Dear HIFA colleagues,
Question 2 in our deep-dive about open access to research is: What is your experience of OA as a healthcare professional/reader?
There is a wide assumption that open access to original research helps to meet the information needs of healthcare professionals and thereby improves patient care.
Can anyone give an example of personal experience to corroborate this assumption? For example, can you describe a situation where open access to a research paper helped you to make a clinical decision?
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org