We’ve prepared these notes to help you find your way through the Antimicrobial Resistance Zone on I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here.

What’s it all about?

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an online science engagement activity. In the Antimicrobial Resistance Zone we are inviting primary healthcare professionals to ask questions about how the latest research relates to clinical practice. Primary healthcare professionals are increasingly aware of the problems which antimicrobial resistance brings, but may want to know more about how research relates to their patients, and their own role in combating antimicrobial resistance.

You interact online with primary healthcare professionals through live chats and posted ASK questions. All you need to take part is a computer with an internet connection. In addition to your profile there are two sections to the site:

• Primary healthcare professionals ASK you questions which you answer in your own time; the sooner the better.
• You CHAT with primary healthcare professionals online, answering their questions and hearing their opinions.

How to use the site

Log in

Go to https://antibiotic.iasuk.ddev.site/ and enter the username and password that we’ll have emailed to you. Your username will usually be “firstnamesurname” (e.g. joebloggs).’

THERE IS NO NEED TO REGISTER – you have already been pre-registered.

My profile

You have a profile including a photo of you, information about your work, and a set of CV questions. Your profile enables the primary healthcare professionals to find out more about you and your research. It’s really helpful if you fill in your profile as soon as possible; some primary healthcare professionals and press will start going to the site to do background work a little early. When filling out your profile remember to save regularly, after filling in each section.

Log in then click on the “My Profile” tab.

Edit your profile

Click the pink “Edit your profile” button at the top of the page. A series of boxes will appear you need to fill them in. There are four sections to your profile.

For sections A and B you’ll be asked for a one sentence summary, and then a longer version. The short versions are all displayed on one page with a “read more” option underneath. This make it easier to see what is on the page.

Don’t feel you need to write loads for the longer versions; people reading online tend to prefer shorter texts.

Update your profile

When you have finished, click the “Update Profile” button at the bottom. You can come back and edit your profile at any time.

Answering questions

You will be notified by email of all new questions. You can answer them in your own time, but the sooner the better.

Log in then on your profile page you will see a “My Unanswered Questions” box on the right hand side. Up to 100 recent unanswered questions will appear in this box as clickable links. To answer a question, click the link and type your answer.

You will also be able to view other experts’ answers to the question. To make it easier to find questions moderators will tag keywords in questions. The keywords are then used to list any similar questions in the “Related Questions” box on the right hand side.

It is up to you what answers to give and how much detail to go into. Don’t be afraid to write a really long answer, but at the same time you don’t need to write long answers.
Live chats

Live chats take place in our online chatrooms, where primary healthcare professionals ask you questions and express their opinions on your work. Live chats give immediate contact between experts and primary healthcare professionals allowing for conversations about your work to develop.

You will be notified by email of when live chats will occur during your week. We will set times before your week begins.

Please confirm whether you will take part in the live chat, by following the instructions in the email. This is really important for us to know if there are experts taking part in every live chat.

Log in and click on the chat icon in the top right corner.
About 5 minutes before each chat booking, two chat boxes will appear on this page.
The left hand one is for primary healthcare professionals, the right hand one is for experts. Simply type in the entry box above the chat box and press return.

Tips for the chat

Use @username to address your answer to a particular healthcare professional. Otherwise they may not realise you’ve answered their question. If you get behind on a chat room, it’s better to skip a few questions and get back to the top of the screen.

Prepare a few key phrases, such as a summary of your work in Word so you can cut and paste it into the chat.

Words that researchers and primary healthcare professionals both use sometimes have different meanings. Try to be as clear as possible with your responses. Avoid using jargon.
Remember that this site is open to the public. Please be mindful of patient confidentiality and safety.

Moderation of questions: Our policy

All questions are moderated before they are sent to you. We know you will get sent some very similar questions. Moderators will take out duplicate questions, but allow through questions which may be similar, but make additional or slightly different points. If you don’t want to answer a question please use the Send Feedback widget on the question page to let us know why it is not appropriate. Also if a question is outside your specialism and there is someone you better placed to answer, use the Feedback widget to tell us who should be invited to answer it. This could be someone not already involved in the event. We’ll try to invite them to participate.

Places for more information:

Antibiotic Guardian
e-Bug
British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Please communicate with other experts and the moderation team, as well as the primary healthcare professionals. We’ve occasionally had experts finish the event and say in feedback that they were having technical problems, or were worried about particular questions, or similar. We’d much rather hear at the time so we can do something about it. Let us know if you’re having problems using the feedback form on the right hand side of the browser when you’re logged in.

We use Twitter as a way to interact with experts taking part in I’m a Scientist, amongst other things. It’s a great way to communicate how the event’s going, learn more about you, the experts taking part, and ultimately keep in touch with experts after the event. So get on board and follow us at @imascientist and keep an eye on tweets marked #antibioticguardian.
Contact

If you need any help please email shane@iasuk.ddev.site or call 01225 326892.