This Patient Information Sheet (PIS) project was funded by a Public Engagement grant from the Wellcome EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering (CME) and was led by Dr Giovanna Nordio, a postdoctoral research associate in the Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences at King’s College London. The project was initiated in September 2020 and completed by May 2021.
The project generated modules (containing image / example text / graphic elements) that can be used to construct an illustrated PIS, adaptable to the PET and / or MRI research studies conducted across King’s College London imaging facilities (e.g., PET centre, St Thomas’ Hospital London or Centre of Neuroimaging Sciences, Denmark Hill). From its creation and implementation, this tool will assist scientists to explain to their participants the study protocol and obtain fully informed consent.
In the modular structure of the PIS, each module represents a specific step of the study. This allows the information sheet to be easily adapted for different clinical studies, by simply removing / including specific modules related to the study of interest. The sheet contains visual elements that are also designed to be editable and adaptable for different scenarios. Both the PIS and the elements within it are designed to be as accessible as possible to all readers. More details can be found in this blog post.
A Spotlight article, describing the work undertaken during the PIS project, was published online in the journal Clinical and Translational Imaging, in October 2021. The article can be read and downloaded from here.
The completed example illustrated PIS, together with a catalogue of the visual elements created during the project, can be seen on this webpage. A pdf file of the example PIS can also be downloaded from that page.
Individual images of the visual elements are now in the Image Gallery, in four portfolios: MRI scanning; taking samples / sampling equipment; patients & clinicians; miscellaneous.
This webpage was updated as the project progressed and each step is fully documented on the website Blog page. Individual blog posts relating to the project are listed chronologically below, with links to the individual blog posts.
- 17Sep20 – start-up meeting between Gill, Giovanna and Mattia An initial meeting to discuss the chosen PIS examples and to determine the next steps in the project.
- 23Sep20 – initial list of PIS modules Giovanna and Mattia provided a set of PowerPoint slides, with each slide representing a module for a PIS. These are to be used as a starting point for the project.
- 01Oct20 – illustrative images for the PIS modules An initial list of the kind of illustrative images that could be used in the modules.
- 21Oct20 – sampling images and initial PIS modules Drawing images to represent blood, urine and saliva sampling, and creating initial PIS modules in PowerPoint.
- 11Nov20 – outline images for the PIS modules Creating a range of initial black and white outline images for the PIS modules.
- 18Nov20 – meeting between Gill, Giovanna and Mattia A meeting to discuss progress on the PIS modules and to decide what needs to be completed prior to submitting example modules for FAST-R review.
- 25Nov20 – meeting between Gill, Giovanna and Mattia A meeting to discuss the text and images required for Modules 4 and 5, prior to their submission for FAST-R review.
- 30Dec20 – example PIS modules for FAST-R review Showing the three example PIS modules that were submitted in mid-December for review by the FAST-R team.
- 25Jan21 – meeting between Gill and Giovanna A meeting to discuss the feedback from the FAST-R team.
- 28Jan21 – meeting between Gill, Giovanna and Mattia A meeting to discuss the next steps in the project.
- 08Apr21 – meeting between Gill and Giovanna A meeting to finalise the example PIS as an A4 pdf file, prior to submission to the FAST_R team for review.
- 09Apr21 – meeting between Gill, Giovanna and Yannis A meeting to discuss the possibility of widening the scope of the PIS project.
Neuroscience & graphic design 