Introducing the new CareSearch portal
A blog post written by Professor Jennifer Tieman, CareSearch Director, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University
We talk very lightly about online health information, and we now have an almost unlimited range of health care sources and resources and an unprecedented immediacy of access. We know around 95% of Australian households have access to the internet with mobile phones and computers being the most commonly used devices used to connect. [1] But this wealth of material creates challenges for health information users and health information providers. [2] Useful information not only needs to be purposeful, but it also needs to have quality of content, relevance to the users, and the ability to be found when it is needed.
Developing the new CareSearch portal has not been easy. It has been a long journey where, as a team, we:
- examined what was working well in the existing site,
- reflected and agreed on our core role,
- actively articulated our quality processes,
- assessed our technology and platforms, and
- looked at how best to present and communicate information.
This work occurred against a rapidly changing world where covid 19, and aged care and health care reform processes were highlighting evidence and practice gaps and emerging knowledge needs.
Web metrics, survey findings, and user feedback guided the redevelopment, and the entire project has been supported by three expert working groups and our National Advisory Group. The activity, processes, and findings from the Engagement Project have also been important in reminding us that the context for information provision needs to recognise the diversity of our users and the range of their knowledge needs as well as the importance of simple direct navigation.
The decision to create three entry points (Community, Health Professionals, and Evidence) acknowledges that CareSearch has a specific and enduring relationship with evidence and that this evidence must speak to those affected by the need for palliative care and the broader community as well as those providing palliative care. New content within the Community centre has been built to address some critical knowledge gaps. While we have always provided information for patients and carers, new sections dealing with Diversity and Older Australia reflect significant community issues around ageing, caring, dying, and grieving. Introducing a Dying2Learn Hub based on the Dying2Learn MOOC provides a continuously available resource that enables people to explore death and dying in a broader societal context and helps to normalise end of life as part of life.
The CareSearch Project has always engaged actively with groups and projects in the sector, and this will continue. We also identified that CareSearch has a specific and formal agreement with a set of projects and organisations where we work closely and interactively on developing resources, modules, reviews, and other evidence products relevant to palliative care. Given this shared work, we have included within our portal architecture, profiles of our project partners with whom we have a formal agreement. This provides us with the opportunity to promote their resources through inclusion in portal content and reduce duplication.
While today we have launched the CareSearch portal, the work continues. We are expanding the Evidence Centre with a new translation and implementation resources which will be released in February 2022. We will be continuing our relationship with our working groups to update content for the Nurses, GPs, and Allied Health Hubs. We will also be working with users to identify any issues that arise from the transition to resolve them as quickly as possible and ensure a quality experience for users. And we will continue to work with the sector and with the community to build awareness of the new CareSearch portal and of the importance of palliative care evidence and information. In closing, I would like to acknowledge the work and commitment of the CareSearch team who have worked tirelessly to create the new portal, and the many people in the sector who have contributed their time and expertise to help us build quality, purpose, and relevance within the portal.
References
- Australian Communications and Media Authority. Communications and media in Australia: How we use the internet [Internet]. Canberra ACT: acma; 2021 [updated 2021 May 10; cited 18 September 2021].
- Battineni G, Baldoni S, Chintalapudi N, Sagaro GG, Pallotta G, Nittari G, Amenta F. Factors affecting the quality and reliability of online health information. Digit Health. 2020 Aug 30;6:2055207620948996. doi: 10.1177/2055207620948996.
Professor Jennifer Tieman, CareSearch Director, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University