Re: PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access: excerpts from article in Nature Magazine

From: Smith Jane <Jane.H.Smith_at_NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK>
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:28:06 -0000

 
Heather wrote:

Patients and their families can benefit from reading the research
literature themselves, as is their right when they as taxpayers have
paid for it.

> Having worked for a major UK health charity, patients and their
families do want more detailed information than provided in patient
information booklets and it was not uncommon to be told we are graduates
please direct us to science publications. Many found the basics of
patient booklets too basic after the initial diagnosis. Not all
patients, but enough. I do not see why those few must be denied.

However, patients and families also benefit indirectly from public
access, when their health care professionals, educational institutions
training health professionals, and others (including politicians, public
servants, journalists and freelance writers) have more access to the
research literature.

>Indeed I also found that many nursing staff & students had limited
access to published articles/ time to go to their NHS libraries to
access them. Access from home and online was something they wanted.

>And Peter: Credit where it is due, thank you for being involved with
making Diabetes Care etal more accessible online, I found it a very
useful resource to help me answer patient questions on this condition

Regards

Jane H Smith
SHERPA Services Development Officer
University of Nottingham

Phone: 0115 951 4341
Fax: 0115 823 0549

SHERPA - www.sherpa.ac.uk

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Received on Tue Jan 30 2007 - 12:55:34 GMT