Author: Jason Curtis

Health Services Transformation Bulletin now available

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We've just published the second issue of our new Health Services Transformation Bulletin.

This new bulletin supports the recovery of health services and their future development, covering topics such as digital medicine, organisational development, patient flow, virtual wards, and workforce issues.

Containing research, articles, reports and case studies, the bulletin will provide the evidence to support change and innovation.

Many of the evidence resources listed in the bulletin can be accessed without any passwords, but some will need an NHS OpenAthens account, or require free registration. Where the item cannot easily be accessed, we've provided link to request a copy from the library.

Changes to advanced searching for articles

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At the end of March 2022, the Healthcare Databases Advanced Search (HDAS) interface provided by NICE for advanced searching for articles is going to be turned off. The same quality databases will still be available however (Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE and more) but these will then be searched via their provider interfaces (EBSCO, Ovid or ProQuest).

This does mean that there are new interfaces to learn (though the principles of searching remain the same) and you may need to search across two or even three different interfaces for comprehensive coverage of a topic using different databases (for example, if you're doing a systematic review).

The good news is that for many searches, the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub provides an easy way to search for articles and grey literature across a range of databases and information sources.

For more advanced searching needs, we will be producing search guides and offering training on how to make the best use of the provider interfaces.

We already have some guides that may be helpful.

We have a guide to Searching Medline and CINAHL via EBSCO, and we also have a guide to the use of different Search Operators across a wide range of healthcare databases (including how to access the thesaurus, how to do proximity searches, and whether a databases offers Boolean operators). If you're unsure of even which database to start with, we have a rough outline of the coverage of the main healthcare databases for literature searching.

 

 

 

Using Trip Pro to locate evidence

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Trip Pro is a database that can help you locate material such as guidelines, evidence summaries, systematic reviews and much more.

The basic version of Trip can be searched by anyone, but the NHS has made the Pro version available and this offers more systematic reviews, medical images and advanced search features.

Trip Pro can be accessed on any PC within Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and off-site access is available via an NHS OpenAthens account. When you login with NHS OpenAthens, Trip Pro will automatically provide you with links to full-text articles (where available) including those available through our journal subscriptions.

Trip offers a fairly basic interface, but you can filter results in a number of ways using the filters on the left-hand side. These include a filter for UK guidelines, making it easy to find any NICE guidance, along with guidance from Royal Colleges and other professional bodies. Trip claims to have the largest international collection of guidelines, and these can be filtered by region.

The filter for controlled trials offers an interesting feature whereby the RobotReviewer tool has been used to estimate the quality of trials as either 'high' or 'uncertain' based on the abstract, so a certain amount of critical appraisal has been carried out.

There are also filters for ongoing systematic reviews and clinical trials.

Although Trip Pro does not systematically search the journal literature, it does include a number of results classed as primary research, and these can be filtered to 'key primary research' or just 'primary research'. It's not clear how the distinction is made.

Trip offers a guide to which sources it searches.

Trip Pro searches a number of the resources that were covered by the NICE Evidence Search and is a partial replacement for it as NICE Evidence Search is closing at the end of March.

 

 

Accessing full-text is even easier in KnowledgeShare evidence updates

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There has been a change in the way full-text links in KnowledgeShare Evidence Updates are provided that should make it easier for you to access the full-text of articles you are alerted to.

Where a resource (usually a journal article) has a link that says ‘Check for full-text availability’ you'll be taken to the LibKey system. The first time you use it, you'll need to specify which organisation you work for. Once you've done that, you'll be provided with links to the full-text (if we have access) or a link to our request form (if we don’t) which will automatically populate with the resource details to make it really easy to order a copy.

You'll need an NHS OpenAthens account to view full-text articles or to order items from us.

You may also see a link to 'View article in context' and this will allow you browse the contents of the journal issue where the article is.

If you haven't already signed up, our KnowledgeShare Evidence Update service is a personalised current awareness service allowing you to receive new evidence on topics  tailored to your requirements. It covers policy documents, guidance, reports, and a range of summarised evidence, so you won’t be inundated with primary research articles, and emails are sent each fortnight.

 

Evidence at your fingertips with the new NHS Knowledge and Library Hub

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The NHS Knowledge and Library Hub is a new way to search for journal articles. Covering a wide range of databases, including Medline and CINAHL, the Hub allows you to perform simple or more complex searches, and access the full-text with a single-click (where available). Where we don't have access to the full-text, it is easy to request a copy, and the details of the item are automatically added to the request form.

The Hub offers a range of features to make searching for knowledge and evidence easier:

  • Search across a wide range of databases simultaneously to locate journal articles and grey literature such as reports and conference proceedings
  • Filter your search by date, publication type or by database
  • Access the PDF full-text with a single-click where available, or request a copy
  • Repeat your search with a single-click in a range of evidence resources such as UpToDate (SaTH only), BMJ Best Practice, Trip database, the Cochrane Library, or in our book and e-book collections
  • Access individual databases such as Medline, CINAHL and EMBASE for advanced searching including thesaurus terms
  • Email, print or save references with formatted citations in formats such as Harvard

The Hub requires an NHS OpenAthens account for access, and it is available to all NHS staff and learners.

Download our Guide to Searching the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub for more information on making the best use of the Hub and all its features.

New collection of e-books available on Kortext

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We've just got access to new batch of e-books as part of a collaboration across the Midlands and East region. All of these are on the Kortext platform, and can be accessed with an NHS OpenAthens account. These are just a small selection of the thousands of e-books we have access to, and the complete collection can be searched via OmniSearch.

For more information about our e-books collections, visit our e-books page. You can also download our Kortext e-book guide, or see the video below the list.

The newly added books are:

Get easier access to journal articles with LibKey Nomad

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LibKey Nomad is a browser extension available for Edge, Chrome and Firefox that makes accessing the full-text of journal articles much easier. Once installed it indicates if an article is available in full-text through your library. Simply install the extension and select the organisation you work for. It works for all NHS organisations, so is available to staff of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust.

As well as checking library subscriptions, LibKey Nomad also checks to see if the article is available via open access.

LibKey Nomad works on many publisher websites, along with PubMed and Wikipedia, and adds links to access the full-text or PDF (where available) making it easier to login and access the full-text quickly.

Visit our website for more browser extensions and mobile apps to make finding the evidence easier.

Mobilising Knowledge with Peer Assists

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A peer assist is a knowledge management tool where peers (perhaps four or five people) from another team are invited to share insights, experience and knowledge at a facilitated meeting.

This might be to support a team that are looking to embark on a project or service change, or that have a specific problem or challenge, and want to know what worked (or what didn't) from another team that has similar experience. A peer assist can bring knowledge and experience to the point of need.

Peer assists allow people to learn from other people's experiences and knowledge, establish an open culture of learning, support networking, and stimulate new perspectives. They are part of the process of 'learning before doing' and are about gathering knowledge before embarking on an activity or project, or when facing a difficulty in the course of related events.

The home team asking for the peer assist needs to have clear objectives of what they want to gain from the meeting. Peers can come from within the organisation, or outside it, but are people with experience of the issue.

How do they work?

  • A facilitator is appointed, and lots of notice given. Background information is circulated to the home team and the visiting peers
  • Allow some time for socialising before the meeting, to build some rapport between the home team and the visitors
  • At the meeting, the home team presents the context and any plans, issues and opportunities, and say what they'd like to get out of the meeting
  • The visiting peers ask questions, and provide feedback on what worked (or what didn't) for them, and provide recommendations, options or guidance
  • The home team reflects on what's been said, and examines options
  • The visitors provide feedback, answer questions, and suggests some actions for the home team

Meeting can be face-to-face or virtual, and the time can be anything from 1.5 hours to half a day (or even longer if necessary!). Flipcharts are ideal for face-to-face meetings, but someone on the home team should take detailed notes as well.

It's important to remember that as well learning from experience, the evidence base needs to be taken into consideration as well when making decisions. Library staff are able to conduct evidence searches to support decision-making, or find case studies or what worked elsewhere.

Peer assists are not peer reviews - the visiting team are not coming to critique the home team, but to transfer knowledge.

Further reading

 

 

Tell us what you think of us

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From now until the end of July, Shrewsbury and Telford Health Libraries are doing a survey about what you think of us, and we'd love to know your views.

We’ll be using the responses to help us plan and improve our services into the future, so whether you think our libraries are wonderful, or perhaps not so good, tell us what you think! It should only take a few minutes to complete.

We’d also like to know how library services have benefited patient care, research, education and training, or your continuing professional development, so we can demonstrate the impact we have in these areas.

The responses can be anonymous, but you can add your name and email if you'd like feedback on your comments.

Find the evidence around Long Covid

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COVID-19 can cause symptoms that last weeks or months after the infection has gone. This is sometimes called post-COVID-19 syndrome,  chronic COVID syndrome, or 'Long Covid'. The Office for National Statistics estimates that over the four-week period ending 6 March 2021, an estimated 1.1 million people in private households in the UK reported experiencing Long Covid.

Save time when looking for evidence and guidance around Long Covid. As well as including lots of new Long Covid resources in our COVID-19 Evidence Bulletin, we also have a Long Covid evidence resources page where we've collated some of the best guidance and resources on topics such as prevalance, rehabilitation, health services and resources for people living with the condition.