We recently received a presentation outlining the features of the Royal Marsden online manual.

From the academic representative, here is an overview of the presentation:

1.       Overview of product

2.       How to browse

3.       How to search

4.       Linking from References (how articles link to CrossRef and PubMed)

5.       Help (online help to get the most out of the product)

6.       Administration (for lecturers)

a.       Content management: how to – add your own procedure guidelines, edit your own procedure guidelines, add comments to a procedure guideline, global instructions (how to add them).

You can download a copy of the presentation if you wish.

For those engaged with research and evidence based practice you may like to take a look at a new book in the Learning Centre.

Cutcliffe, J. and Ward, M.  (2007)  Critiquing nursing research. 2nd ed, London: Quay Books.
Shelf mark 610.73072/CUT

Although this book is biased to mental health, it takes each of the methodologies of how to critique the nursing literature and evaluates them (Burns and Groves,  Morrisons,  Ryan-Wenger, Polit and Hungler, and Polit, Beck and Hungler).  Each chapter identifies the method of critique and includes a worked example, plus the strengths and weaknesses of each model.

The School of Health and Wellbeing will be hosting a re launch of 1st October 2009.  All teaching will be suspended for the day to enable all staff and students to attend the official opening at the Wolverhampton Campus.

The Burton Learning Centre will therefore be closed for the day, enabling LIS staff to attend the event.

Nursing Times logo

Did you know the popular weekly journal Nursing Times has a website?

Nursing Times is the UK’s leading independent nursing weekly magazine. We publish original nursing research and a host of clinical articles for nurses at all stages in their career, as well as professional and clinical news and opinions. We also bring you the best selection of nursing jobs.

You can access much of the material from the print version on the Nursing Times website for free. Some articles are summarised so you may still wish to read the full article in print (we have copies of the latest Nursing Times at Burton, Walsall and Wolverhampton Learning Centres), or you can take out a personal subscription via the website if you want your own copy (there’s an offer for students at the moment to get 12 copies for £12). There are also job listings on the website, as well as a community area with forums, blogs and debates.

The health and social care database HMIC (Health Management Information Consortium) is available now. It’s listed on the Databases A-Z.

HMIC brings together two important health resources – the Department of Health’s Library and Information Services (DH Data)  and King’s Fund Information and Library Service.

Information on the resources (from NHS Evidence):

DH Data is the database of the Department of Health’s Library and Information Services and contains in excess of 174,000 records relating to health and social care management information. Coverage includes official publications, journal articles and grey literature on: health service policy, management and administration, with an emphasis on the British National Health Service; the quality of health services including hospitals, nursing, primary care and public health; the planning, design, construction and maintenance of health service buildings; occupational health; control and regulation of medicines; medical equipment and supplies; and social care and personal social services.

The King’s Fund Information and Library Service database holds records of the material in the library of the King’s Fund Information and Library Service, an independent health charity working to develop and improve the management of health and social care services. This library is open to the public. Its database contains over 70,000 records (1979 to date), mostly with a UK focus, on health management and services, social care, service development, and NHS organisation and administration. Records include books, pamphlets, government reports, abstracts of journal articles, and a wide range of grey literature.

Royal Marsden Clinical Nursing Procedures

As mentioned earlier on the blog, we have recently paid for online access to the Royal Marsden Clinical Nursing Procedures (you will need to log in with your IT account if accessing off campus). This is now available and ready to use – you can get to it from the above link or from the Databases A-Z page.

You can search across the whole resource for a particular procedure, or you can browse by topics which match the chapters in the print book. Browsing enables you to go directly to specific content, procedures, or figures. You can also download figures (for example if you would like to use them in your assignment).

We hope you enjoy using this new resource!

The British Nursing Index, previously available via Dialog, is now part of our EBSCO subscription.

The British Nursing Index is an extensive and up-to-date nursing and midwifery database. Produced by the libraries in a partnership of four leading healthcare and related organizations, it is the most current nursing database for UK journals, and has featured concise, original abstracts for every reference included since January 2004. It covers over 220 UK journals and other English-language titles from overseas. Its currency and coverage make it an essential resource for current trends in UK nursing care and policy for clinical, academic, management staff and researchers.

You can now access British Nursing Index via EBSCO and search across this database along with other relevant databases such as AMED (Alternative Medicine), CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE with Full Text, and SocINDEX with Full Text.

Welcome to everyone from Social Work and Social Care who now form part of the new School of Health and Wellbeing (SHAW).

The blog reflects these changes and any resources relevant to Social Work and Social Care will also be included.

Many thanks to all who gave feedback about online access to Royal Marsden Clinical Nursing Procedures.

The Royal Marsden, used in many hospitals, is now available to buy for academic institutions to enable full text access to the procedures as well as extra features such as:

• search the full text
• browse the text by procedure or chapter
• link from references to Medline and CrossRef
• print or download illustrations and procedures for personal use

The academic edition also enables special features for lecturers such as adding guidelines or comments to procedures, and downloading illustrations and procedures for teaching purposes.

Click on the screenshot at the top of this post if you would like to find out more or view a demo.

We had a positive response from most people and so have decided to take out a subscription. The subscription should start within the next few months, I’ll add a note on the blog once we get access.

Today (12th May, anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth) is International Nurses Day to celebrate and remember all the valuable contributions nurses make to society.

This year’s theme is Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Care Innovations.

You can also read more information about International Nurses Day and share your news stories via the School of Health International Nurses Day web page.