Author: Sparsh Shah
Hi, my name is Dr. Sparsh Shah and I am an Emergency Medicine Resident Physician in Toronto, Canada. In my line of work, staying up to date with the latest research makes us better doctors at the bedside. This applies to all healthcare practitioners, not just physicians. However, with an oversaturation of 600 000 medical research papers published yearly, it is impossible to keep up. There is only so much time in a day, and having to read endless, cumbersome, text research information is one of the last things I want to do. This is further compounded by the fact that accessing articles is difficult due to multiple paywells. If I find it challenging, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for practitioners with minimal or limited institutional access. I believe it is about time the academic world caught up to the 2020 digital standards of democratizing critical information and effectively capturing and retaining people’s attention. That is why I co-founded Tidbit.
What is TIdbit?
Tidbit is an open access web-based platform that facilitates the creation and sharing of infographic abstracts, or “Tidbits” on published medical research. Here is an example of one:
Humans process visuals 60 000x faster than text, and infographic abstracts have been proven to increase reader attention and knowledge retention, compared to text abstracts. On our platform, users can use our free Tidbit Creator Tool™ to make infographics on published medical research and link it to their full text.
These Tidbits can then be hosted and shared on our platform permanently, as well as on social media. All Tidbits are published under a Creative Commons License and can be used without any restrictions. This includes posters, presentations, email chains, conferences, and much more. Tidbit makes it much more easier and enjoyable for clinicians to absorb the latest research and also improves knowledge translation from the researcher side who want to increase the visibility and impact of their work.
Where is Tidbit Headed?
Our team is a big fan of Free Open Access Medical Education (#FOAMed). We are also believers in the power of visual communication. We thought that Tidbit would be an excellent way to make information more accessible. We hope to be a resource for clinicians and academics to rely on when they want to stay current with the latest relevant topics. So far, we are continuing to build our library and learn from our users. Check us out at www.readatidbit.com and make or read some infographics! We also would love any feedback you can provide.