Redesigning the Communication of Podiatric Research

The intricacies of clinical research are ever-evolving. There are countless publications dedicated to addressing hypotheses that then guide our treatment of patients. There is no need to expound upon the importance of engaging in meaningful scientific research. However, the complexity and the modality of communication of its content has been found to oftentimes impair retention from its readers and stagnate its distribution.¹
 
Several scientific journals have established an online presence and have even taken to social media to help combat this problem and efficiently spread their research. Further, many journals have begun to incorporate visual abstracts as part of this effort.
 
Visual abstracts are a way to graphically represent the abstract section of research articles. They enable readers to quickly sift through the key points regarding the study design, methodology, results, and conclusion. This has a multitude of proven benefits including improved retention of content and dissemination of research. Many scientific journals have adopted the visual abstract concept including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Annals of Surgery, and the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Visual representations of research in podiatric journals could play a huge role in the future of how we communicate podiatric research and for the field at large.
 
The term “visual abstract” was coined in 2016 by Andrew Ibrahim, MD, a general surgeon and assistant professor at the University of Michigan, Creative Director of the Annals of Surgery, and Chief Medical Officer of HOK, a global architecture and design firm. Dr. Ibrahim understood the evidence-based benefit of incorporating visuals and infographics to long bodies of text and sought to standardize this process. The visual abstract is a graphical representation of a paper’s study design, methodology, results, and conclusion that is made using design principles and formatted for ease of shareability alongside a link to the original article.
 
Dr. Ibrahim and associates have developed a primer to visual abstracts.² In it, the authors carefully discuss the numerous benefits and uses, as well as its limitations. Though the visual abstracts are optimized for retention and dissemination, they are absolutely not meant to serve as a substitute for reading the original articles. Dr. Ibrahim compares the visual abstract to a trailer of a movie, allowing one to preview the main points and decide if its content is what you are seeking.
 
Dr. Ibrahim and associates took this effort a step further and conducted a prospective, case-controlled crossover study to evaluate the impact of a visual abstract via the social media platform, Twitter.³ The Annals of Surgery shared 44 original research articles on social media twice: once with a visual abstract and once without, with a four-week washout period in between each share. The trial demonstrated that the articles shared with a visual abstract had 7-fold higher impressions, 8-fold higher retweets and nearly a 3-fold higher article visits on the publisher website. These results are consistent with another randomized controlled trial which found increased altmetric scores⁴ and abstract views when articles using infographics were promoted via social media.⁵
 
Not only are visual abstracts beneficial for efficient spreading, but the use of visual adaptations of research has been found to improve retention as well. One study looked at the comprehension and recall of participants for a high impact and orthopedic journal club, and the results were impressive.⁶ Participants of the weekly journal club were quizzed following a guided discussion of the respective article with an abstract being displayed in plain text for 5 sessions, and with infographics during the next 5 sessions. After 10 weeks and 1,036 questions graded, the retention rate increased by 1.5 times when the articles had a displayed infographic. These numbers are mirrored by multiple study groups.⁶
 
In the aforementioned visual abstract primer by Dr. Ibrahim, the steps of how to create a visual abstract are laid out, making any presenter fully capable to develop their own. (Click here for Figure 1.)
 
Podiatric research has been advancing exponentially, with no plateau in sight. As our skills and training continue to evolve, the way we communicate our research should as well. Other surgical journals have adopted the practice of implementing visual abstracts, and I believe that the content of our research is the perfect candidate for their utilization, both for the purposes of dissemination as well as retention.
 
Dr. Ahmed is a third-year podiatric resident at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, UT.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Podiatry Today or HMP Global, their employees and affiliates. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, association, organization, company, individual, anyone or anything.

References
 
1. West CC, Lindsay KJ, Hart A. Promoting your research using infographics and visual abstracts. J Plast Reconstr Aesth Surg. 2020; 73(12):2103–2105.
 
2. Ibrahim AM et al. Use of a visual abstract to disseminate scientific research. https://www.surgeryredesign.com. 2018;4:1-57.
 
3. Ibrahim AM, Lillemoe KD, Klingensmith ME, Dimick JB. Visual abstracts to disseminate research on social media: A prospective, case-control crossover study. Ann Surg. 2017; 266(6):46–48.
 
4. Altmetric. How is the altmetric score calculated? https://help.altmetric.com/support/solutions/articles/6000233311-how-is-the-altmetric-attention-score-calculated-
 
5. Huang S, Martin LJ, Yeh CH, et al. The effect of an infographic promotion on research dissemination and readership: A randomized controlled trial. CJEM. 2018; 20(6):826–833.
 
6. Hughes AJ, McQuail P, Keogh P, Synnott K. Infographics improve comprehension and recall at the orthopaedic journal club. J Surg Edu. 2020; 78(4):1345–1349.
 
Other References
 
Wansink B, Robbins R. Which design components of nutrition infographics make them memorable and compelling? Am J Health Behav. 2016; 40(6):779–787.
 
Scott H, Fawkner S, Oliver C, Murray A. Why healthcare professionals should know a little about infographics. Br J Sports Med. 2016; 50(18):1104–1105.
 
Swiontkowski MF, Miller J. Infographics and video summaries come to JBJS. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2018;100(3):179.
 
Ramos E, Concepcion, BP. Visual abstracts: Redesigning the landscape of research dissemination. Semin Nephrol. 2020; 40(3):291–297.