BLOG: Happy New Year from the 2018 ResNetSLT Action Group

Thank you to Sophie Chalmers (@SChalmersSLT) for producing our first blog post of the year:

We start the year by bringing you ‘ResNetSLT Wednesdays’, providing regular updates for research news you will definitely not want to miss.

With a dedicated group of 23 members, we have exciting plans for 2018 with monthly ‘Tweetchats’ discussing a range of interesting papers related to implementing the evidence-base in clinical practice.

Join the chat on Twitter on the last Wednesday of every month 7.30-8.30pm UK time. We’ll be posting some questions in advance each month, with the link to the paper, plus a summary posted afterwards on our blog site.

You can also keep up to date with our additional news blogs every second Wednesday of the month. And hopefully we’ll start to see some comments being added in response – please feel free to join in.

Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions?

Personally, I do not usually set myself New Year’s resolutions however 2018 is going to be quite different: to be the active ‘tweeter’!

I have used Twitter on a professional level to follow Twitter discussions, clinicians, academics and SLT services. I begrudgingly admit however that I have been quite the ‘passive’ tweeter, often observing from afar and retweeting comments that resonate with me.

I have however observed the fast-paced, lively conversations that develop on Twitter allowing the speech and language therapy community to collaborate and discuss topics pertinent to our practice.

Sound familiar? What better way than to use ResNetSLT Wednesdays as an interactive platform to become more ‘hands on’ and involved in conversations about how clinicians can implement research into clinical practice.

It’s fine to just ‘listen in’ to the Tweetchats, but it would be great if you’ll say ‘hello’ and let us know you’re there – especially if you’re joining for the first time.

And don’t be shy to ask a question – it’s a really great chance to find out what other people think, and what they do to engage more in research in their own practice.

As a member of the new Action Group I’m excited for the year ahead of ResNetSLT Wednesdays to hear other peoples’ thoughts about implementing research into clinical practice, expand my knowledge and perhaps pick up some tips on the way.