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Communicating medical research to patients and communities with creative digital media
- Olivia CottingtonHonorary Clinical Public Engagement Coordinator at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
Key points
- Short digital stories and infographics are used to raise awareness of medical research among patients and the wider community.
- Sharing these on social media allows feedback to be collected from patients and their families about their views of this type of research.
- That feedback is taken to conferences to show medical professionals the appetite for integrating such treatments into standard care across the UK.
Olivia Cottington, Honorary Clinical Public Engagement Coordinator at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, shares insights into her work focused on communicating medical research to patients and the wider community. Rather than acting as a clinical practitioner, Olivia is engaged in initiatives that use creative digital media—such as short digital stories and engaging infographics—to raise awareness about ongoing medical research and its potential benefits for patients and families. These resources are shared via social media to reach a broad audience and encourage feedback from patients and families about their views and experiences with research. The collected feedback is then presented at medical conferences to show professionals the appetite for integrating new treatments into standard care and to build support for making these treatments accessible across the UK. Olivia emphasises the importance of patient and public involvement in shaping research priorities and improving healthcare delivery. This interview took place at the RCPCH conference 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Read the transcript
Automatic transcript, lightly edited for readability. It may contain errors, so check it against the video before quoting.
So I'm here at the Royal College today not as a clinical practitioner but rather for my engagement with medical research. I'm currently working on some really exciting initiatives focused on communicating some of the medical research we have at Brighton and Sussex Medical School to the patients and the wider community. And we're exploring the use of creative digital media, like short digital stories and engaging infographics, that we can share on social media to try and increase awareness about the medical research and how it can benefit patients and their families.
Also, by conducting these sorts of activities, we can then collect feedback from patients and their families regarding their views, their opinions of this type of research and the benefits that it can have. So we can then take that data to conferences such as this and we can show medical professionals what the appetite is for integrating those types of treatments into standard care. And hopefully with sharing that research with all of the medical professionals, they can go on to their local practices and we can gather the support necessary to integrate those treatments so they're accessible for patients and the wider community all across the UK.
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Cite this video
Olivia Cottington. “Communicating medical research to patients and communities with creative digital media.” The Paediatric Video Journal, 4 July 2025. https://paediatricvj.com/videos/communicating-medical-research-to-patients-and-communities-with-cottington/
This interview is educational content intended for healthcare professionals and is not medical advice. Views expressed are those of the speaker. © The Paediatric Video Journal. All rights reserved.