We share our tips to help make your Health Information Week 2021 evaluation a success. This includes planning for impact, the types of information to collect and national toolkits.
Planning for the right evaluation tools
Choosing evaluation tools is hopefully one of the easier parts of planning for impact. I say ‘easy’ because, in theory, our planning processes will include hard thinking about impact from the start.
By the time we know what kind of change we want to see, choosing the right evaluation tools is ‘easy’.
When you plan events and activities for Health Information Week try asking these questions:
What problem or issue is our service going to tackle?
Do our service’s development priorities match this year’s chosen themes?
Do we have service development priorities that are captured by the umbrella term ‘Health Information’?
What change do we want to see?
What activities or events could help make that change?
How could we measure change?
Each organisation will be hosting unique activities and of course this will be reflected in the evaluation tools and resources each will choose.
Types of information to collect
What information can you and your team collect to measure change and evaluate impact for this year’s HIW2021?
Possibly you’re already thinking:
Numbers: Attendance at events isn’t necessarily a measure of impact by itself. If, as part of your impact, you aspired to build connections with specific groups, you might choose to collect relevant numbers.
Social media numbers: Most social media resources contain inbuilt analysis tools. A simple guide to Twitter analytics is available at blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-analytics-guide.
Qualitative data: What impact do patients and members of the public say #HIW2021 had for them? Did they learn in the area you had planned for? What questions did they ask? What impact do colleagues and contacts from your own and other organisations perceive? Are they willing to provide quotes? Can you see initial change?
Photos: Photos of your event or display can give the feel of your event in a way that words cannot. Bear in mind the need for appropriate consent when taking photos.
Other information: What worked well? Which contacts have you made within your own or other organisations? What would you do differently next time?
Collecting data for #HIW2021
As we write this in April, we anticipate many events and activities for #HIW2021 will happen in the virtual world and data collection will reflect that.
Our usual postcard feedback forms can be printed. You can also adapt the questions on the postcards for virtual feedback tools such as Mentimeter, Slido, Padlet, or online survey tools such as SmartSurvey etc.
Postcards for attendees and organisers can be found on our Evaluations page
Case studies are also a rich source of material to learn from. A template for impact case studies can be found on our Evaluations page.
There are two really useful national toolkits which give further information on evaluating events.
Have a look through Evaluation – Bringing Knowledge Management Together or the Value and Impact Toolkit | Knowledge for Healthcare.
While these tools were developed for the NHS, both have lots of great resources applicable to any team.
Lastly, please share the learning
Please fill out the national survey which will be released after #HIW2021 or share your evaluation with the national team at healthinfoweek@gmail.com. We will collate all the information, so learning can be shared nationally.
Everybody working with information for patients and the public can benefit from your work!