Background:
PAIN+ CPN and CLOT+ are publicly funded, patient-centred knowledge translation initiatives developed by the Health Information Research Unit (HIRU) at McMaster University, through which patients, consumers and health care providers get access to continuously updated, high-quality, clinically relevant and newsworthy evidence on the topics of chronic pain and thromboembolism, respectively (www.painpluscpn.ca, plus.mcmaster.ca/clotplus). HIRU also supports Medical Cannabis Plus (plus.mcmaster.ca/MedicinalCannabisPlus/) and the Optimal Aging Portal (www.mcmasteroptimalaging.org), both projects mostly targeting the lay public.

Objectives:
1) To review the format of evidence summaries and the process of selecting abstracts with health care consumers and to exchange ideas and experience with others who are active in the field of patient communication, including those who produce Cochrane lay summaries.
2) To share our technology, which is available for re-use.

Description:
The workshop will begin with an interactive presentation introducing participants to the PLUS interface using CLOT+ and PAIN+ CPN as examples, with an overview of their features and a detailed description of the public jury system (20 minutes).

A discussion will follow of the results of a recently performed personal scenario analysis involving 18 senior citizens in Canada and how this elicited the various ways that different patients and consumers choose to look for health information (20 minutes).

Participants will then break into groups to review and provide a structured critique of current and alternative formats of lay summaries, with guidance from the facilitators (30 minutes).

The results of the critiques will be discussed in the larger group to wrap up the session (20 minutes).