by Health Libraries, For Health Libraries ISSUE 33 MARCH 2010

IN THIS ISSUE

New Extension at the SouthportClinical Education Centre Michael A. Mason 2

The North West Self Care Awareconference: It’s all good PR, darling! Lucy Anderson & Emily Hopkins 3

Beyond the Walls of the Library Neil Foley 6

Horizon Scanning: New section onLIHNN website and further developmentsEmily Hopkins 7

Recent successes and qualifications 7

User Education for pre-registrationnursing students within Learning andInformation Services (LIS) at Universityof ChesterClaire Norton & Helen Thomas 8

NICE ‘n’ Easy does it Sue Jennings 10

Quality & Performance IndicatorsGary Sutton 12

Library Services for CommunityMental Health Teams Laura Drummond & Claire Bradshaw 14

I think I have been on theLIHNNK UP editorial boardfor nearly two years now, andso I guess this first editorialis long overdue; huddledin front of the PC duringthe recent cold weatherseemed as good as a timeas any, so here goes.

In this edition of LIHNNK UP there is anemphasis on the different stages involved indelivering services: how to identify ourcustomer’s needs, how to develop services inresponse to those needs, how to market ourservices, and finally how to measure thesuccess of the services we offer.

Laura Drummond and Claire Bradshawdescribe a project to identify the informationneeds of Community Health Teams based inPennine Care. They then go on to discuss theway information is currently accessed, thebarriers to accessing information, and theeffectiveness of an outreach approach forpromoting library services to staff who arescattered over a wide geographical area.

Promotion of library services also features inBeyond the Walls of the Library, in which NeilFoley discusses how the library staff atCheshire and Eastern Cheshire PCT promotedtheir library’s current awareness service tostaff attending a seasonal flu immunisationprogram. In their article, It’s all good PR,darling, Lucy Anderson and Emily Hopkinstells us how they and their colleagues set up astall at the North West Self Care Aware

conference to inform delegates about servicesbeing offered by libraries. Both Neil andLucy’s articles refer to the Horizon ScanningBulletins as one of the services they promote,and if you are interested in finding out aboutthis project, more information can be found inthis issue.

One of the best ways to promote theimportance of a library is to make the skills wecan offer integral to our organisationsobjectives. Claire Norton and HelenThomas write about delivering a series ofworkshops on information retrieval that areintegrated within the teaching curriculum forstudent nurses at the University of Chester. In asimilar vein, Sue Jennings from LancashireCare explores how the library can delivertraining to support the effective implementationof evidence-based practice in nursing.

But how do we know whether our marketinghas been successful? How do we know if theservices we offer are the right ones? GarySutton addresses such questions in his articleon developing performance indicators.

Michael Mason talks about the newextension to the Southport Clinical EducationCentre that includes a new computer suite andquiet study room for the Hanley Library, andthe way this will help the library to deliverteaching programs and library training to allof Southport’s staff and students.

Enjoy the newsletter, and I’ll see you in twoyears time…

Andrew CraigELECTRONIC SERVICE LIBRARIANROYAL PRESTON HOSPITAL

FUNDED BY THE NORTHWEST HEALTH CARE LIBRARIES UNIT

The new extension tothe Southport ClinicalEducation Centre wasofficially opened onFriday 11th December2009. Initially, the possibility of aconservatory type extension to theHanley Library was discussed, toserve as a quiet study area fortrainees, using a limited amountof Deanery funding. Howeverthe Postgraduate Dean thenintroduced the potential ofapplying to the Dinwoodie Trustfor additional funding to takeforward our initiatives. The Dinwoodie Trust is acharitable organisation thatsupports doctor's education.Thanks to the enthusiasm,determination anddynamism of HeatherAinscough, Manager ofMedical Education, the idealiterally took wings and finallymaterialised in a two storeyextension to the ClinicalEducation Centre with a stateof the art dedicated computersuite, housing 16 computersand an interactive smart board,to complement facilitiescurrently in heavy demand inthe library. The extension alsoincludes a new quiet study areato support trainees, a patientsimulation training room tosupport multi-professional teamswho are exposed to emergencysituations so that they areequipped with those skills; a largestore room to house equipment andarchives, together with two much needed offices. The new computer suiteis named the ‘Dinwoodie Suite’ as an acknowledgement to the Dinwoodie Trust.

It was originally anticipated that theextension would take 6 months tocomplete. However, due to some setbackswith the local council, the building worktook a little longer but was opened withinthe year - and the extension was opened

in December. There was a livebreakfast

broadcast with Radio Lancashireregarding the patient simulator. Aninterview also went out on Dune FM andRadio Merseyside and the news localnewspapers and appeared on BBCLancashire’s website. There has been alot of interest from the media mainlybecause it is unusual for a small district

general hospital to have these excellenttraining facilities.

The computer facilities support alltrainees with their professional studies,including access to their e-portfolio andassessment with their supervisors, MerseyDeanery e-induction, e-learning, accessto journals and teaching programmes,

literature searching etc. The library service offers arobust programme oftraining sessions available toall staff and students. TheDinwoodie suite may bebooked for training sessions.When formal training sessionsare not taking place, users haveaccess Monday – Friday. There is access to the library,computers within the library andthe quiet study room 24 hours, 7 days a week.

The Southport and OrmskirkHospital NHS Trust match fundedthe external resources from theDinwoodie Trust and the MerseyDeanery. Especial thanks aredue to the North West HealthCare Libraries Unit for beinggenerous in acceptingdevelopment bids for deskingand equipment, enabling us topurchase new PCs, a SmartBoard and IT desks for theDinwoodie Suite.

Michael A. Mason LIBRARY SERVICES MANAGER

SOUTHPORT AND ORMSKIRK NHS TRUST

New Extension at the Southport Clinical Education Centre

The Dinwoodie Suite in use - Michael Mason

Southport and Ormskirk staff with David Stewart

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The North West Self Care Aware conference

It’s all good PR, darling!In June 2009, Lucy Anderson and I had to opportunity to attend theNorth West Self Care Aware conference at Aintree Racecourse asexhibitors, thanks to our contactswith several people involved inorganising it, a rather last minuteaddition to the exhibitors’ list andfrantic cobbling together of materials for our display stand! We used the stand to promotelibrary services in general, includingthe Horizon Scanning bulletins, inparticular the Patient Experiencebulletin as that seemed to tie in wellwith the interests of the delegates.

We were a little apprehensive about howto put together our stand as we’d neverdone anything on this scale before, anddidn’t have a budget to be able topurchase lots of exciting freebies thatseem to get people flocking to stands atconferences! But fortunately we wereable to collect together enough publicitymaterial from out existing supplies to fillthe table we were allocated, and hadplenty of pens and leaflets, and eventsome GMHeLP jute bags, to give awayand managed to borrow a couple ofdisplay stands to make our stall lookinviting. We also took our laptops todisplay the Horizon Scanning bulletinsand a slideshow on electronic resources– with the hope of using the Racecourse’swireless network to be able to do livedemonstrations to people. Of course(because there always has to be a hitchwith these things!) the wireless networkwas out of action on the day, so weweren’t able to do live demonstrations,but fortunately people seemed happy totake our word (and a leaflet) on what

electronic resources were availablethrough NLH / NHS Evidence.

We arrived early to pitch up, getting anice spot between someone from theNHS North West CIKO team, there to

promote Map of Medicine, and a patientinformation service, and giving us plentyof time to explore the other stands beforethe delegates arrived. I was intrigued byseveral of the other stands, not least theCalm Zone opposite us, which was alarge tent containing several bean bagchairs and giving away pin badges andrather nifty credit card sized leaflets.Taking to the stallholders, I found out thattheir website aims to prevent suicidesamong young men, and they oftenexhibit at university freshers’ fairs.Inspiration North West also had arather unique stand – they had created a“diary room” (inspired by Big Brother)for people to go in and record theirthoughts on what makes a good patientexperience. Again this was veryimpressive, with a booth containing abig red chair and camera that peoplecould talk into.

Conference logo

Our stand. Already looking quite bare- it was only lunchtime and we’d already seen several stampedes of delegates relieving us of all our jute bags, most of our pens, and quite a few leaflets. The rather ethereal glow inthe photo was an unfortunate side effect of being in front of a very bright window all day, although hopefully theillumination attracted people to our stand…

continued over....

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They also had a screen showing someprevious recordings from patients andstaff talking about patient experience.Fortunately most of the other stands weresimilar to ours, giving away leaflets andpens, so it wasn’t too intimating!

The exhibition area was also area forrefreshments at registration and at thebreak times, with the idea that delegatescould browse the stands over coffee. Thisdid mean that we had a stampede ofpeople every so often, and then an houror so to recover! By lunchtime all of ourGMHeLP bags had been snapped up (wedid try to only give them to people fromGreater Manchester to avoid anyconfusion, but they still vanished veryquickly!) and we had also given away afair amount of pens and leaflets.Chatting to people about their jobs andsuggesting resources they might like totry was exhausting, but very enjoyable.We tried to put people in touch with theirlocal library service where possible,referring them to HSLID if they didn’tknow how to contact them.

Attendees were from a variety ofbackgrounds, some worked specificallyin areas such as patient informationservices and were actively involved inpromoting and supporting self care,some were clinical and managerial staffwho had worked on a particular projectto improve patient awareness of selfcare, or who just had an interest in it.

I did get chance to sit in on one of theafternoon sessions. Dominic Harrison,Joint Director of Public Health forBlackburn with Darwen Borough Counciland PCT, introduced the afternoon’sspeakers. Jane Riley, also from Blackburnwith Darwen, then spoke about some ofthe self care initiatives the PCT had

The North West Self Care Aware conference

The Calm Zone. The bean bag chairs were very comfy.

Delegates having refreshments in the exhibition space. Having a stall near the tea and biscuits almost guaranteesa good footfall at your stand…

....continued

undertaken, and its participation in theMike Farrar Self Care Challenge: theDragon’s Apprentice. The awardsprovided money for various projects that,in one way or another, contributed to selfcare and improving health. This can besomething as far-removed (at firstglance) from healthcare as providingallotments to encourage physical activityand healthy eating, or projects to supportfamilies with disabled children. Furtherdetails can be found on the website . Itwas interesting to find out what “selfcare” actually meant, I had assumed itinvolved obvious things like givingpatients information about their conditionor medication, and information aboutwhen to call into your local chemist forover the counter painkillers rather thanturning up at A&E! But “self care” isclearly seen to encompass a wide rangeof activities, from awareness aboutparticular long term conditions, to thingsyou can do to make your lifestylehealthier and hopefully prevent illness.

Another quirky feature of the day wasthe appearance of a caricaturist in theafternoon, drawing pictures of thingsrepresenting self care. People couldsuggest a word or phrase and he woulddraw his interpretation of it. I think hegot a bit carried away when I, alongwith a patient experience person,suggested “knowledge is power”(meaning it in a completely positive way– ie knowledge can empower patients)and drew a slightly sinister lookingpicture which seemed to be a personopening a trapdoor and someone elsefalling through! That’ll teach us to chatteraway whilst standing next to someonewith a paintbrush…

Overall it was an enjoyable day, andconvinced me that it’s worthwhileadvertising library services at these typeof events. You don’t need an ultra-slick,

expensive publicity stand to attractpeople – just a few bright things toattract attention, some short informationleaflets for people to take away and thewillingness to stand and talk to peopleabout how brilliant library services are!As both of our organisations werestrongly involved in this event, it wasworthwhile to promote our own servicesto our own colleagues, but also helpedus fly the flag for library services acrossthe North West. Whilst the opportunity toattend events such as these is oftencompletely circumstantial, I’d say it’shighly worthwhile giving it a go andflying the flag for LIHNN.

Thanks to the library services atWarrington and Halton Hospitals andAintree University Hospital for thegenerous loan of their banner stands.

Emily Hopkins SHA LIBRARIAN NHS NORTH WEST

Lucy Anderson LIBRARY AND LEARNING MANAGER, BURY PCT

It’s all good PR, darling!

Some of the caricaturist’s pictures, with the interpretation of “knowledge is power” bottom right. I quite like the“four pillars of self care” picture above it – inspired by various words we shouted out in relation to self care!

REFERENCES

1. www.thecalmzone.net 2. http://www.inspirationnw.co.uk/ 3. http://www.bwdpct.nhs.uk/patient-services/self-care/dragons-apprentice/

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Marketing can take manyshapes and forms. Indeed,there are more ways ofmarketing now than probably ever before.Some approaches are simple and some are complex. Here’s a relativelysimple approach that wasapplied recently at Central& Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust.

In November last year, seasonal fluimmunisations were being offered tostaff at the PCT. Staff were to beimmunised during one hour atlunchtime. Wherever there are peoplegathered together, whether physically orelectronically, this presents a marketingopportunity for a library, so we tookadvantage of this relatively captiveaudience.

It was decidedthat ratherthan focus onthe Library as awhole, the focuswould be placedsolely on CurrentAwarenessServices:

• Horizon ScanningBulletins

• New DocumentsBulletin

• The Commissioner

Simply, our approachwas to position ourselvesalongside the queue of

staff and engage people inconversation:

• Using the Library's own portableexhibition board, we mounted arange of CAS promotional materials

• On a nearby table, we placed otherLibrary materials, including LibraryEnquiry Forms, flyers for specificjournals accessible via Athens and arange a postcards etc

• Alongside these materials, wepresented a rolling PowerPointpresentation focusing on CAS

Being highly visible to a broad range of staff in the organisation provided thescope for saying hello to familiar facesbut, significantly, served as a means of introducing the Library to

unfamiliar faces.

OUTCOMELike any marketing exercise, one has to evaluate it. What did the Library getout of it?

• 3 information requests

• Senior Locality Manager registeringfor 9 Horizon Scanning Bulletins

• 3 other staff registering for 4 HorizonScanning Bulletins

• 2 staff visiting the PCT headquartersfrom the community stayed to have atour of the Library and signed-up tojoin the Library

The overt presence provided theopportunity for impromptu conversationswhich the Library has followed-up; a keyaspect of marketing.

So, it’s a case of Q & A – not onlyquestion and answer but queue and

advantage – advantage tous, that is, if we takeourselves beyond the walls of the Library.

Neil FoleyKNOWLEDGE SERVICES OFFICERCHESHIRE AND EASTERNCHESHIRE PCT

Beyond the WallsOF THE LIBRARY

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Congratulations to all of the following:

Linda Ferguson from HCLU has been awarded theFellowship qualification from CILIP

Emily Hopkins from the SHA has been awarded theChartership qualification from CILIP

Gary Sutton from Warrington hospital library hasbeen awarded the Chartership qualification from CILIP

Lucy Anderson from Bury PCT has been awarded theChartership qualification from CILIP

Michelle Maden from University Hospital Aintree hasbeen awarded the MA in Informationand Library Management fromLiverpool John Moores University.

Virginia Jordan from the Countess of Chester libraryachieved the NVQ Level 3 inInformation and Library services

Mike Hargreaves from Uclan has been awarded the MA in Information and LibraryManagement from Liverpool John Moores University.

Recent successes and qualifications

Horizon Scanning: NEW SECTION ON LIHNN WEBSITE AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

The Horizon Scanning bulletins provide informationto commissioners and service provision managers,supporting the commissioningprocess and serviceredesign, bringing togethernew and emerginginformation on:

• best practice• innovation• future risk factors

The Horizon Scanning bulletins have nowbeen up and running for a year, to greatresponse from users across the North West.

We now have a dedicated page on thepublic section of the LIHNN website,which gives further information about thebulletins. This is something many of youhave asked for, to help you promote theservice by referring people to a singleURL where they can view the bulletinsand sign up to receive them by email.You can link directly to it from yourlibrary webpages.

http://www.lihnn.nhs.uk/lihnn-publicarea/horizonscanning/

A further development on thepromotional front is the commissioning ofa leaflet/flyer. This will be availableelectronically to libraries to print off anddisplay and distribute as they wish,again helping promote the bulletins. This will be available to participatinglibraries shortly.

We are also happy to announce thatseveral Acute library services have alsoagreed to join the programme, with theintention of producing bulletins in furthertopic areas of interest to the Acute sector,although still concentrating on theprinciples of “horizon scanning”. Wewill be organising a workshop event tosupport the new contributors. Furtherdetails will be sent out to the LIHNN listas soon as they become available.

Thank you and well done to all theHorizon Scanners who have helpedmake the bulletins such a success!

Emily Hopkins SHA LIBRARIAN, NHS NORTH WEST

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Some background University of Chester delivers teaching of thepre-registration nursing curriculum across 4sites. We have two intakes of student nursesduring the traditional academic year, inSeptember and March, plus intakes of thosefollowing post-registration programmes. Thefollowing article looks specifically at how weprovide user education for student nurseswithin the pre-registration nursing curriculum.

For first year students, we have four sessionsintegrated within the teaching curriculum.Intakes of new student nurses particularly forthe September intake can be more than 80students per site, however we are keen toensure each student is aware of who we areand how we can help to develop theirinformation seeking skills. Consequently,although the teaching curriculum is mapped toa tight schedule we try (And most of the timeare successful) to negotiate with the lecturer amaximum of twenty students per session toensure we have a manageable number ofstudents to teach at any one time. This isparticularly important as all four sessions arehands on practical workshops where eachstudent must have access to a computer.

All four sessions are completed as part of oneof the core modules within the first trimester sostudents have the preparatory skills tocomplete the data retrieval assignment whichis set as part of the assessment for thismodule.

This assignment involves compiling a list ofreferences from print and electronic resourceson a health topic using the APA referencingstyle. Students must also record the process(search strategy) of how they found theresource. Thus, our sessions are integral to this assignment.

Content of sessions deliveredTo summarise the content of the four sessions delivered:

Session 1 is essentially about ensuringstudents can log into the system, with atour of the University virtual learningenvironment - IBIS.

Session 2 - (workbook 1) has aparticular emphasis on using the catalogueeffectively. As the nursing curriculum isdelivered across a number of sites it isimportant students are aware of thevarious locations of libraries they haveaccess to, and how systems such asreservations and online renewals work fortheir convenience when out on placement,whilst also ensuring they know how tosearch using keywords to locate print andelectronic books.

Session 3 - (workbook 2) starts with avery brief online multiple choice test toreview learning covered in workbook 1.Workbook 2 takes students further alongthe road to effective literature searching.Looking at a hypothetical assignment, thisis broken down into the main concepts andstudents record alternative keywords whichan author might use to describe the topicso they gain an understanding that authors write about the same topic indifferent ways. We discuss what is ajournal, and why are they particularlypertinent within health, and the benefits ofbeing able to search journals online.

User Education for pre-registration nursing students within

Learning and Information Services (LIS)at University of Chester

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A search on an individual electronicjournal is compared with the same searchon an electronic journal collection to seethe benefits of searching lots of journalssimultaneously, and by adding more limitsto your search topic you can refine yoursearch further. Finally we look at theinternet, comparing quantity and quality ofsearches with a subject gateway such asIntute, and also other relevant healthwebsites.

Workbook 3 (session 4 is the last of ourscheduled sessions at this stage). This iswhere we introduce CINAHL andCochrane. We look at why use CINAHLand Cochrane, and the differencesbetween the two databases, build on usingboolean to locate information, introducethe various options to refine searching,and how to obtain full text articles whererelevant.

Every session is supported by a workbook, ofwhich a copy is given to each student whichcovers the content of the session, including theexercises used to test student learning. Theseworkbooks are also stored in student’s onlinemodule space on the University virtuallearning environment to access also. Weevaluate every session conducted andfrequently feedback indicates that studentsappreciate the workbook as back up supportwhen guidance is needed using resourcesindependently.

At the beginning of the second year we havea session for students studying the ResearchMethods module- those following the degreepathway. We do use this as an opportunity toreinforce learning delivered previously, butalso to look at Cinahl and Cochrane in moredepth and introduce the concept of subjectheadings. This session starts by looking at anewspaper database to show how a healthtopic can be portrayed in the media and thenhow to search relevant databases and sitessuch as the Department of Health to findarticles and reports which the newspaper mayrefer to, to understand where to find the bestresearch evidence base.

The final session we teach is in the third yearfor those students preparing to undertake adissertation. This session focuses on acomprehensive literature search by discussinghow to create a search strategy, identify keydatabases/- resources , and then how to useadvanced Cinahl heading searches . Specificexamples are given where it would be betterto use the database headings rather than akeyword search so that students understandhow the database works and classifies itstopics/headings and sub categories. We also identify and explain how to use otherdatabases, such as PubMed , which alsoallows a medical subject heading search.

The practical hands on sessions are intensiveboth for the staff and students and we areaware this approach is not a “One size fitsall” option. There are a diverse range of

learning styles to cater for. We are currentlylooking at using Camtasia software toproduce short tutorials on how to use some ofour resources. This will not only benefitstudents on placement but also those who aredistance learners, or those on postregistration modules who are taught off site.We have also found that peer review amongstthe library staff teaching the sessions is also auseful mechanism not only to ensure we areconsistent in what we teach but also to learnand adapt our own teaching styles. Evaluationsof observed sessions are collated centrally andcirculated, and have been used to developfuture sessions.

Personal development weeksRecently senior lecturing staff within theFaculty of Health and Social Care at Chesterdecided to trial a student development week ,aiming to help students raise the standard oftheir academic skills. This was piloted with theSeptember intakes from the last 3 years (withthe January intake also given the option)). The sessions were to be held across all Facultyeducation centres and offered a variety oftutorials planned by LIS and other University

departments including Student Support &Guidance, and Learning Support Services.Topics covered included time management,essay writing structure and E-portfolio usage.As the sessions were planned during a studyweek all sessions were optional.

At the planning stage it was decided that theLIS sessions for the first years would be areview session. This would look at findingresources on a certain topic, using Cinahl andhow to put each resource type found into thecorrect APA reference style. As this is currentlyan area that some new students experiencedifficulty in it was felt that it may be useful forstudents to actually follow the process offinding a useful resource, eg a book throughthe library catalogue or an article from adatabase, and then create an APA referencefor it under guidance from LIS staff. For thesecond years an advanced Cinahl searchingsession was planned and also a review ofother relevant databases, such as Psycinfo,according to specific branch areas. For thefinal year three session lecturing staffrequested that the session look at how to useEndnote bibliographic software and exportingresults from a Cinahl search, a specialism

about which LIS staff are receiving increasingrequests for training. Some training aboutEndnote has also been delivered at the FacultyStaff development day which was wellattended. Currently we are promoting thistraining to all level 6, masters and researchstudents, although on an optional basis.

Depending on the overall comments andreview of these student personal developmentweek sessions (Some are still to be completedat the time of writing) the Faculty is looking torun these again, for each intake and possibly to make attendance essential in the future.

Life after IBIS - looking at NHS resources Increasingly we are becoming aware that,while we are helping to provide the first stepsin nurse education, our responsibility also liesin trying to provide an awareness of resourcesavailable once our students move out into theprofessional world and use NHS, or other,resources for their future evidence basedpractice and career development.

Currently we are looking at how ourUniversity resources within IBIS compare withthe resources available within the NHSEvidence pages. This work will look to find thesimilarities between resources available andhopefully make the transition easier betweenthese two differing information environments.We are planning to provide a session that willact as a transition tool for our students as theyleave University. It will also aim to look atresources for those qualified students who donot go to work within the NHS but move intoprivate healthcare.

Already we have had positive responses fromlecturing staff who agree upon the usefulnessof this session and its relevance to personaland professional development, within the finalyear of the pre registration curriculum.

In-between and ongoing amongst all theabove planned and future sessions we stilldeliver 1 to 1 sessions with students whorequire specific individual help. Requirementscan vary from finding out about what servicesare available within the library, how to usedatabases, to specific help using resourceseffectively for assignment topics.

As this summary has demonstrated, thelibrary team deliver information skills trainingto suit student needs, and to help themprepare for their future professional roles.

Claire Norton SENIOR LIBRARIAN

UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER

Helen Thomas SUBJECT LIBRARIAN

UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER

Angie is the ideas lady and one of hermissions is to improve the patient andcarer experience. She is passionateabout improving the service we provideto the older adult network at LancashireCare NHS Foundation Trust.

We have already worked together to set up ablog for patient information and this was thestart of a beautiful relationship. So whenAngie asked me what do I think abouttraining the nursing staff at Hillview (RoyalBlackburn Hospital) I jumped at the chance.Permission was sought and granted fromAlison Devine (In-patient Clinical Governance,Clinical Lead) and Peter Smith (Modernmatron) to deliver the training Ward L2, RoyalBlackburn Hospital.

The purpose of the training was to highlightthe benefits of supporting and training staff tobe more aware of new developments inhealthcare information, to give staffconfidence and awareness of how evidence-based practice can improve patient care. TheNICE guidelines alert training was piloted atHillview, Royal Blackburn hospital for the in-patient staff on Ward L2.

The training helped raise awareness tonursing staff of how easy it is to keep up todate with new developments in healthinformation and guidance from NICE. In addition each member of staff whoattended the training was issued with an

Athens username and password so theycould access full-text journal articlesand look at the range of resourcesavailable via NHS Evidence to helpsupport their evidence-based practice.

It was a good opportunity also to market therange of services available via the libraryservice and find out what type of informationthe nurses needed to support their practice.

Each member of staff filled out a questionnaireto evaluate and improve the training. Thefindings supported the introduction of trainingand awareness and as a direct result of thetraining some staff asked for literaturesearches and articles to support their practiceand study. All staff found the session to beinformative, non-threatening and easy. Theywere all aware of how the library servicecould help them within their work and study.

MethodologyAn easy step-by-step guide was produced onhow to set up email alerts via the NICE site,with screen shots on an A4 sheet, two sides.Making sure it was easy to follow, not toolengthy and many of the staff said they wouldkeep a copy to show other colleagues andhelp them follow the easy steps.

The training took on average 5 minutes perperson to set up the email alerts to NICE. 10 minutes maximum was spent giving anoverview of how the Outreach and Libraryservice could help them with evidence-based practice.

The training was conducted on site, in-between shift handovers making sure it was convenient for all staff to attend.

A questionnaire was filled out by all membersof staff who attended the training to gatherviews and evaluate the training.

The work place was the ideal place to deliverthe training as it provided convenience for thenursing staff, saved time, and no-one had todecide if they were going to attend or not. It also has a dual benefit of allowing me toexperience the demands and the environmentthe nursing staff are working in first hand,helping to build up empathy andunderstanding.

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NICE ‘n’ EASY DOES IT How do you make contact with

the nursing staff on the wards and show themthat they too can use evidence-based practice to improve patient care.

make friends with you local Trust Co-ordinator, Angie Connelly and develop a partnership.

Question:

EASY

Sue Jennings Angie Connelly

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Some comments fromthe staff who attended:

“I found the sessionreally helpful and feel supported that Iknow who to contactshould I need furtherinformation”.

“I didn’t realise howeasy and quick it would be”.

“Sue was very helpfuland explained it very clearly”.

“I didn’t realise I couldask Sue to find mesome articles onsleeping problems,insomnia, I have apatient who hasdifficulty sleeping”.

Quick, Simple & Convenient – It’s NICE n EasyThe initiative was a very quick, simple and aconvenient way of introducing nursing staff toevidence-based practice. It is a term thatmany hear but don’t always fully understandor don’t think that it applies to them.Awareness of new health information andguidance enables staff to implement evidence-based practice resulting in better patient care,but without training, education and motivationit is unrealistic to expect our staff to be able todo all three.

Establishing the NICE guidance training viathe library service for every member ofnursing staff has already provided a moreinformed, motivated and knowledgeable staff.

For staff to deliver high quality care they needto be able to know how to access high qualityinformation and by training the staff to use thebest and most up-to-date clinical and non-clinical information the trust will beensuring best practice in delivering improved patient care.

The Library Service supportsevidence-based practiceThe fortnightly current awareness bulletin isdelivered via the trust email, to all members ofstaff. A special issue was devoted to Person-Centred Care as a result of the training at L2.

The library service strives to ensure that theservice reflects the needs and wants of its staff and the current awareness service reflects this mission.

Comments:

“Thank-you for the latest Current Awarenessbulletin, may I say I think this is a fantasticidea, so helpful, and very powerful inencouraging staff to increase their knowledgebase. Many thanks for your efforts with this”.

Tania Mann -Senior CharteredClinical Psychologist– Older Adults

Next Steps with theProjectThe pilot is beingapproved and thetrust is looking totake the training toall in-patient wardareas and then to allcommunity teamswithin the trust.

We are looking todevelop individualand team approachesto improving patient care, working with wardteams and individuals to identify practicedevelopment. In addition we hope to trainnursing staff in good information literacypractice, show them how to develop searchstrategies to identify improvements in currentpractice and how this can impact on betterpatient care.

A TOOLKIT is being currently developed tosupport the training and provide a mechanismto capture management information for auditpurposes. Lessons learnt on the pilot haveproved invaluable to its development.

Conclusion: Angie and I met by chance,she popped into the library one day and Ioffered her a cup of coffee, it must have beena good cup of coffee because I am stillmaking her a cup of coffee two years later! A chance meeting, a chance conversation, a meeting of minds, a sharing of ideas, a partnership was born.

Angie brings her skills and ideas and I putthem into action by facilitating the training,producing guides and toolkits. We both share the same aim namely to improve patient care.

Sue JenningsOUTREACH LIBRARIAN LANCASHIRE CARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST LIBRARY & INFORMATION SERVICE

http://lancashirecare.wordpress.com

Setting up email alerts via the NICE

Organised by Angela Connelly – Patient& Carer Experience/Involvement Co-ordinator for Preston, Frank GardhamHouse, Blackburn with Darwin and EastLancashire Facilitated by Sue Jennings –Outreach Librarian, Lancashire CareLibrary & Information Service

Quality andIntroductionQuality or measuring how well weperform is becoming an increasinglyimportant issue for information services,particularly within the current financialclimate. Having to justify our existenceand our “added value” is ever moreparamount. But what will counting thenumber of literature searches we conducta month or the number of people whomade enquiries really tell us?

When developingperformance indicators it isimportant to utilise bothqualitative and quantitativeindicators, as focusingpurely on statistics neverprovides a true picture of theservice as a whole(Markless, 2006).

So if we counted the numberof people who madeenquiries and surveyed asmall, random, section ofthese as to how well weanswered their enquiry, wewould have a betterunderstanding of ourperformance in handlingenquiries.

What to measure?We analysed what we wanted tomeasure and what we had to measure:

• A prescribed set of National Statisticsare required annually so it madesense to incorporate these. However,we decided to look at the statisticsand decide the appropriate frequencyof data collection. For example, it isunlikely that we would need toanalyse the number of PCs availableto users every month, as this isunlikely to change monthly orquarterly.

• We looked at other aspects of ourservice, not currently covered by theNational Statistics, where we wantedto measure our performance andidentify areas for improvement.Again, it was important to criticallyanalyse our proposed indicators and whether it was useful to collect the data.

We decided to create an Exceldocument, entitled “Quality Matrix”,which would outline the following:

Performance indicators – What are we measuring?

Frequency of collection – How often do we need to collect the data?

Method of data capture – Where will we retrieve the data from?

Export data – Where is the data to be stored? ,

The member of staff responsible for data collection,

Our thresholds (See fig. 1).

We used a traffic light system to providea visual display as to how we’reperforming:

Red – Does not meet

Amber – Meets

Green – Exceeds

Some discussion took place as to whatsuitable thresholds were for eachindicator, and to take into account anyseasonal aspects which could skew anyfigures, i.e. reduces our thresholds forbook loans during the summer holidaysas usage reduces traditionally.

Once our indicators had been identifiedwe created a series of spreadsheetswhich we would use to collect the data.Data from these spreadsheets would thenautomatically feed into a Quarterlyreport (fig.2). We made use of Excel’s“conditional formatting” feature whichenabled us to colour a cell dependingupon the data within, relating to ourtraffic light system.

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Fig.1 Quality Matrix

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Performance IndicatorsPerformance analysisWe have quarterly quality meetingsinvolving all library staff where weanalyse the report from the previousquarter and formulate an action plan.We have found this to be an extremelyuseful opportunity for all staff to getinvolved in the decision making process.It also assists us in identifying areas

where we are not performing well andfocusing everyone to improve. Indicatorsthat are displayed as red are not viewedas failure – only feedback!

Analysis is not purely performed on thequantitative aspect, we also discuss anyfeedback we receive form trainingmodules, literature searches we conductand any general feedback received forour users and/or non users. Thisqualitative overview provides us with adifferent slant to our performance – howuseful we are…and how far we have metusers’ expectations.

Conclusion:Our quality programme has been inexistence for a year now and it isimportant to note how much it hasevolved from its conception. This is animportant aspect of a successful system –its flexibility. We have changedperformance indicators, streamlined datacollection, and improved our

spreadsheets with relative ease andefficiency. New services that we wish toincorporate come with their own set ofindicators, so we are able to fuse theminto the system seamlessly.

Useful links:

LIHNN Quality Brief and Exchange Group:www.lihnn.nhs.uk/lihnn/taskgroups/qualitybriefandexchangegroup/

LQAF (replaces the NSF): available soon

All the resources you seeas images in this articleare available at:www.lihnn.nhs.uk/lihnn/bestpractice/

Education Governance: www.healthcareworkforce.nhs.uk/educationgovernancenw/

Markless, S. a. (2006).Evaluating the Impact ofyour Library. London:Facet Publishing.

Gary SuttonOUTREACH LIBRARIAN

WARRINGTON EDUCATION

CENTRE LIBRARY

Fig.2

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Readers of the previous issueof LIHNNKUp will be awarethat Laura Drummond, MentalHealth Library GraduateTrainee, completed a shortproject working with commu-nity staff at Hyde Hospitalduring June and July 2009.

The project was based with theCommunity Mental Health Teams(CMHTs) in Pennine Care at HydeHospital and involved demonstrating thebenefits of NHS library services,delivering on-site information skillstraining, undertaking literature searches,providing books and journal articles andassessing user needs. Laura also beganto identify further opportunities foroutreach work.

Background Pennine Care staff are able to use theLibrary Services of Greater ManchesterWest Mental Health Foundation Trustbecause of a Service Level Agreementwhich exists between the two Trusts.CMHTs were targeted because theyinclude staff from a range of disciplines(for example, nursing, medical, alliedhealth, clerical and support, social care),they work over a relatively widegeographical area and are isolated froma main library site.

AimsThe aims of the project were:

• To identify the information needs of amultidisciplinary mental health teamwho do not currently use NHS libraryservices;

• To assess how information is currentlyretrieved and gathered by that team;

• To identify barriers to accessinginformation; and

• To market and promote NHS libraryservices.

MethodLaura spent 6 weeks at Hyde Hospital.Her first contact with staff was at teammeetings, where she outlined the natureof the project and the library servicesavailable to staff. She then arranged andpromoted six drop-in sessions to be heldin a meeting room at the hospital. GMHeLP jute bags were given to attendeesand proved popular! Each drop-insession lasted for three hours, althoughnone of the meeting rooms within thehospital had access to the internet orindeed the Trust network, which madedemonstrating online resourcesimpossible. When enquiries were madeabout electronic resources,demonstrations were carried out atindividuals’ desks.

Response The response from the mental health staffat the hospital was positive despite timeconstraints and IT issues. By the end ofthe six week project, most staff had beenmade aware of the library servicesavailable to them and how they could beaccessed. Staff appreciated the literaturesearching service and the on-sitedemonstrations of electronic resources inparticular.

Overall response to thesix drop-in sessions

• Total number of visitors 30

• Athens queries (in person and on telephone) 19

• Returned questionnaires 15

• Membership forms returned 12

• General enquiries 12

• Electronic ‘table of contents’ forms returned 10

• Literature searches 4

• Training in finding journal articles 3

• Training in health databases 2

• Book requests 1

With more time, it would have beenbeneficial to have given a presentation atthe team meeting of every clinical teamin the hospital and linked moreeffectively with the Pennine CareEducation and Training team for theirsupport.

User Needs Analysis A user needs questionnaire wasdeveloped to assess the informationneeds of CMHTs, how information iscurrently retrieved and barriers toaccessing information. Please contact meif you would like a copy of thequestionnaire or any of the otherresources developed for the project.The questionnaire was handed out to allstaff who visited the Graduate Traineeduring the six weeks on-site; they werereturned by 5 Social Workers, 4Community Psychiatric Nurses, 3Administrators, a Bank Nurse, aPsychologist and a Student Nurse, a totalof 15 staff and a 50% response rate).

• 40% of respondents did not realisethey were entitled to free journal

Library Services for CommunityMental Health Teams:

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A short project based at Hyde Hospital

access. Some of those who wereaware of this commented that theydid not know how to access articles.

• 20% of respondents did not realisethat the NHS had libraries

• Of the 80% that were aware of alibrary service, nobody knew aboutall of the services that the librarycould offer.

• The prevailing attitude conveyedthrough verbal feedback was thestereotypical view of the role oflibraries, that is to say, books and aquiet environment. This indicated astrong need to further publicise theother services that the library has tooffer.

• 67% of respondents did not have anNHS Athens username and password

• Some respondents who did have anNHS Athens password were notaware of how to use it or whatresources it entitled them to.

• The majority of respondents said thatthey would like to be offered trainingcourses in finding electronicinformation.

• All staff who returned thequestionnaire said that their preferredmethod of accessing information wasvia the Internet, although only half ofthese use the specialist healthcaredatabases.

• Many people said that they did notwant to deal directly with a librarianfor information.

• Most respondents said that theyneeded information on the treatmentand identification of illness,guidelines, information from journalarticles and health news.

• Although over 90% of respondentssaid that their ability to use electronicinformation resources was average or

above, many people seemed unsureabout what resources were availableonline; the majority had not heard ofthe Cochrane Database, thehealthcare databases or NHSEvidence.

ConclusionAn outreach approach was effective inpromoting access to library services andthe evidence-base amongst staffworking in CMHTs. Staff who previouslyhad not been aware of the servicesavailable to them or who did not makethe best use of information resourcesbenefitted from an informationprofessional being on-hand in theirusual work environment.The ‘trouble-shooting’ element of theoutreach trainee’s role, as exemplified inthe types of queries raised at the drop-in sessions, was vital. The project showsthat staff working in CMHTs are unlikelyto use traditional library services toanswer queries about Athensauthentication or for general enquiries,for example. Similarly, they seemunlikely to attend formal informationskills training sessions offered awayfrom their own base.The user needs questionnaire shows thatstaff prefer to use the Internet as ameans of accessing information butmany are not aware of how to makebest use of it. There is a need toencourage self-sufficiency among staffgroups based away from a centrallibrary resource.

Recommendations• Undertake further work to establish a

more detailed model of working withCMHTs.

• Undertake further outreach andpromotional work with mental healthteams based in community settings.

• Undertake further research at HydeHospital to investigate whetherinformation needs and the nature ofenquiries change as staff becomemore confident users of informationand library services.

• Continue to promote access to libraryservices and electronic resources toCMHTs.

• Deliver follow-up with trainingsessions at Hyde Hospital onsearching for electronic information.

Laura Drummond and Claire BradshawTAMESIDE HOSPITAL

NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

LIHNN GROUPS AND CHAIRS 2009

G R O U P C H A I R E - M A I L

LIHNN CO-ORDINATING Lis Edwards lis.edwards@wcheshirepct.nhs.uk COMMITTEE Tracy Owen tracy.owen@fade.nhs.uk

Cheshire & Merseyside Librarians Gill Swash gill.swash@wcheshirepct.nhs.uk

Clinical Librarians Tracey Pratchett Tracey.Pratchett@mbht.nhs.uk

CPD Shan Annis shan.annis@nhs.net

Cumbria & Lancashire Librarians Debra Thornton Debra.Thornton@bfwhospitals.nhs.uk

E-resources Kieran Lamb kieran.lamb@fade.nhs.uk

Greater Manchester Libraries Valerie Haigh valerie.haigh@manchester.ac.uk

Heritage users Jean Williams jean.williams@rbh.nhs.uk

Information governance Tracy Owen tracy.owen@fade.nhs.uk

Interlending & Document Supply Grp Steve Glover steven.glover@christie.nhs.uk

Mental Health Libraries Vicky Bramwell vicky.bramwell@cwp.nhs.uk

Newsletter Mike Hargreaves mhargreaves@uclan.ac.uk

Primary Care Librarians Katherine Dumenil katherine.dumenil@sthk.nhs.uk

Quality Brief and Exchange Linda Riley linda.riley@elht.nhs.uk

Trainers Joanne Taylor Joanne.Taylor@lthtr.nhs.uk

Mike Hargreaves (Chair)Uclan mhargreaves@uclan.ac.uk

Rachel BuryUniversity Hospital AintreeRachel.bury@edgehill.ac.uk

Linda FergusonHealth Care Libraries UnitLinda.ferguson@nhs.net

Kieran LambFade, Liverpool Kieran.lamb@fade.nhs.uk

Steve Glover Christie HospitalSteven.glover@christie.nhs.uk

Andrew CraigLancashire Teaching Hospitals NHSFoundation Trust andrew.craig@lthtr.nhs.uk

Penny Ralph Pennine Acute Trustpenny.ralph@pat.nhs.uk

Victoria KirkWirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust victoria.kirk@nhs.net

E D I T O R I A L B O A R D

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Editor’s ColumnNotes for contributors

1. Articles and news items are welcome from all members of Lihnn,including support staff and staff inhigher education institutions.

Lihnn members are actively encouraged to write up accounts ofevents and courses attended. Articleson new developments and projectssuccessfully managed are also welcome.

2. News items and short pieces, whichcan range from factual to amusing,are also welcome.

3. All items should be submitted in electronic format.

Please abide by the following points:

Don’t forget your name, location, title ofarticle and date of article.

All acronyms should be written out infull for the first occasion they are used inthe text. Please give full details of events,courses and conferences attended. Thisshould include:

■ The name of event and location

■ Date of event

■ Name of organizing or sponsoring body

■ Details of how support materials canbe obtained (where necessary)

■ Full references to any publishedreports, articles, etc.

Items not submitted in time for the publication deadline will be published inthe following edition.

Lihnn is on the web at:www.lihnn.nhs.uk

Contributions should be submitted to:Mike HargreavesUniversity of Central LancashireEmail: mhargreaves@uclan.ac.uk

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION HEALTH NETWORKNORTHWEST NEWSLETTER