Thursday 28 February 2013

Book sale starts Monday the 4th of March

We are having a sale of recently withdrawn stock at the Richmond and Berrywood libraries starting on Monday the 4th of March.  On offer will be a variety of stock, mostly previous editions of text books and other items covering lots of different disciplines. 

book sale loot
Book Sale Loot by Ginnerobot on Flickr
At £2 each or 3 for £5, why not come in and bag yourself a bargain? Everything must go!

Friday 22 February 2013

Latest evidence updates from NICE

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 links to relevant articles, NHS Evidence and NICE guidance.

In the February issue you can find:
  • Weight management in pregnancy
    A systematic review and meta-analysis shows weight management interventions in pregnancy are effective in reducing maternal weight gain without any adverse risk to the unborn child, but weight reduction is modest. 
  • Physiotherapy treatment for Parkinson's Disease
    A systematic review shows that physiotherapy has benefits for people with Parkinson's disease across a range of functions. How and when physiotherapy should be delivered in this patient group is still unclear and there is insufficient evidence to suggest that any one method of physiotherapy is more effective than another.
  • Prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia with oral antiseptics
    A systematic review shows a beneficial effect of oral antiseptic use in the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Questions remain on the frequency and technique of administration. 
  • Benzodiazepines and the risk of dementia
    An observational study suggests that use of an array of hypnotics and anxiolytics (mainly benzodiazepines and 'Z drugs') are associated with an increased risk of dementia.
  • Citalopram for the treatment of depression
    A systematic review confirms previous evidence and guidance that citalopram is a suitable first-choice drug option for the acute treatment of moderate to severe depression in terms of efficacy and tolerability.
  • Integrated whole system services for people with dementia
  • Improving quality and the patient experience – a children and young people cancer survivorship initiative 

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Want to help us shop for books?

We have a new selection of books on approval in stock at the Richmond and Berrywood libraries and would like your help in selecting which ones we should buy for our collections.

The current titles available cover topics such as CBT, psychology, general nursing, occupational therapy, mental health, cardiovascular medicine, diabetes, palliative care, patient safety and more. You can find the full list on our web site.

These titles will be available to view until Friday the 28th of March. We are also happy to have recommendations for items to purchase at any time!

You can find all the titles we have recently added to our collections here and all our stock via the library catalogue.

Friday 15 February 2013

Film - The Voice of Dementia

The 14 minute film, Voice of Dementia shows people with dementia talking about their lives, their diagnosis and the importance of being listed to. It challenges the notion that people who receive this diagnosis are unable to have a say about their lives, and the services that they receive.

The film was a collaborative production between Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust and the Alzheimer's Society Sheffield.


The Voice of Dementia from CLAHRC SY Core Team on Vimeo.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

NICE evidence summaries for unlicensed/off label and new medicines

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence have just launched two new products to help with medicines management and prescribing.

Evidence summaries: unlicensed/off-label medicines review the best available evidence for selected unlicensed and off-label medicines where there are no clinically appropriate licensed alternatives.
Evidence summaries: new medicines are provided to help make informed decisions and aid local planning on the introduction of key new medicines or existing medicines with new indications or a new formulation. The topics selected are medicines that have recently gone into the UK market, or may be marketed in the UK in the next 6-12 months.
They both offer quality-assured summaries of the best available evidence for selected  medicines. The strengths and weaknesses of the relevant evidence are critically reviewed, but the summaries do not constitute formal NICE guidance.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Mid Staffs report published

The final report of the public inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (the Francis Report) has now been published:
You can also find more information on the Inquiry's web site.

Further reading
Reactions and responses

Friday 1 February 2013

Web site of the month: Health Knowledge

Health Knowledge was created for people working in public health, but contains high quality learning resources that are of use to the wider health care audience.

The site hosts a Public Health Textbook which covers all relevant public health skills and competencies and is free to access (as are all the things on Health Knowledge).

You will also find a number of e-learning resources covering epidemiology, health information and statistical methods. Each comes with a pre-course assessment, learning materials and ends with a final assessment which is graded and can be printed off for recording against CPD.


As well as the e-learning content there is a section of interactive learning material which includes presentations with an audio element and other material such as videos and workbooks that walks users through each subject. Areas covered in this section include:


A highlight is the material on critical appraisal called Finding and Appraising the Evidence. These six modules provide a general introduction to critical appraisal before taking you through the process of how to find evidence, and then going on to look at different types of research, such as randomised control trials and finishing with how to make sense of the evidence, which looks at statistics and outcome measures.

Each section also ends with a quiz to test your learning and there are links to further resources. This is an excellent introduction to a complex topic and is highly recommended.