Shrewsbury and Telford Health Libraries - Knowledge Source

Eyes on Evidence - February

2012-02-08T09:41:00.009Z

Eyes on Evidence is a free monthly e-bulletin from NHS Evidence which covers significant new evidence as it emerges, with an explanation about what it means for current practice. The articles also contain hyperlinks to relevant articles, NHS Evidence and NICE Guidance.

In this month's issue:

Smaller excision margin for melanomas

Benefit of adjuvant radiotherapy in breast cancer

Biologic drugs for the treatment of psoriasis

Treating staggered paracetamol overdose

NHS Evidence resources: CLIC Sargent

NHS Evidence QIPP case study: reducing inpatient falls

Cochrane quality and productivity topics

To view the latest edition, browse the archive, or subscribe by email visit www.evidence.nhs.uk/about-us/publications

Quality of life in adolescents with Crohn’s disease

2012-02-03T14:57:00.001Z

We were asked to carry out a literature search for research on the quality of life in adolescents with Crohn’s disease considering the psychosocial perspectives. We searched the following resources; Medline, CINAHL, PsychInfo, NHS Evidence, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, British Gastroenterology Society and British Psychological Society covering the last 10 years. Among the studies found were those relating to the impact on the family, a study relating to fatigue and sleep difficulties and various studies on interventions to improve quality of life such as the following Karwowski CA; Keljo D; Szigethy E. Strategies to improve quality of life in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 2009, 15(11) 1755-64.

If any NHS staff are interested in getting a copy of the full list of references, please contact Louise Stevens in the Telford Health Library (louise.stevens@sath.nhs.uk) on ext. 4694.
We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

Does diabetes have any impact on hearing in adults?

2012-02-03T14:55:00.001Z

We were asked to carry out a literature search on whether diabetes has an impact on hearing in adults. We searched a number of resources including Cochrane Library, Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Trip Database and NHS Evidence. Although we could not find any Cochrane Reviews there has been a wealth of secondary research published within the last 5 years. Most of the research demonstrates that hearing impairment is common in adults with diabetes.

If any NHS staff are interested in getting a copy of the full list of references, please contact Louise Stevens in the Telford Health Library (louise.stevens@sath.nhs.uk) on ext. 4694.

We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

Effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of tennis elbow

2012-02-03T14:47:00.000Z

We were asked to carry out a search on the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of tennis elbow.

Although not a lot of research published on this topic, there were some good quality references. One of those was a Cochrane Review Acupuncture for lateral elbow pain published in 2002 and a later systematic review published in 2004 Acupuncture for the alleviation of lateral epicondyle pain: a systematic review. These demonstrate that acupuncture is effective in the short-term relief of tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis pain).

Other useful articles were:

Trudel D; Duley J; Zastrow I; Kerr EW; Davidson R; MacDermid JC. Rehabilitation for patients with lateral epicondylitis: a systematic review. Journal of Hand Therapy, 2004, 17(2) 243-66.

Fink M; Wolkenstein E; Karst M; Gehrke A. Acupuncture in chronic epicondylitis: a randomized controlled trial. Rheumatology, 2002, 41(2) 205-9.

If any NHS staff are interested in getting a copy of the full list of references, please contact Louise Stevens in the Telford Health Library (louise.stevens@sath.nhs.uk) on ext. 4694.
We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

AMED for allied and complementary medicine

2012-01-31T14:37:00.004Z

Among the key databases available to NHS users through your Athens accounts, is a unique database called AMED, covering journal articles in complementary medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, podiatry, palliative care and speech and language therapy.

It indexes over 500 journals, many not covered in other databases (such as Medline and CINAHL) so although you'll find many references to journal articles on these topics in other databases, AMED will provide many unique references from different journals.

If you search AMED via the NHS Health Information Resources site, you'll be provided with links to any articles that we subscribe to, and you'll be able to access the full-text of these with your NHS Athens account.

Library staff can show you how to search effectively, and for further help please contact us.

NHS Local Learning

2012-01-27T11:14:00.002Z

Do you want to develop your career? Learn new skills? Get access to high-quality courses to help you deliver better patient care?

NHS local Learning is a digital environment created to support NHS organisations to deliver on their education and training commitments and priorities, enabling access to learning and development opportunities to support a blended educational approach.

This is a new service specifically designed to provide access to formal and informal training and career development resources for the whole healthcare workforce, at anytime from anywhere.

Visit http://learning.nhslocal.nhs.uk/ to see the full range of subjects covered.

Libraries go social

2012-01-26T13:28:00.011Z

Did you know that Shrewsbury and Telford Health Libraries have pages on Netvibes, Connotea, Slideshare and YouTube?

This week we've also added Twitter and Facebook to our growing web presence.

Visit twitter.com/sathlibraries and facebook.com/sathlibraries for more details.

Nurse specialists - are they a luxury we can't afford?

2012-01-20T13:01:00.002Z

We were asked to carry out a search on whether nurse specialists were a luxury we could no longer afford. and we managed to find some interesting material, covering a number of areas in which nurse specialists work. These demonstrated that nurse specialists were cost-effective.

The most useful document appears to be Specialist nurses: changing lives, saving money (RCN, 2010) that provides examples and case studies of actual financial savings.

We also found some references to articles in HMIC (a health management database), CINAHL and BNI (list of articles available on request to NHS staff).

There were also some further articles in the NHS Economic Evaluation Database that supported the case for nurse specialists being cost-effective:

Xu C, Jackson M, Scuffham PA, Wootton R, Simpson P, Whitty J, Wolfe R, Wainwright CE. A randomized controlled trial of an interactive voice response telephone system and specialist nurse support for childhood asthma management. Journal of Asthma 2010; 47(7): 768-773

Houweling ST, Kleefstra N, van Hateren KJ, Kooy A, Groenier KH, ten Vergert E, Meyboom-de Jong B, Bilo HJ. Diabetes specialist nurse as main care provider for patients with type 2 diabetes. Netherlands Journal of Medicine 2009; 67(7): 279-284 (not available online - but we can order a copy for library members)

Dawes H A, Docherty T, Traynor I, Gilmore D H, Jardine A G, Knill-Jones R. Specialist nurse supported discharge in gynaecology: a randomised comparison and economic evaluation. European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology 2007; 130(2): 262-270 (not available online - but we can order a copy for library members)

Eicher M R, Marquard S, Aebi S. A nurse is a nurse: a systematic review of the effectiveness of specialised nursing in breast cancer. European Journal of Cancer 2006; 42(18): 3117-3126 (not available online - but we can order a copy for library members)

If any NHS staff are interested in getting a copy of the full list of references, please contact Jason Curtis in the Shrewsbury Health Library (jason.curtis@sath.nhs.uk) on 2507. We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

Sore throats following endotracheal tube use

2012-01-20T12:51:00.003Z

We were recently asked to carry out a literature search on the incidence of sore throats following endotracheal tube use.

We managed to find a number of articles (list available to NHS staff) that referred to the incidence of post-operative sore throat, and one (Effect on postoperative sore throat of spraying the endotracheal tube cuff with benzydamine hydrochloride, 10% lidocaine, and 2% lidocaine) from the Medline search gives incidence at 1, 6, 12 and 24 hours after surgery.

Many of the remaining articles are concerned with specific techniques for intubation, and use sore throats as one measure of success.

If any NHS staff are interested in getting a copy of the list of references, please contact Jason Curtis in the Shrewsbury Health Library (jason.curtis@sath.nhs.uk) on 2507. We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

Eyes on Evidence - January

2012-01-17T09:14:00.005Z

Medicines reconciliation in care transition

Depression in people with alcohol use disorders

Aspirin used to prevent hereditary bowel cancer

Low dose CT screening for lung cancer

NHS Evidence resources: The Meningitis Trust

NHS Evidence QIPP case study: giving intravenous iron in patients' homes and community hospitals

Cochrane quality and productivity topics

To view the latest edition, or browse the archive, or subscribe by email visit www.evidence.nhs.uk/about-us/publications

'Big 4' medical journals now available online

2012-01-10T10:10:00.005Z

From this year, all four of the major weekly medical journals are available online to holders of NHS Athens accounts from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

During 2011, we carried out a review of all our journal subscriptions on the basis of online usage, and cancelled a number of underused titles, enabling us to subscribe to new titles that will better reflect demand.

The weekly medical journals are:

BMJ: British Medical Journal (all issues)

JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association (1993 onwards)

Lancet (2012 onwards)

NEJM: New England Journal of Medicine (1993 onwards)

When logging in to these journals, select Athens login if necessary to enter your NHS Athens account details.

Want to browse the current issue's contents? You can see this by visiting the 'Big 4' tab on any of the Knowledge Centres, and from the contents list you can click to view any of the articles.

Many other healthcare journals are available through the NHS Journals Directory, which includes national and local subscriptions. Log in with your NHS Athens account to ensure you are viewing all the titles we subscribe to.

Exam Collection in Telford Health Library

2011-12-23T14:40:00.009Z

We have a new Exam Collection in Telford Health Library!

We have moved over 180 books to the front of the Library to make them easier to find. You can search our catalogue (http://www.shelib.nhs.uk/) or come in and browse.

Titles include:

Clinical notes for the FRCA
Deja review: obstetrics and gynecology
EMQs and MCQs for surgical finals
Medical examination made memorable (MEMM) and
SBAs and EMQs in paediatrics for medical students

If you want to recommend any books for our Exam Collections in Shrewsbury or Telford, contact your home Library.

The practice of daily sedation holding for sedated patients on ventilators

2011-12-21T12:23:00.002Z

We were recently asked to carry out a search on the practice of daily sedation holding for sedated patients on ventilators.

We searched back to 2006 in Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane Library and NHS Evidence. Within the results we found a reference to a Cochrane Systematic Review (Daily sedation interruption versus no daily sedation interruption for critically ill patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation) but this is only a protocol.

We also found a number of references in Medline (list available to NHS Staff). There were a few RCT's and also a few relating to sedation practices both within the UK and internationally.

If any NHS staff are interested in getting a copy of the lists of references, please contact Louise Stevens in the Telford Health Library (louise.stevens@sath.nhs.uk) on 4694.

We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

Christmas and New Year Opening

2011-12-05T14:44:00.004Z

Over the Christmas break, we'll be operating reduced hours, and our staffed opening times will be:

Friday 23rd December 8.30 - 4

Monday 26th December Closed
Tuesday 27th December Closed
Wednesday 28th December 10 - 2
Thursday 29th December 10 - 2
Friday 30th December 10 - 2

Monday 2nd January Closed
Tuesday 3rd January 8.30 - 6

Access to the libraries is available to library members by swipe card at Shrewsbury and keypad at Telford. Please contact us for more information.

Our wide range of e-resources is also available, so even if you can't get to the library, you can still access a range of e-books and journals, databases, clinical knowledge tools (such as UpToDate) and the Knowledge Centres. For more information, visit our website.

We wish all our library members a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Treating wet age-related macular degeneration

2011-12-02T15:14:00.001Z

We were recently asked to carry out a search Lucentis (ranibizumb) with Avastin (bevacizumab) for the treatment of wet (neovascular) age-related macular degeneration.

In the EMBASE database, going back to 2006 and looking at English language articles only, we managed to find a number of references (list available to NHS staff on request). Within the results is a reference to a Cochrane Systematic review (Interventions for neovascular age-related macular degeneration, 2009) but when we checked, it is only a protocol and not a completed review so was not much help.

We also found a number of references in Medline (list available on request to NHS staff). A number seemed to be concerned with ranibizumb and bevacizumab in combination, or in comparison with other treatments (rather than compared to each other). The list was not filtered for research-type so although there may some RCTS, there will also some less reliable evidence.

If any NHS staff are interested in getting a copy of the lists of references, please contact Jason Curtis in the Shrewsbury Health Library (jason.curtis@sath.nhs.uk) on 2507.

We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

PAPVC in relation to central line insertion in dialysis

2011-12-02T15:03:00.003Z

We were recently asked to carry out a literature search on partial anomalous pulmonary vein connections (PAPVC) in relation to central line / catheter insertion and dialysis, in an ITU setting.

We carried out some searches, but didn't manage to find very much after searching Medline, EMBASE and BMJ Case Reports. Medline threw up one article related to dialysis (Aberrant positioning of a central venous dialysis catheter to reveal a left-sided partial anomalouspulmonary venous connection), but there were none related specifically to ITU.

There were a number of articles in Medline and EMBASE (references available on request to NHS staff) that mentioned catheterisation in relation to PAPVC, but mainly in the context of diagnosis.

We didn't find anything in BMJ Case Reports.

If anybody is interested in getting a copy of the list of references, please contact Jason Curtis in the Shrewsbury Health Library (jason.curtis@sath.nhs.uk) on 2507.

We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

World Aids Day

2011-12-01T15:46:00.000Z

1st December each year marks World Aids Day. Promoted as part of the HIV Aware campaign, it is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV and show their support for people living with HIV.

More than 90,000 people are currently living with HIV in the UK and globally an estimated 33.3 million people have HIV. More than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007 have died from the virus, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.

For books on this topic, search our online catalogue.

Map of Medicine Updates

2011-12-01T09:56:00.009Z

There are a number of new care maps now available on Map of Medicine

Anaemia

Cough in children

Cough in adults

Crystal arthropathy

Pelvic organ prolapse

Hip pain

Map of Medicine monitors over 150 guidance producers, and constantly searches over 3,000 sources for the latest meta-analyses and systematic reviews, enabling healthcare professionals to stay abreast of changes through a single resource.

A number of care maps have been updated with the latest evidence-based recommendations:

Bladder cancer: use of pioglitazone (an oral treatment for type 2 diabetes) is associated with a small increased risk of bladder cancer. Healthcare professionals should be aware of new warnings and precautions for use in at-risk patients

Epilepsy in adults: now including the latest evidence from NICE recommending retigabine for the adjunctive treatment of partial onset seizures with or without secondary generalisation where other options have failed

Fluid and electrolyte imbalance: the Pathology Harmony Group have produced guidelines on reference intervals for normal sodium and potassium levels. This is of particular interest to users and commissioners of hospital diagnostic services

Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) in children and adolescents: NICE have now updated their guidance on endoluminal gastroplication. Check out the secondary care page of the care map for the latest recommendation

Hip fracture: newly updated recommendations from NICE including the timing of surgery, patient and carer views and information are now incorporated throughout the care map

Miscarriage: updated to include new guidance from Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on the investigation and treatment of couples with recurrent first-trimester and second-trimester miscarriage; also now with the latest evidence on indications for transvaginal and transbdominal cerclage in the treatment of cervical incompetence for women suffering recurrent miscarriage

Myeloma: see the ‘Initial chemotherapy’ care points for the latest evidence on bortezomib and thalidomide for the first-line treatment of multiple myeloma

Retinal detachment: includes recent new guidelines from the College of Optometrists on examining patients who complain of flashes and floaters, and when to refer urgently or as emergency

Rheumatoid arthritis: abatacept is now recommended for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis after the failure of conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. See the medical treatment page of the care map

Warts: new evidence indicates that cryotherapy using liquid nitrogen is associated with higher costs per additional healed patient than 50% salicylic acid for the treatment of verrucae

The Map has been shown to improve patient outcomes and lower healthcare delivery costs.You can access the national version of the Map of Medicine without the need for a password, or you can use your NHS Athens password to access a localised version of the Map.

Aspergillus infection in ENT

2011-11-18T09:43:00.002Z

We were recently asked to carry out a literature search for the management, investigation or incidence of aspergillus in ENT over the last 20 years.

We carried out a search in Medline, from 1991 onwards, limiting to English language and humans only. We also did a search in the Cochrane Library, where there were a small number of reviews about diagnosis of aspergillosis, but none specifically related to ENT.

There were rather a lot of articles, and we tried to narrow it to diagnosis / incidence / management. If anybody is interested in getting a copy of the list (of over 140 references in all), please contact Jason Curtis in the Shrewsbury Health Library (jason.curtis@sath.nhs.uk) on 2507.

We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can request a literature search using the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

Observation bays in maternity unit

2011-11-18T09:26:00.005Z

We were recently asked to search for evidence for observation bays in maternity units, where women are observed on a daily basis for a period of time, but went home at night. This might be for conditions like hyperemisis, raised blood pressure or bleeding in pregnancy.

It proved to be difficult to find much, and what was written was about 'day assessment units' rather than observation bays per se.

There was one Cochrane Review on the topic:
Antenatal day care units versus hospital admission for women with complicated pregnancy
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001803.pub2/pdf/standard (no password required)

This only includes three studies in the review, and only one of these is recent (2004). This is:
Turnbull DA, Wilkinson C, Gerard K, Shanahan M, Ryan P, Griffith EC, et al. Clinical, psychosocial, and economic effects of antenatal day care for three medical complications of pregnancy: a randomised controlled trial of 395 women. Lancet 2004;363:1104–9, which is available online at http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mnh&AN=15064028&site=ehost-live (you'll need your NHS Athens password to access this)

There may be a few more references of interest from the Cochrane Review, but many looked quite old. If any of the reviews are of interest, you can check for online access in the NHS Journals Collection (you'll need to login with NHS Athens password first).

I found a handful of further articles:

There is an article in the BMJ about pre-eclampsia which has some recommendations for day assessment units
http://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b3129.full (should be available without a password)

Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynaecology (2005)
Evaluation of the role of day assessment unit in the management of pregnancy induced hypertension.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mnh&AN=16263537&site=ehost-live (you'll need your NHS Athens password to access this)

Baseline audit of an antenatal day assessment unit, British Journal of Midwifery, vol 7, no 3, Mar 1999, p 181-186. This one is not available online, but we do have a copy in the Shrewsbury Health Library.

We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can access an online version of the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

UpToDate adds General Surgery

2011-11-18T09:26:00.004Z

UpToDate, the clinical knowledge system, has now added General Surgery to its list of specialties. This means that subscribers can now access clinical information and evidence-based recommendations in 19 specialties.

Topics covered in the new specialty cover all the major areas of General Surgery. These include
abdominal wall and hernia, bariatric and metabolic, breast, burn, colorectal, endocrine, head and neck, pancreatic and hepatobiliary, plastic and reconstructive, skin and soft tissue, thoracic, trauma, upper GI, and vascular surgery. Also included are sections on minimally invasive surgery, as well as anesthesia and analgesia, general surgical principles and surgical quality and safety.

You can access UpToDate from the Intranet home page by clicking on the UpToDate icon in the Applications list.

Alcohol Awareness Week

2011-11-14T12:42:00.004Z

14th - 20th November 2011 is Alcohol Awareness Week

Did you know:
Every minute alcohol-related problems cost the UK economy around £48,000
Every hour more than 100 people go into hospital in England and Wales with an alcohol-related condition
Every day more than 40 people die as a result of alcohol in England and Wales
Every week more than 100 children call ChildLine upset about their parents’ drinking – some as young as five years old.

We hold a range of books on this subject, visit our online catalogue for details. Alternatively the NHS Choices website hosts a variety of information as well as a selection of interactive quizzes and iPhone apps.

World Radiography Day

2011-11-08T11:15:00.003Z

Today is World Radiography Day, marking the anniversary of the discovery of X-rays in 1895.

We hold a large selection of Radiography books and Journals, for more details check our online catalogue.

For more information visit the Society of Radiographers website or the World Radiography Day website.

Physiotherapy for Guillian-Barre syndrome

2011-11-01T12:28:00.004Z

We were recently asked to carry out a literature search for physiotherapy or rehabilitation in Guillain-Barre syndrome.

We checked Medline, CINAHL, AMED, PEDro and the Cochrane Library, but found there was not a lot of published material.

The Cochrane Library did have one review of rehabilitation (Multidisciplinary care for Guillain-Barré syndrome) which included physiotherapy and can be found at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008505.pub2/abstract

The CINAHL database included an interesting article on the Nintendo Wii (The effects of the Nintendo Wii on dynamic balance and functional gait in an individual with Guillain-Barre Syndrome)!

If anyone is interested in getting a copy of the list of other articles found (in Medline, CINAHL and AMED) please contact Jason Curtis at the Shrewsbury Health Library. We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can access an online version of the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

Side-effects of prostaglandins for induction of labour

2011-11-01T11:23:00.008Z

We were recently asked to carry out a literature search for the side-effects of prostaglandins for induction of labour, looking particularly at the incidence of placental abruption and hyperstimulation of contractions.

We were able to find a number of articles in both Medline and EMBASE, but nothing in the Cochrane Library. The search covered English language only, and was from 2003 onwards.

If anyone is interested in getting a copy of the results, please contact Jason Curtis at the Shrewsbury Health Library.

We regularly carry out literature searches for staff on request, and you can access an online version of the literature search request form on the SASHA website.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2011-10-25T11:28:00.006Z

Many of you will be aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Over 50,000 people are diagnosed with Breast Cancer every year in the UK.

We hold a selection of books and Patient Information Leaflets about Breast Cancer - for more details visit the SHeLib catalogue.

For more information or to get invloved with Breast Cancer Care, visit their website: http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/

Changes at the Shrewsbury Health Library

2011-10-14T15:38:00.003Z

We've made some changes to the library at Shrewsbury, which we hope will make it a better environment for study.

Thanks to our move of stock in the summer, we now have a new Group Study area by the catalogues, with a mixture of comfortable chairs and low tables, as well as some tables on wheels that can be moved around as required for group use.

We'll shortly be getting laptops for use in the area, and these can connect to the WiFi so that groups will be able to borrow these to use these in the group study area.

By making this new Group Study area available, we hope to offer a better service for users who'd like to study quietly elsewhere in the library (and of course we still have our silent study room if you'd like total quiet!).

We've also made our photocopying area the 'Self-Service' area, where you'll find the photocopiers and printers, the print account top-up machine, and the self-service terminal for borrowing and returning items. In addition, we have laminating and binding facilities in the area, for which we sell the materials to use.

It's not all work, work, work!

2011-10-13T10:55:00.007Z

You may or may not know that the Library has a collection of leisure books which are available for loan to staff. We are now wanting to find out if there is any interest in having a book club at Shrewsbury open to all staff members. Depending on feedback, this could be held at lunch-time or straight after work. The Library would arrange for the loan of sets of books from the public library and the meetings would be held in the Learning Centre.

If you are interested, just pop into the Library and let us know, or phone us on 2507, or email us at david.little@sath.nhs.uk. All we need to know at this stage is your name, how we can contact you, and any preferences you might have such as time, day, or type of book.

World Mental Health Day

2011-10-10T13:26:00.006Z

The 10th October marks World Mental Health Day.

Mental Health problems affect 1 in 4 people every year. Mind and Time To Change campaign vigorously to create a society that promotes and protects good mental health for all - a society where people with experience of mental distress are treated fairly, positively and with respect.

The Library holds a wide range of books, e-books and DVD's on Mental Health as well as a selection of patient information leaflets.

For more information about World Mental Health Day visit the World Federation for Mental Health Website.

For information about Mental Health issues visit the Mind or Time To Change websites.

New Books in our Leisure Collection

2011-09-05T09:31:00.009Z

It's not often we buy books for our Leisure Collection, but we saw these and we couldn't resist!

Trust Me: I'm a (Junior) Doctor

Starting on the evening before he begins work as a doctor, this book charts Max Pemberton's touching and funny journey through his first year in the NHS. Progressing from youthful idealism to frank bewilderment, Max realises how little his job is about 'saving people' and how much of his time is taken up by signing forms and trying to figure out all the important things no one has explained yet -- for example, the crucial question of how to tell whether someone is dead or not. Along the way, Max and his fellow fledgling doctors grapple with the complicated questions of life, love, mental health and how on earth to make time to do your laundry.

In Stitches

Dr Nick Edwards writes with shocking honesty about life as an A&E doctor. He lifts the lid on government targets that led to poor patient care. He reveals the level of alcohol-related injuries that often bring the service to a near standstill. He shows just how bloody hard it is to look after the people who turn up at the hospital door.

But he also shares the funny side - the unusual ‘accidents’ that result with weird objects inserted in places they really shouldn't have ended up - and also the moving, tragic and heartbreaking.

It really is an unforgettable read.

Sick Notes

The hilarious, shocking and occasionally tragic truth about the working life of a British GP, written for the lay reader. Dr Tony Copperfield is an average GP in an average town. He spends his life fighting off the worried well armed with Internet print outs and health pages torn from newspapers, dealing with youngsters with meningitis, worrying about swine flu, mopping up vomit, shouting at bureaucrats and banging his head against the brick walls of the NHS.

Tommy's Let's Talk Baby Month

2011-09-01T11:19:00.006Z

The aim of the Tommy’s ‘Let’s talk baby’ initiative is to empower pregnant women by bringing the realities of pregnancy into the open and make impartial, expert pregnancy health information available to all parents-to-be.

This years campaign focuses on Tommy’s Five Point Pregnancy Plan; five key health messages that they want women, their families and healthcare professionals to take on board. These five points are:

Nutrition in Pregnancy

Weight in Pregnancy

Exercise in Pregnancy

Smoking in Pregnancy

Mental Health in Pregnancy

For more information about the Five Point Pregnancy Plan visit the Tommy's website: http://www.tommys.org/

For books on these subjects visit our Library Catalogue

UpToDate and links to full-text articles

2011-08-26T09:58:00.003Z

We've now enabled UpToDate to link to details of our journal holdings, so that when you view the reference list for a topic in UpToDate, it is possible to check whether you can access the relevant articles online.

Simply click on the reference, then click on the button for 'Check for full text availability'. If we have access, you'll then see a link to 'Find article' (if we don't have online access, the system will say so, or will tell you if we have a print copy of the journal).

You may then be asked to log in with your NHS Athens account details (you can register if you don't already have one). You may need to click on 'Login with Athens' or similar, to ensure the journal recognises your Athens account.

UpToDate is a clinical decision support tool, covering over 8,300 topics with over 6,800 graded treatment recommendations covering 16 specialities as well as over 450 patient information leaflet and 97 medical calculators. It promises to help you find answers to your clinical questions quickly and easily.

Access is available within Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals, via the SaTH Intranet (under the applications menu on the front page) without the need for any password.

Our journals collection includes around 3,500 titles available to SaTH staff and students via an NHS Athens account, but for any you can't access, we have an efficient article request service.

Shrewsbury’s Exam Collection has moved!

2011-08-23T15:02:00.004Z

As part of our Library Stock Move, Shrewsbury’s Exam Collection is now located next to the new Group Study Area.

We have over 350 books, E-books and DVD’s in our Exam Collection on a variety of topics including MRCP, Undergraduate Finals and OSCE’s.

Search our online catalogue at www.shelib.nhs.uk.

Library Stock Move 2011

2011-07-05T08:59:00.000Z

We're having a move around of our collections at the Shrewsbury Health Library over the summer. This will meet some of the demand for group study space, by creating a new space with movable tables and chairs that can be used for groups to work together.

This will ease pressure on other areas of the library to allow people to study without too much disturbance.

The move will also help us make some collections more visible, such as our quick reference, exam, and leisure collections.

We hope the move will not cause too much disturbance, but we're sure improvements to the library facilities will be worth the effort!

New Publications Added to Collection

2011-06-30T14:47:00.003Z

The Library has recently added a number of King's Fund publications to its collection. Related to health services management, they include:

Delivering better care at end of life: the next steps (2010)
From ward to board: identifying good practice in the business of caring (2009)
Getting the measure of quality: opportunities and challenges (2010)
Getting the most out of PROMS: putting health outcomes at the heart of NHS decision-making (2010)
How cold will it be? Prospects for NHS funding: 2011-17 (2009)
Improving NHS productivity: more with the same not more of the same (2010)
NHS Workforce planning: limitations and possibilities (2009)
Putting quality first in the boardroom: improving the business of caring (2010)
Windmill 2009: NHS Response to the financial storm (2009)

Click on the title of the publication for further details.

Dementia Awareness Week

2011-06-27T11:10:00.002Z

Next week is Dementia Awareness Week

There are currently 750,000 people with dementia in the UK; two thirds are living in the community and only 40% of people with dementia get a diagnosis. There are many different types of Dementia and many more causes, the most common being Alzheimer’s disease.

We have over 200 books and e-books about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, including books about diagnosis and care. For more details check our catalogue.

For more information about Dementia, its diagnosis and treatment visit http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/.

Search from one convenient page

2011-06-14T13:56:00.006Z

We've recently added a Search Tools tab to each of our Knowledge Centres, to enable you to search for books, journals articles, case reports and evidence resources from one convenient page.

Our Knowledge Centres mirror the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust's new Clinical Centres, and enable health staff to view a range of new journal articles, along with other news resources, and to sign up for a range of email alerts.

As well as the main Knowledge Centre, we've developed the following individual centres:

Diagnostics Knowledge Centre

Emergency and Critical Care Knowledge Centre

Head and Neck Knowledge Centre

Medicine Knowledge Centre

Musculoskeletal Knowledge Centre

Oncology Knowledge Centre

Ophthalmology Knowledge Centre

Pharmacy Knowledge Centre

Surgical Knowledge Centre

Therapy Knowledge Centre

Women and Children’s Knowledge Centre

In addition, we are developing a Leadership Knowledge Centre

Our nationally-recognised service is based on Netvibes software, which is a free 'dashboard' creation tool that anyone can use to create a personalised site. If you have a Netvibes page, you can copy individual boxes ('widgets') from any Netvibes page to your own, so you can create your own customised page that includes the journals, search boxes and other tools you want to use.

At the moment, some users at Princess Royal Hospital are experiencing problems accessing the Knowledge Centres, but we hope this will be rectified soon.

National Diabetes Week 12th-18th June

2011-06-13T10:06:00.007Z

'National Diabetes Week' runs from 12th-18th June

Do you have diabetes?

Are you interested in the subject?

If so please come along and see the display promoting diabetes week in Shrewsbury Health Library. More than 2.78 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes in the U.K. . One in three people conceal it. (Source: 'Diabetes U.K' charity). One main aim of 'National Diabetes Week ' is to help promote awareness of current issues surrounding the subject.

If you miss the display please check out our wealth of diabetes books and journals .

For further information and resouces please see: http://www.diabetes.org.uk/ and http://www.jdrf.org.uk/

Literature Searching for NHS Researchers

2011-06-07T14:39:00.008Z

Are you just starting out on a research proposal and are wondering what you need to include in your literature search?

Or

You’ve just almost completed your research proposal, and somebody just reminded you that you should have carried out a review of the topic, and you can’t remember what you were taught when you were at university!

Or you just need a guiding hand?

Then this is exactly what you need. The aim of this guide is to support NHS researchers in carrying out effective literature searches. It will help ensure that research is not duplicated and that literature searches retrieve the best available evidence.

This document provides guidance for the following key steps:

planning a literature search

identifying key sources of information

guidance in carrying out an effective literature search

documenting the search process

It also provides links to 40 of the most useful information sources available today.

Just go to our Research page and download; The Literature Search Process: Guidance for NHS Researchers.

Everyman Male Cancer Awareness Month

2011-06-03T13:52:00.004Z

June marks Everyman Male Cancer Awareness Month.

Every year testicular and prostate cancer affects nearly 39,000 men; Everyman's mission is to stamp out testicular and prostate cancer by ensuring everyone recognises the tell-tale signs, and understands the importance of treating them. By increasing this awareness they also hope to raise money to fund life-saving research. One of the main ways that the charity raises money is its annual Turn Blue events. The ‘official’ Turn Blue day this year is Friday 17th June.

Shropshire Health Libraries hold a selection of books on male cancer and over 250 books and journals on other forms of cancer and cancer treatment. Search our catalogue for more details.

For more information on testicular and prostate cancer and Everyman visit their website: http://everyman-campaign.org/

UpToDate is back!

2011-06-01T09:49:00.004Z

We now have a new subscription to UpToDate until June 2012.

UpToDate is a clinical decision support tool, covering over 8,300 topics with over 6,800 graded treatment recommendations covering 16 specialities as well as over 450 patient information leaflet and 97 medical calculators. It promises to help you find answers to your clinical questions quickly and easily, and based on the survey results we obtained last year from users of the service, this has proved to be the case.

Access is available within Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals, via the SaTH Intranet without the need for any password. UpToDate is only available via the SaTH Intranet, and currently cannot be accessed from elsewhere.

Adult Learners' Week

2011-05-20T14:51:00.001Z

14th – 20th May 2011 marks the Adult Learners' Week.

The initiative is the largest drive for learning of its kind - celebrated in over 55 countries across the world. Founded and co-ordinated by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), Adult Learners' Week in England is backed by thousands of supporters.

We have an array of books to support learning in the Library, from ECDL textbooks to NVQ handbooks as well as a large selection of study skills and ‘return to learning’ books. We also stock books to support under- and post-graduate study. Use the catalogue search box on the left of the blog to search our online catalogue or for more information on Adult Learners’ Week visit http://www.alw.org.uk/.

Improvements to NHS Evidence

2011-05-18T12:07:00.010Z

NHS Evidence, the free search site for evidence-based health information, has had a few changes recently to improve its ease of use.

A new feature of topic pages for major subjects has been added that bring together the main guidelines, commissioning information, information for patients, ongoing research and medicines information.

Access to the healthcare databases (such as Medline, EMBASE and CINAHL), journals, e-books and the Zetoc journal contents page service is now available on a separate page that replaces the formerly separate National Library for Health. These are not searchable from the main search function, and require an NHS Athens account, but are essential for a comprehensive search of the evidence-base that includes primary research.

NICE Pathways are now available for a range of conditions, providing visual representations of the patient journey and decision support, complementing the existing pathways available via the Map of Medicine.

Why not download a copy of our Quick Reference Guide, or view our SlideShare presentation (below). Even better, why not ask one of our librarian contacts to come along to your team or department to demonstrate NHS Evidence, or any of the other knowledge resources available to NHS staff and students.

NHS Evidence

View more presentations from Shrewsbury and Telford Health Libraries

Clinical Centre Library Contacts

2011-05-16T15:03:00.009Z

As part of our strategy to support the Trust's new Clinical Centres (and indeed, other teams within the Trust), we've designated individual librarians to act as contacts for each of the new centres within the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Our librarians can, for example, act as contacts for your teams to discuss information resources such as books, journal subscriptions and databases, are happy to visit teams to provide demonstrations or training on knowledge resources, and can liaise with you in developing our new virtual Knowledge Centres for each clinical centre.

Louise Stevens, Site Librarian, Telford Health Library (Extension 4694)

The Shrewsbury and Telford Emergency and Critical Care Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Medicine Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Musculoskeletal Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Oncology Centre

Child protection, Communicable diseases, Infection Control, Medical Engineering, Nursing, Occupational Health, Pain management, Psychiatry / Mental Health, Psychology, Public Health and Health Promotion, Wound Care / Tissue Viability.

Jason Curtis, Site Librarian, Shrewsbury Health Library (Extension 2507)

The Shrewsbury and Telford Head and Neck Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Ophthalmology Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Surgical Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Therapy Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Diagnostics Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Pharmacy Centre
The Shrewsbury and Telford Women and Children’s Centre

General practice, Pre-clinical topics not covered elsewhere (biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, immunology, anatomy and physiology)

Dave Little, Library Services Manager (Extension 2507)

Clinical Governance, IT, Education and training, Finance, Health Care Assistants, Health and Safety, Human Resources, Keele Medical Students, Leadership, Library and information management, Management, Spiritual Care, Statistics.

Information Skills Training April 2011 - March 2012

2011-05-12T12:20:00.000Z

Pathways to Knowledge

Discover the range of health care information sources on line (including those available via NHS Athens passwords), with plenty of time to search for information. Each full day course includes four modules:

Searching Healthcare Databases
Health Information on the Internet
Cochrane Library
Making the Most of Google

Pathways to Knowledge runs from 9:30am-4:30pm on the following dates:

Shrewsbury Health Library
Wednesday 20th April 2011
Thursday 9th June 2011
Wednesday 10th August 2011
Thursday 27th October 2011
Wednesday 7th December 2011
Thursday 23rd February 2010

Telford Health Library
Wednesday 11th May 2011
Monday 18th July 2011
Tuesday 20th September 2011
Thursday 17th November 2011
Friday 20th January 2012
Wednesday 21st March 2012

We also offer the following individual modules, you can book on to any of these courses by contacting the library and we can organise a training session for a time and date that suits you and last about one hour.

Searching Healthcare Databases: Find out how to conduct effective literature searches for journal articles using databases such as Medline, CINAHL and EMBASE, as well as how to access full text articles.

Health Information on the Internet: Know where (and how) to access a wide range of information resources for healthcare including e-journals, guidelines, healthcare databases, and evidence resources.

Making the Most of Google: Make the most of Google's many features and know when (and when not) to use Google. Includes a look at Google Scholar, as well as advanced search techniques.

Athens and NLH MyLibrary Overview: An overview of healthcare information resources provided through the National Library for Health. Come along anytime; recommended time to allow is 30-45 minutes, and no booking is necessary.

Introduction to Critical Appraisal: Understand how to appraise research literature for its validity and relevance to clinical practice. This course is designed to be run with a group of staff from the same departments. (Minimum of 3 People).

Don't forget, we can come to your workplaces if required.

Each of our modules have been matched to the KSF dimensions, and our training meets a number of the KSF requirements either directly or by application of the skills learnt.

All courses are free but do not include refreshments. To book a place contact:

Telford Health Library
Tel: 01952641222 Ext. 4440
Email: telford.library@sath.nhs.uk

Shrewsbury Health Library
Tel: 01743492512 or Ext: 2512
Email: shrewsbury.library@sath.nhs.uk

SaTH staff can also book through the Training Diary on the Intranet through the Learning Zone.

Please note we can also come to your department to provide training for groups on any of the topics listed and more.

Easter Opening Times

2011-04-21T14:21:00.003Z

The SaTH Library Service will be open at the following times over Easter:

Thursday 21st April - 8.30 - 5.00
Friday 22nd April - Closed

Monday 25th April - Closed
Tuesday 26th April - 8.30 - 6.00
Wednesday 27th April - 8.30 - 6.00
Thursday 28th April - 8.30 - 5.00
Friday 29th April - Closed

Monday 2nd May - Closed
Tuesday 3rd May - 8.30 - 6.00
Wednesday 4th May - 8.30 - 6.00
Thursday 5th May - 8.30 - 6.00
Friday 6th May - 8.30 - 5.00

Out of hours access may be available, please ask Library staff for further details.

New Ebooks for Shropshire & Staffordshire Health Library Members

2011-04-19T09:38:00.003Z

Shropshire and Staffordshire Health Libraries have recently purchased a number of ebooks, covering a range of subjects. The titles include:

A

ABC of alcohol - Paton, A. (2005)
ABC of dermatology - Buxton, P. (2009)
ABC of ear, nose and throat - Ludman, H. (2007)
ABC of patient safety - Sandars, J. (2007)
ABC of preterm birth - McGuire, W. (2005)
ABC of sports and exercise medicine - Whyte, G. (2005)
ABC of tubes, drains, lines and frames - Brooks, A. (2008)
ABC of urology - Dawson, C. (2006)
Advancing health literacy: a framework for understanding and action - Zarcadoolas, C. (2006)

C

The child surveillance handbook - Hall, D. (2009)
Clinical manual for treatment of alcoholism and addictions - Mack, A. (2010)
Cognitive and behavioral theories in clinical practice - Freeman, A. (2009)
COPD in primary care - Sharma, A. (2010)
Current diagnosis and treatment in gastroenterology, hepatology and endoscopy - Greenberger, N. (2009)

E

Effective people: leadership and organisation development in healthcare - Prosser, S. (2009)
Essential sports medicine - Hererra, J. (2008)

F

Facilitating reflective learning through mentoring and coaching - Brockbank, A. (2006)

G

A guide to symptom relief in palliative care - Regnard, C. (2010)

H

Handbook of cognitive-behavioral therapies - Dobson, K. (2009)
How to succeed at the medical interview - Smith, C. (2008)

M

Men's health - Kirby, R. (2009)

O

Occupational therapy in orthopaedics and trauma - Mooney, M. (2009)

P

Paediatric gastroenterology (Atlas of investigation and management) - Moreno-Villares, J. (2009)
Pitfalls in prescribing: and how to avoid them - McGavock, H. (2009)
Postgraduate orthopaedics: The candidates guide to the FRCS (TR & Orth) - Banaszkiewicz, P. (2008)
Principles of clinical gastroenterology - Yamada, T. (2008)

To access these titles you will require an Athens username and password. You can then access the books either by clicking on the title of the book or through www.shelib.nhs.uk, where you can also search for more ebooks that we have in our collection.

Making the Most of Google

2011-03-30T08:55:00.002Z

We have all seen and used the Google search page, but how many of you have glanced to the right of the Google search box and clicked on Advanced Search? It is from here you can really take control of the power of Google and start to easily find the information that has eluded you using Google’ s basic search!

Google Advanced Search Features

Search All these words:
Searches for all the words you have entered but in no particular order.

Search exact wording or phrase:
Will search for your words/phrase in the order you entered them.

Search for one or more of these words:
Search for different words appearing in separate web pages.

Any of these unwanted words:
Google will not search for the any of the words or phrases entered here.

Results per page:
Lets you choose how many search results to view on the screen at a time

Language:
This tells Google to only find documents written in your chosen language.

File type:
Allows you to search for specific file types such as: Adobe Acrobat or Excel

Search within a site or domain:
This tells Google to search for results from specific websites such as www.nice.nhs.uk or
from a specific domain such as .gov to search just Government sites.

Google' s Date, Usage Rights, Numeric Range and More Features

Once you have had a go at using these tools look towards the bottom of the advance search page and click on to Date, Usage Rights, Numeric Range and More to discover Google’ s hidden search tools!:

Date:
Using the drop down arrow you will be able to select how recent the pages you are searching for are, you can search for pages that have been added with in the Past Week or within the Past Year.

Usage rights:
Using the drop down menu you can tell Google to search for pages that are Free to use and share or Free to use share or modify etc. For more information on this click on Usage rights: This is very useful if you are creating an information leaflet or promotional materials.

Where your keywords show up:
By using the drop down menu, allows you to tell Google to find pages where your key words appear in just the title of the page, text of the page or just in the URL etc.

Region:
Using the drop down menu tells Google to find pages that are generated in particular regions such as pages just from the UK.

Numeric range:
Using this will allow you to search for different dates, prices, pages or even weight ranges. This would for example allow you to search for a subject limited to the last 5 years.

Find pages similar to the page:
Using this allows you to search for websites that are of similar Content to one you already know, for instance if you were searching for UK Diabetic websites you could enter www.diabetes.co.uk that would find www.diabetictravel.co.uk, www.diabeticlife.co.uk etc.

Find pages that link to the page:
This will find any pages that contain a link to the site of the address you have just searched for, it can be useful when checking the validity of a site you have found, for instance if you found a site has a link on .gov sites such as the Department of Health then it is evidence that the information you have found is ok to use.

If you would like to find out how to use all of the above features to get the best out of Googleand to create an effective search strategy, then please contact the library and book onto our Making the Most of Google Training Module.

Contact Us:
Telford Health Library:
Email: telford.library@sath.nhs.uk Tel: 01952 641222 Extension: 4440
Shrewsbury Health Library:
Email: shrewsbury.library@sath.nhs.uk Tel: 01743492512

Meta Search Engines

2011-03-16T12:19:00.002Z

What is a Metasearch Engine? It is time-saving technology, using metasearching will save you time and can get the information you need.

There is a perception among us that single source search engines such a Google, Bing or Yahoo are similar in function, deliver similar results and index all available content on the Web. Whilst true that single source search engines do search a large section of the Web and provide quality results, it is also true that each search engine’s results are still largely unique. For example if you searched the top 4 search engines; Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask, for the same set of keywords then on average only 0.6 percent of the results would overlap.

The problem every search engine faces is providing us with high ranking relevant information, in other words, the information you want appearing on the first page of your results. The problem with relevancy is that even if two people are searching for the same key words they may still be looking for different information. One search engine’s idea of what is relevant may be exactly what you where looking for whilst another search engine might have got it completely wrong. So by limiting your self to one single source search engine you could miss the most relevant pieces of information completely.

To overcome this you would need to search several different single source search engines which takes and wastes time. The answer to this problem comes in the form of metasearch Engines. Unlike single source search engines, metasearch engines do not crawl the Web themselves. Instead, they send search queries to several search engines at once, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask,, and then the top results from each of these are then displayed together on a single page.

Dogpile:

Searches: Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask
About: Dogpile is an easy to use and effective metasearch engine, providing you with the options to search for images, videos, news, yellow pages and white pages as well as offering advanced search features.

It finds the most relevant content across all the single search engines it looks at and displays the results by relevance whilst eliminating duplicate content. The end result is a list that is more complete than the majority of single source search engine out there.

Another nice feature of Dogpile is that once you have entered your search terms, a column appears on the right entitled “Are You Looking For…” which contains other related search queries which can bring forward better results for your search.

According to Dogpile, their metasearch technology "can search 50% more of the Web than any single search engine".

Metacrawler:
Searches: Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask…
About: Metacrawler is simple to search and is one of the oldest metasearch engines. It provides you with the option to search for images, videos, news, yellow pages and white pages as well as offering advanced search features.

It compiles results from many of the Web's major search engines, delivering relevant and comprehensive results by accessing multiple search engines for each query and has been designed to identify the intent of your search and then list your results in order of relevance they are received from the various search engine it searches..

Yometa:
Searches: Google, Yahoo and Bing
About: The idea behind Yometa is to present relevant search results, based on the combination of website rankings by the top 3 search engines It presents its results in a visually to illustrates how they rank on the three engines simultaneously.

They have created a search engine that is visual rather than textual and allows you to interact with search results differently.

The Search results are displayed in the Venn Diagram. The results closer to the middle of the Venn Diagram are more relevant. The results that are displayed away from the centres are less relevant.

NHS Local: your new resource for patient information

2011-03-14T17:42:00.003Z

The existing EQUIP website is moving over to NHS Local , a new site for the West Midlands providing access to information about local health services, and information for patients, carers and the public.

The existing EQUIP directory of accredited websites is still available, as is a directory of support groups and services detailing over 4000 organisations all checked at least annually.

Annual Evidence Updates February - March 2011

2011-03-09T13:31:00.002Z

Annual Evidence Updates are designed to provide a straightforward and succinct overview of what new research and evidence has been published over the preceding 12 months:

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS)

2011-03-09T11:54:00.003Z

New evidence summaries from February-March 2011

February

Alopecia, androgenetic - female (new)
Alopecia, androgenetic - male (new)
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (new)
Breastfeeding problems (new)
Delirium (new)
Hypothyroidism
Pruritus vulvae
Pulmonary embolism (new)
Vestibular neuronitis (new)

March

CKS is prided by the Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics, focusing on conditions in primary and 'first contact' care. Providing answers to questions from consultations, that outline the evidence on which they are based. Covering 200 'top-level' clinical topics on common acute and chronic illnesses, and disease prevention, and provides information on how to manage more than 500 clinical situations, or scenarios.

PICO

2011-03-08T15:13:00.004Z

PICO is a method of putting together a search strategy that allows you to take a more evidence based approach to your literature searching when searching bibliographic databases such as Medline.

It is very important to think carefully about the topic you are researching before beginning your literature search. A useful and effective way of defining your topic is to plan a search strategy by using the PICO assessment.

One of the benefits of using PICO is that it makes the search for evidence easier. The well-formed question makes it relatively straightforward to find and combine the appropriate terms.

One of the fundamental skills required for practicing EBM is the asking of a well-built clinical question, this benefit both patients and clinicians, such a question needs to be relevant to a patients' problem and phrased in a way that directs your search to relevant information.

There are 4 elements to PICO
1) Patient, Population, Problem:
- Patient or patient group (gender, race, age)
- Disease or Condition
- Stage of the illness
- Care Setting
2) Intervention:
- Type of treatment (drug, procedure, therapy)
- Intervention level (dosage, frequency)
- Stage of intervention (preventative, early advanced)
- Delivery (who delivers the intervention? Where?
3) Comparison:
- Alternative interventions (standard treatment, placebo, another intervention)
- There is not always a comparison.
4) Outcome:
- The outcome or effects you are interested in, such as:
- Improvement of symptoms, healing
- Side effects
- Improved quality of life
- Cost effectiveness and benefits to service provider

There can some times be a 5th element
5) Study Design:
- What study design would provide the best level of evidence?
Systematic Review, Randomised Controlled Trial, Case Control Study...

Example Scenario
Are there any systematic reviews to support laser treatment as an effective therapy for lymphoedema?

P – Lymphoedema (Problem)
I – Laser Treatment (Intervention)
C – None specified (comparison)
O – Reduction of symptoms, healing (outcome)
S – Systematic Reviews (Study Design)

Useful Links
Planning your search strategy using PICO
Using PICO
PICO Template
TRIP Database Search Wizard
The TRIP Database search wizard! Is an experimental approach to search and is based on the PICO method of asking focused questions.
Asking Focused Questions
CEBM (Centre for Evidence based Medicine)
Utilization of the PICO framework to improve searching PubMed for clinical questions
Connie Schardt, Martha B Adams, Thomas Owens, Sheri Keitz and Paul Fontelo
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2007, Volume: 7, Issue 16.

Study Designs Explained

2011-03-07T09:26:00.008Z

In order to find the best possible evidence, it helps to understand the basic designs of research studies. Below is a list of study designs taken from the Levels of Evidence Pyramid, which is a hierarchical approach of showing the increasing methodological quality of a study design as you move up the pyramid.

Case Series and Case Report: Case Series: A study reporting observations on a series of individuals, usually all receiving the same intervention, with no control group.
Case Report: A study reporting observations on a single individual.Also called: Anecdote, Case history, Single case report, Case Study. Case Control Studies:A study that compares people with a specific disease or outcome of interest (cases) to people from the same population without that disease or outcome (controls), and which seeks to find associations between the outcome and prior exposure to particular risk factors. This design is particularly useful where the outcome is rare and past exposure can be reliably measured. Case-control studies are usually retrospective, but not always.

Cohort Studies:An observational study in which a defined group of people (the cohort) is followed over time. The outcomes of people in subsets of this cohort are compared, to examine people who were exposed or not exposed (or exposed at different levels) to a particular intervention or other factor of interest. A prospective cohort study assembles participants and follows them into the future. A retrospective (or historical) cohort study identifies subjects from past records and follows them from the time of those records to the present. Because subjects are not allocated by the investigator to different interventions or other exposures, adjusted analysis is usually required to minimise the influence of other factors (confounders).

Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT): An experiment in which two or more interventions, possibly including a control intervention or no intervention, are compared by being randomly allocated to participants. In most trials one intervention is assigned to each individual but sometimes assignment is to defined groups of individuals (for example, in a household) or interventions are assigned within individuals (for example, in different orders or to different parts of the body).Also called: Randomised clinical trial, RCT

Systematic Reviews/Meta Analyses :Systematic Review: A review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review. Statistical methods (meta-analysis) may or may not be used to analyse and summarise the results of the included studies. Meta-Analyses: If the results of the individual studies are combined to produce an overall statistic, this is usually called a meta-analysis. Many Cochrane Reviews measure benefits and harms by collecting data from more than one trial, and combining them to generate an average result. This aims to provide a more precise estimate of the effects of an intervention and to reduce uncertainty.

Referenced from: The Cochrane Collaboration Glossary

Scirus - The Science Only Search Engine

2011-02-25T14:48:00.011Z

Scirus is a science-only search engine. It uses a targeted search that focuses only on web sites with scientific content drawn from thousands of journals and books. So if you searched for REM you will only retrieve information on rapid Eye Movement and not the rock group.

It searches over 410 million science specific web pages, retrieving peer reviewed articles, as well as having access to other scientific access controlled websites that other search engines do not, enabling Scirus to tap into the invisible web.

Scirus Searches the Following Resources:

Web Pages:
• 140 million .edu sites
• 40 million .org sites
• 23 million .ac.uk sites
• 38 million .com sites
• 39 million .gov sites
• Over 136 million other relevant scientific/technical/medical and University sites from around the world

Special Sources (the numbers are approximate):
• BioMed Central - 73,100 Articles
Provides access to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research.
• Hindawi Publishing Corporation - 34,700 Articles
An academic publisher covering the major areas of science, technology and medicine,
• MD Consult - 223,000 Articles
Helps meet the clinical content needs of physicians and healthcare professionals.
• Nature Publishing Group - 661,000 Articles
Publishes journals and databases across life, physical and applied sciences and, clinical medicine.
• MEDLINE/Pubmed - 19.6 million Citations
Contains references to journal articles in the life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine.
• OncologySTAT - 21,000 Documents
Is designed for oncologists, hematologists, oncology nurses, and all healthcare professionals in cancer care.
• PsyDok - 1,970 Documents
Run by Saarland University and State Library (SULB. PsyDok is a free, full-text eprint archive of published, peer-reviewed.
• PubMed Central - 1.8 million articles
Is a digital archive of life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• SAGE Publications - 691,000 Articles
Publish more than 520 journals in Business, Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, Technology and Medicine.
• ScienceDirect - 10.3 million Articles
Over a quarter of the world's full text scientific, technical and medical (STM) articles.
• Wiley-Blackwell - 252,000 articles
Publishes 1,500 peer-reviewed journals annually in print and online.

For more information or training on Scirus email stephen.yates@sath.nhs.uk or visit the Scirus Help pages.

New Library Services Manager

2011-01-20T21:16:00.002Z

Just a short note to introduce myself, Dave Little, the new Library Services Manager. Only started this week, so still very much trying to find my bearings in a new Trust, but happy to hear from anyone with comments on the future direction of the service.

A little bit about my background, which has been mostly involved in managing libraries, most recently Milton Keynes Hospital, but before that I was in Cornwall, Leeds and the British Library. However, I was also the first Director of the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds, as well as Theatre Manager at Hereford Hospital, so I don't just read books!

Annual Evidence Updates December - January 2011

2011-01-17T14:39:00.004Z

Annual Evidence Updates are designed to provide a straightforward and succinct overview of what new research and evidence has been published over the preceding 12 months:

Urinary Incontinence
Kidney Diseases and Male Urogenital Disorders
Patient and Carer Involvement in Chronic Disease
CAM for Lower Back Pain
Familial Hypercholesterolaemia
Headache
Spinal Diseases
Malignancies Post Kidney Transplant
Alcoholic Liver Disease
HIV/AIDs
Special Care Dentistry
Stroke
Glaucoma
Supportive and Palliative Care in Chronic Lung Disease
COPD
End of Life Care
Lung Cancer
Diabetes

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS)

2011-01-17T12:41:00.003Z

New evidence summaries from December-January 2011

January
Bedwetting (enuresis)
Hyponatraemia
Prostate Cancer

December:
Cervical cancer and HPV
Diabetes - type 1
Diarrhoea - adults assessment
Insulin therapy in type 1 diabetes
Pancreatitis - acute
Pancreatitis - chronic
Pityriasis rosea
Whooping cough

CKS is prided by the Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics, focusing on conditions in primary and 'first contact' care. Providing answers to questions from consultations, that outline the evidence on which they are based. Covering 200 'top-level' clinical topics on common acute and chronic illnesses, and disease prevention, and provides information on how to manage more than 500 clinical situations, or scenarios.

Statistics Online

2010-12-22T13:37:00.004Z

In order to help you keep up-to-date with current healthcare statistics we have put together a web page providing links to reliable websites. So if it’s local, regional, national or global statistics you need then this is the place for you.

Association of Public Health Observatories
Produce information, data and intelligence on people's health and health care for practitioners, policy makers and the wider community, from across the five nations.
British Heart Foundation Statistics
This is a comprehensive and up-to-date source of statistics on the burden, prevention, treatment and causes of heart disease in the UK.
Department of Health Statistics
Includes statistics from all government departments, Office for National Statistics, Government Statistical Service and the Information Centre for health and social care.
Global Health Observatory
Is the World Health Organisation’s portal to providing access to data and analyses on the global health situation and provides critical data and analyses for key health themes.
Health and Safety Executive Statistics Offers statistics on work-related injuries and ill-health in England, Wales and Scotland. You can browse by types of injury, occupation, country or age and gender.
Hospital Episode Statistics Online
Find information about the care provided to NHS patients in England, including waiting times, patient admissions and the number of operation.
NHS Information Centre
The NHS Information Centre is England's central, authoritative source of health and social care information for frontline decision makers.
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics produces independent information to improve understanding of the UK's economy and society.

Selected Resources on Learning Disabilities

2010-12-22T12:04:00.002Z

Shrewsbury and Telford Health Library has put together an information resource list on Learning Disabilities, in order to help you get access to good quality information on Learning Disabilities.

We have included books and journals that are available electronically through your NHS Athens Username and Password, Guidelines, websites and hardcopy books and journals that are available at Shrewsbury and Telford Health Libraries.

All electronic journals and books will require an NHS Athens Username and Password, it is easy to register by visiting www.library.nhs.uk.

The Learning Disabilities Resources List can be found at:
Selected Resources on Learning Disabilities.

If you have any queries or would like help on how to use the resources, please contact either Shrewsbury Health Library or Telford Health Library.

Management Resources

2010-12-16T16:51:00.003Z

In order to help you in your personal development as a manager, we have put together a list of management related resources. This includes the Health Management Specialist Collection - a specialist collection which provides access to high quality information resources for health managers, clinical managers and leaders and those involved in commissioning health services; electronic databases where you can search for the latest research on particular topics, and management and leadership journals, available to Trust staff.
Further information on these and other resources, and links to access them are available on the Learning Zone at http://intranet/learning/Management_Development_-_Resources_for_Managers.asp

If you have any queries or would like help on how to use the resources, please contact either Shrewsbury Health Library or Telford Health Library.

Christmas Opening Times for Our Libraries

2010-12-15T09:25:00.002Z

Both libraries will be staffed for the following times over the holiday period:

Monday 20th December - Thursday 23rd December, 8.30 - 5
Friday 24th December, 8.30-4
Monday 27th December CLOSED
Tuesday 28th December CLOSED
Wednesday 29th December, 8.30 - 5
Thursday 30th December, 8.30 -5
Friday 31st December 8.30 - 5
Monday 3rd January CLOSED
Tuesday 4th January 8.30 - 6

Out of hours access (7am – 11pm each day over the holiday period) is available for the Shrewsbury Health Library via swipe card

Out of hours access (24 hours) is available for the Telford Health Library via keypad (please ask for the code)

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Revision E-books for Final-Year Medical Students

2010-12-13T11:58:00.003Z

Did you know some revision texts are available online to Keele students? All of the titles listed below are published by Radcliffe Publishing.

All you need to do is click on the links below and type in your Keele ATHENS username and password when prompted (also required on the Keele Campus network).

Akunjee, N. (2009). The easy guide to OSCEs for final year medical students

Mann, I. (2009). The finalist’s guide to passing the OSCE

Patel, K. (2006). Complete revision notes for medical finals

Sritharan, (2007). Essential OSCE topics for medical and surgical finals

NHS Athens accounts won't work for these titles, but we do also have a number of revision texts of interest to qualified medical staff that can be accessed with an NHS Athens account from us, and a list of these can be found on the Shropshire Health Libraries Catalogue (some of these may also be of interest to final-year medical students)

If you need information about your Keele ATHENS username and password, please visit the Keele website.

Annual Evidence Updates October - November

2010-11-29T13:35:00.008Z

Clinical Knowledge Summaries(CKS)

2010-11-29T13:21:00.004Z

New evidence summaries from October and November 2010:

November:
Heart Failure - Chronic
Hypertension in Pregnancy
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Insulin therapy - type 2 diabetes
Pityriasis versicolor
Pre-patellar bursitis
Sickle cell disease

October:
Cervical screening
Greater trochanteric pain syndrome- (trochanteric bursitis)
Olecranon bursitis
TMJ disorders

CKS is prided by the Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics, focusing on conditions in primary and 'first contact' care. Providing answers to questions from consultations, that outline the evidence on which they are based. Covering 200 'top-level' clinical topics on common acute and chronic illnesses, and disease prevention, and provides information on how to manage more than 500 clinical situations, or scenarios.

New e-journals for you to access from anywhere

2010-11-24T12:46:00.004Z

We've just purchased online access to 32 journals for all Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust staff and students. To access these, you'll need an Athens account with us, and it's easy to register online.

You can access the journals using the links below (once you've got to the journal page, click 'login' and then 'Go to Athens login'), or you can find these and many more e-journals by visiting the NHS Journals Collection. In addition, if you do a search in the NHS Healthcare Databases, you'll be provided with links to the articles from your search results. No more having to come to the library to access essential articles!

American Heart Journal
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
American Journal of Surgery
Annals of Emergency Medicine
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Best Practice and Research: Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
Best Practice and Research: Clinical Gastroenterology
Best Practice and Research: Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Clinics In Chest Medicine
Critical Care Clinics
Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America
Fertility and Sterility
Gastroenterology
Hematology-Oncology Clinics of North America
Injury
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing
Journal of Hand Therapy
Journal of Hospital Infection
Journal of Pediatrics
Medicine
Obstetrics Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine
Orthopaedics and Trauma
Orthopedic Clinics of North America
Paediatrics and Child Health
Radiologic Clinics of North America
Respiratory Medicine
Seminars In Nuclear Medicine
Seminars In Roentgenology
Surgery
Surgical Clinics of North America
Survey of Ophthalmology
Urology

We'll also be adding these to our Team Knowledge Update service so you can browse the latest articles or have them sent to your inbox from these and many other journals covering 30 different topics.

What did you learn today?

2010-11-23T14:42:00.006Z

The makers of the TRIP Database have developed a new service called TILT (Today I Learnt That...), a place to record and share clinical learning.

You can follow interesting TILTers, mark a TILT that you learnt from, and export your TILTs in PDF format for your appraisal (including any private reflections you add).

TILTs can be searched or browsed by topic.

Why not use this exciting new service to share what you've learnt today with other clinicians?

NHS Evidence - vital for students, not just for staff

2010-11-08T09:26:00.000Z

NHS Evidence are working with universities to promote NHS Evidence to nursing, medical and pharmacy students to demonstrate how useful it is for finding evidence. One of the ways they are doing this is to recruit 'student champions' who can help promote the service to fellow students, and one pharmacy student had this to say:

"If NHS Evidence had been available earlier, it would have certainly made my life so much easier. Before using NHS Evidence, I would often spend time trawling different websites, including commercial search engines like Google, to find information. However, I could not always be confident that the information was credible. And, even if I did find a useful piece of information, going back to find it again a few days later could be difficult as I would not always remember the search terms entered.

NHS Evidence has proved useful in my role as a Pharmacy Technician, particularly when dispensing prescriptions, conducting usage reviews and counselling. Only a few days ago I received a prescription for an antihistamine at a 20mg dose, higher than the standard 10mg dose advised in the British National Formulary (BNF). In order to confirm whether it was satisfactory to fulfil the higher dose prescription, I ran a search on NHS Evidence. Straight away I found evidence confirming that the higher dose was ok, so I saved this just in case I was asked to justify this clinical decision."

Whether you're a student or a member of NHS staff, NHS Evidence may be able to help you locate evidence to assist you in clinical practice. In addition, a wide range of further evidence resources are available from the NHS Health Information Resources (formerly the National Library for Health), and library staff are able to point you in the direction of appropriate sources of evidence and help you exploit them fully.

Online Training Resources

2010-11-04T12:08:00.004Z

Do you find it:
Hard to get out of your department?
Do you just not have the time to find information let alone visit the Library?

Yet you know it’s essential to:
Keep up to-date with the latest research!
To build on your professional knowledge.

And how do you get one of these “Athens Passwords” you keep hearing about?

At Shrewsbury and Telford Health Library we try and stay one step ahead of the game, we know time is precious and that in your wards and departments you have little of it, let alone enough time to sit at a computer or book on for training at the library, and that’s why we have developed some online training resources that you can access from home!

I know what you’re thinking, Work from home? Are you mad? No-not mad, these online tutorials are all less than 10 minutes so take up very little of your time, but the rewards of using them are immeasurable, you will be able to find out how to get an Athens Username and Password, how to access full text online journals and how to get the most up-to-date information emailed straight to your inbox as soon as anything new is published.

What is Available?
Searching NHS Evidence:
NHS Evidence searches a variety of sources of clinical and social care information. This presentation will help you conduct a simple search as well as provide some suggestions for improving your searches.

Registering for an NHS Athens account:
NHS Athens accounts enable NHS staff and students to access a wide range of information resources to support patient care, research and lifelong learning. These include databases, e-journals, e-books and more.

Using Team Knowledge Update:
Team Knowledge Update is a way of keeping up to date with new healthcare knowledge, consisting of a website and an email subscription service that cover journals, books, and resources from providers such as NHS Evidence.

Using the NHS My Journals site:
The NHS provides access to a huge range of print and electronic journals for NHS users, and the My Journals site is an easy way to locate these. It is available through NHS Health Information Resources.

Evaluating Websites

2010-11-04T12:06:00.001Z

It is always better to use good quality evaluated web resources, if you are unsure please come and ask at the library and find out what resources we use and trust.

Should you use sites other than those that the library trusts and uses, be sure to assess their quality before using the information.

Here is a recommended checklist of questions which you could use when evaluating the quality of web sites:

1. Who has written the information?
Is there a clear author? Is there a postal address for them, not just an email address? What are the author’s qualifications in this field?

2. Who’s published the information?
Is there an organisation behind the site? Is it a reputable organisation in its field? Is it a commercial, NHS, government, academic or a personal web site?

3. Are the aims of the site clear?
Is it part of a campaign of some sort? Is it trying to sell something? Be wary of misleading advertisements such as sites claiming details of miracle cures.

4. Is the site relevant to me?
Is it a UK or an overseas website? Is it aimed at the general public, patients or professionals?

5. Can the information be checked?
Is the source of the information clear? Are references to other documents given (for example, research-type articles)? Does it link to other web sites? Are these reputable?

6. When was the site produced?
Is it dated? When was it last updated or checked? How up-to-date would you expect this sort of information to be?

Podcasts

2010-11-03T12:01:00.002Z

Maintaining your professional knowledge and awareness of the latest research evidence and practice developments can be challenging; it is, however, an essential part of professional roles. Podcasts is designed to support you in meeting your continuing professional development (CPD) requirements and maintaining awareness of different aspects of practice.

Free podcasting software:
You can subscribe to a podcast with podcast software such as iTunes, Juice or Doppler or you can subscribe using a web based “feed reader” such as Feed-Reader or Google Reader. Please read the instructions on their sites for information.

Apple iTunes Podcasts - iTunes podcast directory includes around 60 medicine channels including Lancet, NELM, and the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. These can be found under ‘Science and Medicine’ > ‘Medicine’.

My Medical Podcasts - (free registration required) is a UK site that provides a directory and reviews of medical podcasts, as well as a selection of its own consultant-reviewed MRCP level podcasts.

Podmedics - Is affiliated with My Medical Podcasts and offers revision podcasts for medical students.

National Library of Medicine: Weekly highlights of What's New in MedlinePlus.gov. MedlinePlus.gov is created by the Library and provides consumer health and medical information from the National Institutes of Health and other reliable sources.

JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association): Weekly Audio Commentary for JAMA.

New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM): Weekly Audio Summary RSS feed. NEJM is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial opinion.

BMJ Group Podcasts: Get RSS feeds for journals such as, British Journal of Sports Medicine, Archives of Disease in Childhood, Gut and more…!

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) Knowledge Plus Podcasts: CKS has produced the first in a series of audio 'podcast' discussions on 'hot' clinical issues which you can listen to here, or download to your computer or MP3 player.

Royal College of Psychiatrists: Each month their podcast team will be broadcasting the very latest breakthroughs and discoveries in neurosciences, psychiatry and psychology.

Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG): RCOG Podcasts are on current issues in maternal and reproductive healthcare or new developments in the specialty.

Royal College of General Practitioner: Essential Knowledge Updates are six-monthly updates on selected items of new and changing knowledge central to everyday practice

MIDIRS Podcasts: Offer you access to a whole range of maternity-related information, including topics of interest and practical guidance that you can access at a time and location that suits you.

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Podcasts of author interviews to the online Journal.

Neurology - (American Academy of Neurology): Weekly podcast of content from Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Patient Information Resources

2010-11-03T11:35:00.001Z

Introduction
Listed below are some suggestions for websites to visit to get more information about healthcare conditions and treatments, along with details of useful contacts.

All information obtained from the internet should be checked to ensure that it is reliable.

The websites below provide access to good quality patient information for all ages.

NHS Direct - A nurse-led advice service run by the NHS for patients with questions
about diagnosis and treatment of common conditions. The website provides a health encyclopaedia, self-help advice based on common symptoms, and answers to common health questions.

Health information is available in 12 different languages.

NHS Choices - Provides information about healthy living in the form of leaflets, audio and
video material, and information to help you locate and use local NHS services.

Should we believe everything we read in the press? Behind the Headlines takes national news reports and looks at the research behind the headline.

Patient UK: Provides over 700 leaflets on health and disease, some translated into other
languages (some available as audio files) as well as links to national support and self-help groups and a directory of UK health websites.

Patient UK offers over 800 leaflets on medicines and drugs.

There is an online forum available for sharing personal experiences of different conditions, for which registration is recommended but not required.

West Midlands Patient Information: A West Midlands NHS website which signposts
patients to quality health information and provides:

- Information about local support groups and clinics
- Links to quality checked web sites
- National support group contacts
- Information in languages other than English

Macmillan/Cancerbackup: Macmillan and Cancerbackup merged in
2008. Together they provide free, high quality information for people affected by cancer.

Lab Tests Online UK: Information about clinical laboratory tests, searchable by name of the test, or by the condition they are used for.

Children First for Health: Produced by Great Ormond Street Hospital, and comprising different sections for different ages of children (Juniors 5-7, Kids 7-11, Teens 12-18) who are experiencing illness themselves.

Shropshire County Council and Community Directory: Information on a wide range of health and social care issues in Shropshire.

Community Directory: The Community Directory gives details of many local support groups and organisations.

Team Knowledge Update

2010-11-02T09:23:00.003Z

Do you want to keep up to date with new healthcare knowledge?
Do you want this to be easy and not take up your time?

If yes – Team Knowledge Update provided by Shrewsbury and Telford Health Library is exactly what you are looking for!

The Team Knowledge Update service from Shrewsbury and Telford Health Library displays the latest journal contents, and other news, organised under 35 different subject ‘tabs’ so you can easily browse the latest information relevant to you or sign up for our email alerts.

It's easy to keep up to date when using Team Knowledge Update, as you can subscribe to as many email alerts as you like. When you sign up for these, you'll receive an email each day a new item is available!

Each page (and email feed) provides you with the latest contents from selected journals (both electronic and print), along with news from sites such as NHS Evidence Specialist Collections and the National electronic Library for Medicines .

Many of the journals are available full-text with your NHS Athens Account so you can access many new articles with just a couple of clicks. We’ve also added contents from journals we hold in our libraries so you can browse our current journals online before visiting the library to read the full article.

UpToDate, DynaMed and Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Source Trials

2010-10-26T08:30:00.003Z

We're currently trialling a number of e-resources, to see whether they are cost-effective and likely to be well used.

UpToDate
Until the end of November we are trialling the UpToDate clinical decision support tool, covering over 8,300 topics with over 6,800 graded treatment recommendations covering 16 specialities as well as over 450 patient information leaflet and 97 medical calculators.

Access is available via the SaTH Intranet on the Library page (under non-clinical services). UpToDate is only available via the SaTH Intranet, and cannot be accessed from elsewhere.

DynaMed
We're also trialling DynaMed at the moment. This is a clinical reference tool covering over 3000 topics, and is aimed more towards primary and 'first-contact' care.

Access is via an Athens account, and can be accessed at EBSCOHost (click on Athens login, and then select DynaMed from the list of resources). Alternatively, you can also follow the link from the library page on the SaTH Intranet.

Rehabilitation and Sport Medicine Source
This is a journal package containing 183 journal titles containing a number of titles we don't currently have access to, so should expand the range of journals covering topics such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and rehabilitation. You can search the database (which contain a mixture of full-text and references to non-full text articles) at EBSCOHost (click on Athens login, select EBSCOHost Research Databases, and then choose Rehabilitation and Sport Medicine Source from the list of resources).

The journals are also available as part of the NHS Journal Collection for SaTH staff during the period of the trial (you'll need to login with an Athens account from SaTH to see them).

Feedback
We would really appreciate any feedback you may have on these resources to aid us in a decision on whether to subscribe (we'll also be looking at usage and feedback from other library services to guide us). To give us feedback, please contact either Jason Curtis at Shrewsbury, or Louise Stevens at Telford, or add your comments to this post.

Annual Evidence Updates in September

2010-09-27T10:50:00.001Z

Annual Evidence Updates are designed to provide a straightforward and succinct overview of what new research and evidence has been published over the preceding 12 months.

20-24/09/2010
Surgical Aspects of Faecal Incontinence
This update highlights evidence published between July 2009 and July 2010, focussing on surgical management including biofeedback and nerve stimulation. An expert commentary by our External Reference Panel Member, Mr Paul Hainsworth, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne synthesizes the evidence.
Osteoarthritis
NHS Evidence - musculoskeletal in conjunction with NHS Evidence - trauma and orthopaedics have produced this Annual Evidence Update (AEU) on osteoarthritis. Like our previous 2009 AEU, this AEU will appeal to all health professionals, reflecting the multidisciplinary approach required across both primary and secondary care.

13-17/09/2010
Diabetic Retinopathy
The 2010 Annual Evidence Update on Diabetic Retinopathy, published 13 September, is an up-to-date comprehensive collection of evidence with commentary from Dr Peter Scanlon, Consultant Ophthalmologist and National Director of the English National Screening Programme for Diabetic Retinopathy.
Eczema
This is our fourth Annual Evidence Update on Atopic Eczema. It includes the results of our search for new guidance and systematic reviews published since the last Annual Evidence Update in September 2009 and an overview of "what's new" by Professor Hywel Williams and Dr Kave Shams.
Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia
NHS Evidence - later life's Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia AEU 2010 aims to provide healthcare professionals with a clear path to the most important recent evidence surrounding the five major types of dementia: Alzheimer’s; Vascular dementia; Dementia with Lewy bodies; Frontotemporal dementia; and Mixed dementias.

06-10/09/2010
Epilepsy
The Neurological Conditions Specialist Collection Project Team has carried out a systematic literature search on Epilepsy to identify all high level evidence published since the date of the last Epilepsy Annual Evidence Update in 2009, including guidelines, systematic reviews, health technology assessments and economic evaluations.
Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Supportive - Palliative Care
The latest update from NHS Evidence - supportive and palliative care focuses on the best new evidence on treatments for anorexia and disease and palliative care.

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) - New and Updated Topics

2010-09-27T10:36:00.004Z

Eight new evidence summaries this month:

Addison's disease
Alcohol - problem drinking
Cataracts
Constipation in children
Cough
Gilbert's syndrome
Glaucoma
Neuropathic pain - drug treatment

CKS is provided by the Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics, focusing on conditions in primary and 'first contact' care. Providing answers to questions from consultations, that outline the evidence on which they are based. Covering 200 'top-level' clinical topics on common acute and chronic illnesses, and disease prevention, and provides information on how to manage more than 500 clinical situations, or scenarios.

New PCT Library Manager

2010-09-16T15:51:00.003Z

We'd like to welcome Sabelo Mapasure, the new PCTs Library and Knowledge Services Manager!

Sabelo is responsible for managing the Library Services available to Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire County PCTs and has a base at Halesfield in Telford and in The Learning Centre at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Sabelo can be contacted on x2511 or email Sabelo.mapasure@telfordpct.nhs.uk

Library E-Resource Survey - what we've done

2010-09-08T10:02:00.003Z

Last September we asked you to complete a survey about your use of electronic resources. We thought you'd like to know what changes we have made as a result of your feedback.

You Said	What we’ve done
We still like to visit the Library	We have invested in new carpets and blinds at Telford Library and improved the study space there and introduced WIFI at Shrewsbury Health Library
Parking is a problem	We know and we are sorry. We have no control over parking but we know that the Trust is trying to address this
Statistical information	We are working on a page with useful links for the library web pages
Finding information relating to the organisation is important to you	We have provided this feedback to the Communications team
We’d like to use more services but we are short of time	We now have named librarians who you can liaise directly with to get the information or evidence you need (you don’t even need to leave your ward or desk)
You prefer us to contact you by ad hoc email or an email newsletter	We will continue to do this
You would like more full-text journals	We have bought a new e-journal package as part of a West Midlands consortium so there is now much more full-text access and we are looking at more e-purchases for next year
You’d like more current awareness services	We will continue to promote our current awareness services like Team Knowledge Update, take a look and see if there is one there for you (you can sign up and have email updates delivered directly to you). If not, let us know and we'll create one for your team or area of work
You’d like greater analysis of the evidence or information we provide for you	We are looking at this – we’ll let you know more soon
More e-books	We have continued to purchase e-books (mostly recently on exam topics) and will continue to add to this
You think there should be more e-learning	We do too – we are working with the Development & Training department to make sure you can have easy access to e-learning enabled PCs in the Libraries

When is the Library Open?

2010-09-07T09:56:00.004Z

Both the Libraries are staffed during the times below

Monday to Thursday: 8.30am to 6pm
Friday: 8.30am to 5pm

At Telford Health Library you can access the Library after these hours by using the door code. You will need to ask the Telford Library staff for the code and sign a security form. The Library is then available for use 24 hours a day, everyday.

At Shrewsbury Health Library you can access the Library after these hours by using a swipe card.

You will need to ask the Shrewsbury Library staff to set a card for you, pay a £3 deposit for the card and sign a security form. The library will be available for use up to 11pm and will then reopen for use at 7am.

Quick Reference to Health Information Resources

2010-09-01T09:00:00.000Z

One of the things to come out of our last library e-resources survey was that you would like a list of what e-resources were available, so we've put together a list of some of the most useful sites to locate evidence, including those accessed via NHS Athens account and some that are available without a password.

All of these resources are available from any computer, and some can be accessed on mobiles and handheld devices. Library staff are always happy to demonstrate the resources, and don't forget that we can come to your department to provide demonstrations or training.

Why not download a copy of the list for quick reference, so you need never be stuck for where to look again!

Getting Started

NHS Health Information Resources
Provides access to many of the resources listed below, such as specialist collections of evidence, major healthcare databases and an A-Z list of electronic journals as well as registration forms for NHS Athens accounts.

NHS Athens Registration Form
An Athens account is required to access some of the information resources listed below. All NHS staff and students on placement are entitled to register for an NHS Athens account, and you can find the registration form by following the link at the top right of the screen at the NHS Health Information Resources site.

Databases and Evidence

NHS Healthcare Databases
Includes Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, British Nursing Index, AMED, Health Business Elite, and HMIC. An essential resource for locating primary research published in healthcare journals.

NHS Evidence
Searches a range of quality assessed information resources to find material such as a systematic reviews, guidelines and drug information. Searches can be filtered to find different types of material.

NHS Evidence Specialist Collections
These provide access to a wide range of evidence, guidelines, educational material and patient information resources selected by subject specialists and can be browsed or searched. There are currently 34 collections.

TRIP Database (Turning Research into Practice)
A leading resource for searching for high-level evidence-based healthcare information such as guidelines, systematic reviews and CATs, from a wide variety of quality sources. Searches can be filtered to find different types of material.

Cochrane Library
Contains reliable evidence about the effectiveness of interventions in the form of many full-text systematic reviews, along with abstracts of many other published reviews and randomised controlled trials.

PubMed
An alternative resource for searching Medline without the need for an Athens account.

Current Controlled Trials
Details of randomised controlled trials, both ongoing and completed, and an essential resource for locating unpublished research.

Pathways, Protocols and Procedures

Map of Medicine
A visual representation of the patient journey, along with evidence to aid decision-making.

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS)

Provide up to date guidance on treating conditions commonly seen in primary and first-contact care, quick reference guides and a range of patient information leaflets.

Royal Marsden Manual
The Royal Marsden Hospital Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures provides over 350 evidence-based clinical procedures from handwashing to cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Library Services

Library website
Provides access to a wide range of resources and services, many of which can be accessed without having to visit a library.

Books and Journals

Shropshire Health Libraries Catalogue (SHeLib)

As well as locating any of the over 20,000 book titles held in the four Shropshire Health Libraries, you can renew your loans and to reserve items online.

NHS Journals Collection
Access to over 3000 full-text journals via your NHS Athens account, and the best place to check whether you can access a journal online. By using your Athens account, you can also check whether the journal you require is held in our libraries.

NHS E-Books Collection
Access to over 300 e-books, including a collection of e-books for medical exam revision.

Keeping Up To Date

Team Knowledge Update
Browse the latest journal articles and evidence for a range of over 30 topics, or sign up for email alerts.

Zetoc
Sign up for email alerts of the tables of contents from your favourite journals.

Drug Information

British National Formulary (BNF) (or access via the SaTH Intranet)
Authoritative and practical information on the selection and clinical use of medicines. Access via the SaTH intranet includes local information. Also available is the BNF for Children.

National electronic Library for Medicine (NeLM)

A medicines information portal for NHS staff.

Journal Survey

2010-08-31T15:53:00.001Z

Our recent user surveys have shown that access to electronic article content is becoming increasingly important to you.

Electronic journal access is more expensive than print so we need to look again at the journals that we subscribe to in order to pay for more online access. We want to make sure that the journals we make available meet your needs so we would be grateful if you could complete this survey, which we hope to use as the basis for our journal renewals. It will take just a few minutes to complete and can be found at:

www.surveymonkey.com/s/6M8SVXF

If you have any questions just call Anna O'Neill, Library Services Manager, on RSH x2507

Making NHS e-books easier to use

2010-08-27T08:50:00.001Z

The NHS e-books collection consists of over 400 titles, including many purchased locally such as the 50 books recently purchased to support medical exam revision, many of the ABC series and many of the Oxford Handbooks series, and these are available to NHS Athens account holders registered with Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. Many of the books are also available to other NHS organisations through the national collection.

The NHS e-books interface has just undergone an upgrade to make the books easier to use, for example to make scrolling through content easier rather than having to click next or previous all the time, and you can make notes on the contents of books by signing up for a user account.

It's also easier to print, and you can print or download up to 10 pages at a time (up to the copyright limits).

Here are some ways to make viewing and reading online even easier:

Use full-screen mode

Many newer browsers (for example. IE7 and 8 and Firefox) enable you to enter a full-screen mode, that makes the main window fill the screen. This is activated by pressing F11 on the keyboard.

Hide the navigation menu

Simply click on 'Hide Menu' to make the left-hand navigation menu disappear. To bring it back, click 'Show Menu'

Increase the page size

Use the plus and minus buttons to increase or decrease the size of the text, or enter a value in the box (such as 150%).

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) - New and Updated Topics

2010-08-24T08:59:00.005Z

Eight new evidence summaries this month:

Addison's disease
Alcohol - problem drinking
Cataracts
Constipation in children
Cough
Gilbert's syndrome
Glaucoma
Neuropathic pain - drug treatment

Book suggestions…….let us know

2010-08-20T13:11:00.001Z

As part of our new Librarian Outreach Service and as a means to support individual departments' knowledge needs we now have named librarians for each department. Part of this service that we provide involves liaising with you to review and improve the books, journals and electronic resources available to you through the Library Service, therefore if you would like to recommend any books that you think we should hold as part of our library stock then please let us know.

There are a number of ways you can do this:
- Drop us an email with as many details as you have about the item to telford.library@sath.nhs.uk or shrewsbury.library@sath.nhs.uk
- Pop in to the library and complete our Book Suggestion form
- Visit our website at www.sath.nhs.uk/library/books.asp and click on the link ‘Suggest a book for purchase’

Once we have decided whether to purchase the item we will let you know and if we do, we will let you know when it becomes available for loan.

The contact details of the named librarians and which departments they cover can be found at http://intranet/library/Library.asp under Team Contacts, or if you prefer give me a ring (ext. 4440) and I will pass on the details.

If you would like any further information on the above, on our named librarian service, or would like any information on library services in general then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Library User Group

2010-08-19T14:19:00.002Z

The Library User group meets quarterly to ensure that the library is engaging with its members and responding to your feedback. The group has representatives from a wide range of occupational groups including medical, therapy services, scientific and technical, student and management.

Recent topics for discussion have included our new current awareness services, promotion of the library, attracting non-users to the Library and the creation of a "Library Charter". Notes of the meeting will soon be available on the Library website.

If you are interested in joining the Library User group please let me know.

Anna O'Neill
Library Services Manager
x2507

Information resources 'on the go'

2010-08-16T13:30:00.002Z

Increasingly, people are accessing information resources on smartphones and other handheld devices. A number of resources have versions that are already optimised for mobile use, including:

EBSCOHost Mobile (to search Medline, CINAHL and Health Business Elite and access thousands of full-text articles)

NHS Evidence

Clinical Knowledge Summaries

TRIP Database

Pubmed

EBSCOHost Mobile is available to holders of Athens accounts from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (although other healthcare organisations may also have access). Click on 'Mobile Access' after logging in. The other resources do not require passwords to search.

We'll be keeping an eye on new resources for mobile devices, and will add these to our social bookmarking pages on Delicious. You can access the above list (along with any new resources we bookmark) on your mobile device by visiting http://m.delicious.com/nhsshropshire/mobile.

Library Annual Report 2009/10

2010-08-12T16:10:00.003Z

The Library Annual Report is now available !

Just click on the link below for an overview of the work undertaken by the department over the last year

http://www.sath.nhs.uk/library/Service_Improvement/reports.asp

Happy reading!

Annual Evidence Updates in June

2010-08-09T13:38:00.007Z

Annual Evidence Updates are designed to provide a straightforward and succinct overview of what new research and evidence has been published over the preceding 12 months.

Enhancing our catalogue with Google Books

2010-08-06T02:57:00.000Z

The Shropshire Health Libraries Catalogue has recently had a few changes, and one of the new features is the ability to link from a book record to Google Books. This enables you to find more details about a book title, which may include reviews, tables of contents, cover images and in some cases a preview of the book.

Google Books itself contains details of millions of books, and allows the searching of the text of books held in its database. It also carries the full-text of many books that are out of copyright, along with selected pages from many others.

The Shropshire Health Libraries Catalogue contains details of over 20,000 titles held in the four Shropshire Health Libraries, including details of over 1000 e-book titles.

Map of Medicine

2010-08-02T10:54:00.007Z

Map of Medicine is a tool to provide healthcare staff with clinical pathways and protocols for over 400 scenarios, covering both primary and secondary aspects of care for different conditions. It gives visual representation of evidence-based, practice-informed care pathways and supports clinically-led service improvement programmes. The Map has been shown to improve patient outcomes and lower healthcare delivery costs.

You can access the national version of the Map of Medicine without the need for a password, or you can use your NHS Athens password to access a localised version of the Map.

Each pathway in the map provides more information for each stage of the patient journey, along with links to the evidence used in its compilation.

Library staff would be happy to demonstrate the map in your departments, in a 10-15 minute session, just contact us to make an appointment.

Why not read some of the case studies and see for yourself how the Map of Medicine can help improve healthcare?

How the British Library supports our work

2010-07-29T11:11:00.002Z

The British Library (BL) operates the world’s largest document delivery service providing millions of items a year to customers all over the world. The BL receives a copy of every publication produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They hold over 14 million books and 920,000 journals and newspapers. Within their collections are treasures such as the Magna Carta, Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook and the Beatles manuscript to name but a few. The BL is based on two sites, St Pancras in London and the buildings at Boston Spa, which has over 100km of shelving housing a collection devoted to interlibrary loan.

The British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) supports our work in that when we have exhausted all our local/regional libraries and the BMA, it is a vital resource to contact for journal articles and books. It is used as a last resort due to costs to us as a library. Despite the collections being used daily by over 16,000 people (on site and online) they provide us with a fast, efficient, reliable service, with a speedy turn round.

Over the years we have received a variety of requests – a library user trying to obtain a book published in 1838 and although the BLDSC could not supply the copy as a loan, it was possible for the user to access the title in the Reading Rooms at St Pancras. Another user requested an article in Italian, which they then had translated by a colleague.

The benefit of using the BL is not only reliability and speed of service but they (nearly!) always have what we/you need, whether it is a book or an article. Articles are usually received by email within a couple of days, and books, if held in stock, arrive the next day in some instances.

The BL helpdesk is very supportive and quick to resolve any issues that we may be having, sending us reports for items that their may be delay on or items they cannot supply. This enables us to keep our users up-to-date on the status of their requests and enables us to satisfy requests in the quickest time possible to ensure a quality service delivery to all our users.

Joan Holland & Stephen Yates

Allan Davies

2010-07-19T08:54:00.003Z

It is very great sorrow that we heard of the passing away of our retired colleague Allan Davies. Allan worked for the Trust for 13 years, running the Library at PRH. He retired in 2008 and leaves behind him his wife, stepdaughter and grandson. We will miss Allan greatly, and will particularly remember his easy going nature and dry sense of humour. His funeral is at 12.30pm on Wednesday 21st July at Telford Crematorium. His family have asked that a donation be made to charity in lieu of flowers.

Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS

2010-07-16T15:21:00.003Z

The new white paper on health reform (Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS) came out recently, and to help make sense of its implications, the NHS Evidence health management specialist collection has developed a resource page about it.

The page will be continually updated and collates news coverage, opinion, analysis and related reports as well as responses to the white paper from various health organisations.

Over 1000 More E-Journals Available!

2010-07-05T12:02:00.004Z

Shrewsbury and Telford Health Libraries have just purchased, in conjunction with a number of other libraries in the West Midlands, a subscription to the Medline with Full-Text collection of journals.

This provides access to over 1,350 journal titles in full-text, of which 220 have access to the latest issues. This compliments our existing online collections to provide over 3,300 full-text journals online.

To access all these journals, visit the NHS Journals site, and login with your NHS Athens account. These extra journals are available to anyone with an Athens account with Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and other users such as students on placement can access these journals on the computers in the library.

Lose yourself in a good book this summer... for free

2010-06-07T13:54:00.004Z

Have you got your summer holiday planned? Just need to pick up some books for the beach / plane / train / garden deck chair? Want to save your hard earned money for the bistro? Or maybe you just want a break from reading stuff for work?? Don't buy a book, borrow one!!

Cavort around Crete
Want to drift away to a sun soaked, blue skied sandy beach? Then try…
The Island by Victoria Hislop: ‘This is a vivid, moving and absorbing tale, with its sensitive, realistic engagement with all the consequences of, and stigma attached to leprosy, elevating it beyond holiday literature' (Observer)
Out of the blue by Belinda Jones: On a whim, Selena Harper agrees to spend a week on the idyllic island of Crete, in the company of Alekos, a man she’s convinced is an incorrigible womaniser. Steeped in mythology, the island soon starts to work its magic on Selena – and, more worryingly, so does Alekos. ‘A wise and witty read about the secret desires within us' (Marie Claire)

Sun yourself in Scotland
Planning to visit the Edinburgh Festival? Immerse yourself in an Alexander McCall-Smith set amongst the gorgeous Georgian architecture of this amazing city…
44 Scotland Street: Bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith brings all the warmth of his extraordinary No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books to this witty novel chronicling the lives of the residents of 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh. An international sensation (Website)
Espresso Tales: Vintage McCall Smith, tackling issues of trust and honesty, snobbery and hypocrisy, love and loss, but all with great lightness of touch. Clever, elegant and funny, this is a novel that provides huge entertainment but which is underpinned by the moral dilemmas of everyday life and the characters' struggles to resolve them (Website)

Investigate India
Want to go further afield? Discover an incredible land with amazing people…
A suitable boy by Vikram Seth: Vikram Seth's novel is at its core a love story, set in post-Independence India and involving the lives of four large families and those who orbit them, it is also a vast panoramic exploration of a whole continent at a crucial hour as a sixth of the world's population faces its first great General Election and the chance to map its own destiny. ‘Perhaps even the book to restore the serious reading public's faith in the contemporary novel ... You should make time for it. It will keep you company for the rest of your life' (The Times)
East of the sun by Julia Gregson: This is an utterly captivating story of three young British women in search of freedom and love in 1920s India, but it also provides a wonderful insight into a now vanished world. It’s a book that will ensnare you quickly and hold you in its grasp with its strong plot line, vivid portrayal of its characters, excellent dialogue and a strong sense of time and place. A truly compelling and thoroughly satisfying read. Winner of Romantic Novel of the Year 2009 (Website)

Party in Paris
Perfect for that café stop - imagine yourself in 1930’s Paris with…
The friend of Madame Maigret or Maigret in Court by Georges Simenon. Simenon is by many standards the most successful author of the 20th century, and the character he created, Inspector Maigret, ranks only after Sherlock Holmes as the world's best known fictional detective (Website)

Stroll around Stockholm
ABBA, saunas, Volvos, IKEA, Pippi Longstocking, H&M, the Nobel Prize, Bjorn Borg,...surely nothing can surprise us about Sweden. No? then try one of…
Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy: (Girl who played with Fire; The Girl who kicked the hornet’s nest). He was the second best-selling author in the world in 2008. By March 2010 his Millennium trilogy had sold 27 million copies in more than 40 countries (Website)

Go Green by staying put!
Boost your eco-credentials by staying at home with…
Not buying it by Judith Levine: An award-winning journalist traces a year during which she looks at our society's obsession with shopping and provides the cold turkey confessions of a woman we can identify with -- someone who can't live without coffee and wool socks, but who has had enough of spending money for the sake of it (Website)

Prize winners
Guaranteed good reads by prizing winning authors. They need no further explanation!
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (Man Booker Prize, 2000)
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1932)
The Reader by Bernard Schlick (Boeke Prize, 1999).

Want to see what other books we’ve got? Check out the Library catalogue
www.shelib.nhs.uk. You can borrow up to 8 books and there are no fines on books from our leisure collection.

Make the most of your library at work

The small print: The Library Service supports reading for pleasure as research shows it increases enjoyment, self-confidence, motivation, a sense of achievement and an appetite for more reading. In an era of achievement targets and constrained funding it has a key role to play in motivating and inspiring learners.[1] All books have been donated by Library members and we welcome good quality literature. If you enjoyed it - we want it, otherwise please donate old books to your favourite charity shop.

[1] The Reading Agency www.readingagency.org.uk/adults/reading-for-pleasure-impact/

Annual Evidence Updates June

2010-05-28T14:42:00.002Z

Annual Evidence Updates are designed to provide a straightforward and succinct overview of what new research and evidence has been published over the preceding 12 months.

1st June 2010
Menorrhagia
NHS Evidence - women's health is holding its next Annual Evidence Update from Tuesday 1 June. The update aims to provide clinicians with the most up-to-date knowledge on the diagnosis and management of heavy menstrual bleeding

7th June 2010
Atrial fibrillation
This update for health professionals and patients will present significant advances in knowledge about atrial fibrillation since our last update in June 2009.

7th June 2010
Drugs misuse
The National Library for Public Health will publish its second Annual Evidence Update on drugs misuse. The theme for this update is Drugs misuse treatment in offender populations.

7th June 2010
Osteoporosis and fragility fractures
NHS Evidence - musculoskeletal will release their latest Annual Evidence Update on osteoporosis and fragility fractures.

14th June 2010
Age Related Macular Degeneration
Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is one of the commonest causes of certifiable visual impairment in the UK. The 2010 Evidence Update focuses on the management of neovascular (wet) AMD.

14th June 2010
Homeopathy
The NHS Evidence - complementary and alternative medicine specialist collection will present an Annual Evidence Update (AEU) on Homeopathy from 14 June.

21st June 2010
Oesophago-gastric Cancers
The second Annual Evidence Update on Oesophago-gastric Cancer will be prepared jointly by NHS Evidence - cancer and NHS Evidence - gastroenterology and liver diseases on 21 June 2010.

28th June 2010
Health needs of people with Learning Disabilities
People with learning disabilities have a higher level of health needs than the general population, many of which are unmet. The Health Needs Annual Evidence Update 2010 will provide bibliographies of published research

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) - New and Updated Topics

2010-05-28T13:51:00.008Z

Eleven new evidence summaries this month:

WiFi now available in the Shrewsbury Health Library

2010-05-20T11:22:00.000Z

The Shrewsbury Health Library now has WiFi (wireless internet) available to all library members throughout the Learning Centre, provided by Staffordshire University's AirNet system.

To connect to AirNet with your laptop or mobile device, you can use the same IT account you use to login to the PCs in the Learning Centre. If you don't already have an IT account from us, you just need to register as a library member and we can then set one up for you in a few minutes.

Guides to using AirNet are available in the library explaining how to set your laptop up to access the internet via WiFi.

Access to the SaTH Intranet is not available over AirNet, so if you need to access information on the Intranet, you will still need to use one of our PCs.

Should we use Google?

2010-05-18T09:00:00.000Z

Librarians seem to spend a lot of time telling people in health care not to use Google, don’t they? But most people use Google. It’s the search engine most people know, and it’s easy to use. You don’t need to use a password to get results, and Google Scholar has access to a lot of journal articles not easy to find elsewhere. It’s the place most people go to first.

In a large subject like health, you will find you get hundreds of hits to look through, and not all of these will not be reliable. There will be reliable health care sites, but there will also be opinion pieces on personal web sites, personal blogs and commercial sites trying to sell treatments or drugs and giving evidence (or unsubstantiated statements) which only suit their treatment.

To narrow this down you would need to assess every web site, and with the number of results you get on Google, that will take hours. Most people don’t look beyond the first few pages of the results either, so it may be that someone thinks a result isn’t there when in fact it is.

If there are articles in your list, you will be able to see the titles but not necessarily access them, unless the NHS Athens account covers a subscription to them, and Google will not tell you whether you have a subscription to any journal. So you may need to come to the library anyway, or a site will ask you to pay for an article online which you could have got free from the library.

There are alternatives. The NHS Health Information Resources gives access to peer-reviewed research articles through the healthcare databases (Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycInfo and others), and gives links to full text articles available locally as well. The My Journals list and the E-books list will allow you to search for research articles and text books readable on line as well. The National library of Guidelines and Clinical Knowledge Summaries will take you straight to relevant guidelines, patient information leaflets and other information, and you can find other forms of evidence and information on conditions by using the Specialist Collections. Alternatively, you can find patient information on both EQUIP (which you can narrow down to region and county in the West Midlands) and Patient UK and there is always the Department of Health website which is a source of a variety of information. Google Scholar can be useful as well, particularly for subjects that are not health care related.

If you want to know more about Google, or any of the other sites mentioned, you could take a look at the leaflets under our Help and Training pages on our web pages, or consider signing up for our Information Skills Training courses.

Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) - New and Updated Topics

2010-05-07T13:06:00.005Z

Four new evidence summaries this month:

• Achilles tendinopathy
• Parvovirus B19 infection
• Tinnitus
• Vertigo

CKS is provided by the Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics, focusing on conditions in primary and 'first contact' care. Providing answers to questions from consultations, that outline the evidence on which they are based. Covering 200 'top-level' clinical topics on common acute and chronic illnesses, and disease prevention, and provides information on how to manage more than 500 clinical situations, or scenarios.