HOW TO DO IT
How to write a neurology newsletter Michael Flower, Wilson Fung, Gauhar Malik, Phil Smith Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK Correspondence to Dr Michael Flower, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XW, UK; [email protected] Accepted 9 November 2014
PURPOSE A regular newsletter can inform but also bond and motivate a team. Neurosciences typically spread over many departments that sometimes work separately; a newsletter with a broad mailing list can help transcend these boundaries and perhaps raise attendance and participation at meetings. Improved interspecialty communication can also reduce junior trainees’ anxieties about approaching colleagues in other departments. A newsletter helps to engender a sense of team, ultimately improving patient care. IMPROVING COMMUNICATION A weekly events newsletter is a simple way to enrich interaction both within and between departments. Our newsletter was at least partly responsible for resurrecting attendance at the weekly neuroradiology meeting through its prominence in the weekly calendar. NEWSLETTER EDITOR Trainees are ideally placed to write the newsletter because they can relate to the whole audience, including junior doctors, nurses, secretaries, educators and academic staff. This breadth of contact helps the content reflect the interests of the entire team. In our unit, newsletter editorship is in the ward registrar’s job plan (with a deputy to cover leave); this protects the role when an editor moves on. Regular turnover of registrars brings fresh ideas and allows each editor to make the newsletter their own.
To cite: Flower M, Fung W, Malik G, et al. Pract Neurol Published Online First: [ please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/practneurol2014-000978
CONSISTENT DESIGN As with a newspaper, readers have their favourite sections and welcome a consistent design. Our newsletter starts with a bulleted summary, which in itself is sufficient for some readers (figure 1). We then detail events and announcements, distinguishing each subject with a standard colour and border (figure 2). At the bottom we have the coming week’s calendar, including the names of the on-call
team and who is on leave; we finish with a day-by-day list of events (figure 3). From a practical perspective, this can avert diary clashes, ensure adequate staffing on the wards and facilitate the team in structuring their work plan for the week. We aim to send the newsletter every Thursday: sufficient time for readers to plan for the week ahead but not too early to be forgotten. It is worth considering using pictures, or even video and audio. Our Picture of the Week and Learning Point sections have proved popular, highlighting images and facts from the week’s literature, news and social events (figure 4). BALANCED CONTENT We try to balance professional and academic news and announcements with lighter content. Through our newsletter we have organised bake sales, World Cup sweepstakes and raised over £1000 for local charities. We also celebrate colleagues’ achievements; a mention in the newsletter could perhaps encourage positive contributions from others in the future. DISTRIBUTION LIST The editor must maintain an up-to-date distribution list, including all relevant people, while also ensuring that it only goes only to those still in the local neurology community. If the newsletter contains information about patients—and a list of the week’s planned admissions and day cases certainly can be useful—it is important that its distribution is to secure email addresses only. In practice, it may be more appropriate to place patient details in a separate secure message. SPREADING THE WORD On first introducing a newsletter, we met some resistance: “more inbox clutter” and “I already know what’s going on in the department”. Before long, however, the comments turned positive, including, “I look forward to opening it each week
Flower M, et al. Pract Neurol 2014;0:1–3. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2014-000978
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HOW TO DO IT
Figure 1
We start with a bulleted summary of the coming week’s events (this time including the charity bake off ).
Figure 2
Consistent colours and borders help to distinguish events and announcements.
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Flower M, et al. Pract Neurol 2014;0:1–3. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2014-000978
HOW TO DO IT
Figure 3
We close by listing the on-call team, expected absences and the calendar with a day-by-day list of events.
Figure 4 The Picture of the Week section includes images from the week’s literature, news and social events. The images are at the top of the newsletter (figure 1) and the description is further down, allowing the reader to make their own interpretation.
because it’s useful, interesting and informative”. Trainees rotating to our neighbouring unit in Swansea have now generated their own neurology newsletter. Acknowledgements The Boston Neurology Department’s weekly newsletter inspired the development of our own.
Flower M, et al. Pract Neurol 2014;0:1–3. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2014-000978
Contributors MF wrote the first draft, and all authors contributed to revisions. Competing interests PS is an editor of Practical Neurology. Patient consent Obtained. Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed. This paper was reviewed by Mark Manford, Cambridge, UK.
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How to write a neurology newsletter Michael Flower, Wilson Fung, Gauhar Malik, Phil Smith Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK Correspondence to Dr Michael Flower, Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XW, UK; [email protected] Accepted 9 November 2014
PURPOSE A regular newsletter can inform but also bond and motivate a team. Neurosciences typically spread over many departments that sometimes work separately; a newsletter with a broad mailing list can help transcend these boundaries and perhaps raise attendance and participation at meetings. Improved interspecialty communication can also reduce junior trainees’ anxieties about approaching colleagues in other departments. A newsletter helps to engender a sense of team, ultimately improving patient care. IMPROVING COMMUNICATION A weekly events newsletter is a simple way to enrich interaction both within and between departments. Our newsletter was at least partly responsible for resurrecting attendance at the weekly neuroradiology meeting through its prominence in the weekly calendar. NEWSLETTER EDITOR Trainees are ideally placed to write the newsletter because they can relate to the whole audience, including junior doctors, nurses, secretaries, educators and academic staff. This breadth of contact helps the content reflect the interests of the entire team. In our unit, newsletter editorship is in the ward registrar’s job plan (with a deputy to cover leave); this protects the role when an editor moves on. Regular turnover of registrars brings fresh ideas and allows each editor to make the newsletter their own.
To cite: Flower M, Fung W, Malik G, et al. Pract Neurol Published Online First: [ please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/practneurol2014-000978
CONSISTENT DESIGN As with a newspaper, readers have their favourite sections and welcome a consistent design. Our newsletter starts with a bulleted summary, which in itself is sufficient for some readers (figure 1). We then detail events and announcements, distinguishing each subject with a standard colour and border (figure 2). At the bottom we have the coming week’s calendar, including the names of the on-call
team and who is on leave; we finish with a day-by-day list of events (figure 3). From a practical perspective, this can avert diary clashes, ensure adequate staffing on the wards and facilitate the team in structuring their work plan for the week. We aim to send the newsletter every Thursday: sufficient time for readers to plan for the week ahead but not too early to be forgotten. It is worth considering using pictures, or even video and audio. Our Picture of the Week and Learning Point sections have proved popular, highlighting images and facts from the week’s literature, news and social events (figure 4). BALANCED CONTENT We try to balance professional and academic news and announcements with lighter content. Through our newsletter we have organised bake sales, World Cup sweepstakes and raised over £1000 for local charities. We also celebrate colleagues’ achievements; a mention in the newsletter could perhaps encourage positive contributions from others in the future. DISTRIBUTION LIST The editor must maintain an up-to-date distribution list, including all relevant people, while also ensuring that it only goes only to those still in the local neurology community. If the newsletter contains information about patients—and a list of the week’s planned admissions and day cases certainly can be useful—it is important that its distribution is to secure email addresses only. In practice, it may be more appropriate to place patient details in a separate secure message. SPREADING THE WORD On first introducing a newsletter, we met some resistance: “more inbox clutter” and “I already know what’s going on in the department”. Before long, however, the comments turned positive, including, “I look forward to opening it each week
Flower M, et al. Pract Neurol 2014;0:1–3. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2014-000978
1
HOW TO DO IT
Figure 1
We start with a bulleted summary of the coming week’s events (this time including the charity bake off ).
Figure 2
Consistent colours and borders help to distinguish events and announcements.
2
Flower M, et al. Pract Neurol 2014;0:1–3. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2014-000978
HOW TO DO IT
Figure 3
We close by listing the on-call team, expected absences and the calendar with a day-by-day list of events.
Figure 4 The Picture of the Week section includes images from the week’s literature, news and social events. The images are at the top of the newsletter (figure 1) and the description is further down, allowing the reader to make their own interpretation.
because it’s useful, interesting and informative”. Trainees rotating to our neighbouring unit in Swansea have now generated their own neurology newsletter. Acknowledgements The Boston Neurology Department’s weekly newsletter inspired the development of our own.
Flower M, et al. Pract Neurol 2014;0:1–3. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2014-000978
Contributors MF wrote the first draft, and all authors contributed to revisions. Competing interests PS is an editor of Practical Neurology. Patient consent Obtained. Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed. This paper was reviewed by Mark Manford, Cambridge, UK.
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