?
Quick Details 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 Details sequence, with every title designed to convey clinicians on top of things rapidly on a selected situation, therapeutic space or matter in drugs.
For every guide, she commissioned two Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from totally different international locations, often on totally different sides of the Atlantic, to offer the content material a global perspective, with any variations in observe or pointers between geographic areas being mentioned throughout the textual content.
In 1994, she revealed the primary Quick Details handbook for clinicians on prostate most cancers. We revealed the eleventh version of that title this yr.
Picture Credit score: S. Karger Publishers
What distinctive wants in healthcare publishing did Quick Details initially got down to deal with, and the way has that imaginative and prescient developed over time?
The Quick Details titles had been (and nonetheless are) geared toward a broad vary of healthcare professionals and aimed to deal with the biggest academic gaps in healthcare. The purpose was to supply all members of the multidisciplinary healthcare crew with a concise however complete primer on a selected situation or matter in drugs.
The readership contains major care suppliers, junior hospital medical doctors, specialist nurses, and specialist trainees. Some titles have been standard with medical college students, and we’ve got additionally heard, anecdotally, that the books are standard with consultants studying exterior their discipline of experience. A number of Quick Details titles have additionally been used for inside coaching inside pharma corporations to convey their medical affairs crew on top of things in a specific illness space.
Every Quick Details 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 info are absolutely referenced.
Though the sequence 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 sequence was nicely thought out and acquired at the beginning, profitable a number of BMA E book Awards and commendations. So, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t repair it.’
Because the sequence has grown, how have Quick Details 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 alternative ways of assimilating info, be it by studying, listening or watching. So, lately, we’ve got been discovering alternative ways of offering ‘Quick Details’, for instance, within the type of interactive eLearning packages, podcasts, movies, animations, and plain language summaries, so that there’s a format to swimsuit everybody.
Importantly, we’ve got additionally expanded the Quick Details providing to sufferers with a sequence of workbooks that assist to facilitate the dialog between sufferers and their healthcare crew, alongside abstract info sheets for newly recognized 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 actually heard. These sources had been lately awarded the PIF tick, reflecting our position as a Trusted Info Creator, producing well being info of actual worth that’s evidence-based, up-to-date, and simple to make use of and perceive.
Are you able to stroll us via the method of making a Quick Details 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?
After we determine academic gaps or unmet wants in a selected space, we start by growing 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 sources, 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 intensive 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 creator 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 corporations. All suggestions is rigorously collated, however the impartial creator crew or school retains the ultimate authority over the content material.
Picture Credit score: S. Karger Publishers
In what methods has expertise influenced the distribution and accessibility of Quick Details over time? How has this impacted your readership?
As talked about earlier, Quick Details 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 growth permits us to achieve a much wider viewers worldwide. The rising variety of translations throughout the Quick Details sequence displays this world attain and accessibility.
With every part on-line, we are able to additionally have 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 regularly 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 Details is the concise, clear manner info is introduced. How do you obtain this steadiness 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 essentially the most related info. I’d additionally like to offer an enormous shoutout to the editors—that is skilled modifying at its best.
Regardless of the rising use of AI in publishing, I firmly imagine the position 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 actually invaluable. Developmental modifying goes past copyediting; it usually entails substantial writing and rewriting. We dedicate important time to this stage of the method, making certain our merchandise are of the best high quality. This contains incorporating all features of the preliminary content material define and collaborating intently with our authors to strike the right steadiness of data.
Taking a look at at present’s healthcare panorama, what new tendencies or challenges are influencing the course of Quick Details publications?
Our impartial content material is funded by pharmaceutical corporations, both instantly or via academic grants. This implies we rigorously take into account the wants of trade funders alongside these of HCPs and sufferers. We ask key questions: Who do they need to attain? How do they need to interact with their viewers? With so some ways to ship info at present, our focus is on discovering the correct strategy for all stakeholders.
We’ve seen important development in our titles on uncommon illnesses, which has been extremely rewarding. Offering high-quality info for HCPs and sufferers in areas the place sources 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 got the instruments to foster higher dialogue between sufferers and HCPs, in the end resulting in improved outcomes. To boost this, we’re at present growing shared decision-making aids as a part of our increasing providing.
Our authors and school members are extra time-constrained than ever, so we do as a lot as we are able to to assist them and make working with us a satisfying expertise.
In at present’s healthcare panorama, saturated with each good and unhealthy info, it’s extra necessary than ever for us to supply high-quality, high-value sources that meet the wants of HCPs, sufferers, and trade companions alike.
Reflecting on the previous 30 years, what do you suppose has been essentially the most important milestone or accomplishment for the Quick Details sequence? And what are your hopes for the way forward for these publications?
I feel the largest accomplishment of Quick Details has been its exceptional sturdiness. From the primary version 30 years in the past, the sequence has grown into a set of over 130 titles, together with a variety of affected person sources and artistic codecs. It began with a powerful set of ideas and a small, agile crew that prioritized the standard of data above all else.
My hopes for the longer term are a twelfth version of Quick Details: Prostate Most cancers and a trusted and revered portfolio of healthcare info merchandise that persistently meet the wants of our readers. In brief, I hope that we hold 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 Report. After taking a break to journey all over the world (a late hole yr), 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 Details sequence of medical handbooks. Karger Publishers acquired the Quick Details sequence in 2018. When she isn’t modifying or writing, Sharon may be discovered within the backyard or on a tennis court docket.
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 Details medical information sequence, Karger excels in medical training and omnichannel HCP engagement in a number of codecs, together with 3D animations, podcasts, AR/VR environments, and extra. Tutorial establishments and each medical affairs and pharma advertising and marketing groups within the company area entrust Karger with their most demanding communication challenges. Impartial and family-led within the fourth era by Chairwoman Gabriella Karger, Switzerland-based Karger is current in 15 international locations with a crew of 200 devoted professionals worldwide.
