Changes to Wolfson Room Computing Facilities

It is always unsafe practice to save files to public computers.

 

Owing to changes to the server facilities from Tuesday 26th October 2010 it will no longer be possible to save files to the hard drive of the Wolfson Room computers.

• Please bring a memory stick/USB with you, or purchase one from the Library Desk if you wish to save documents.
• Please ensure you remove all documents from your profile by Tuesday 26th October

 

The Wolfson Computer Room will be closed  all day Wednesday 27th October 2010.

 

  

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

"Buying Healthcare" - BBC Radio4

"It will turn the NHS upside down" is one description of the proposed changes in the Health White Paper published in July.GPs are to be put in charge of buying services for their patients, a role currently held by the Primary Care Trusts. Penny Marshall investigates how this will change the NHS and asks what it will mean for patients."

Listen again to this BBC Radio4 programme (available for 7 days from 11th October 2010)

Kings Fund responds to the NHS White Paper

 "The White Paper Equity and Excellence: liberating the NHS represents one of the biggest shake ups of the health system since the NHS was established. We'll be looking at the issues that it raises, analysing the reforms it suggests and commenting on the topics it discusses in both a health care and wider context."

see what the King's Fund has to say

includes video, blogs, and audio.



NHS Evidence - Annual Evidence Updates

Recent annual evidence updates from the NHS Evidence Specialist Collections are:

• Breast Cancer: 11-15 October 2010
  This is the sixth Annual Evidence Update (AEU) on Breast Cancer prepared by NHS Evidence - cancer. It includes the systematic reviews and guidance that have been published since October 2009.
• Heart Failure: 4-8 October 2010
  Following on from the partial update of NICE's Heart Failure guidelines in August 2010 and our last evidence update in October 2009 this update for health professionals and patients will present significant advances in knowledge about heart failure. Topics will include diagnosis, pharmacology, organisation of care, devices, rehabilitation,  palliative care and  psychology. There will also be a section on uncertainties identified and, as usual, expert summaries will be included to help make sense of the new evidence presented
• CAM for Depression: 4-8 October 2010
  This is the third Annual Evidence Update on CAM for Depression. This update aims to identify, organise and present the latest information on this topic. We have searched a large number of databases for studies published or updated since the 2009 update.
  This AEU presents the evidence on specific therapies and approaches such as acupuncture, diet and nutrition, herbal medicine, massage, meditation and mindfulness, and yoga.
• Depression: 4-8 October 2010
  The Annual Evidence Update (AEU) contains the best available evidence published on Depression during 2009-2010.
  The AEU is divided up into sections on:

  Epidemiology and Prevalence /  UK and International Guidelines / Neuropsychology / Diagnosis and Risk Factors / Pharmacological Treatments including: SSRIs, SNRIs and TCAs / Psychosocial Treatments including: CBT and CCBT / Other Treatments including: Electroconvulsive therapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Populations and Settings including: Children and Adolescents, Older People, Women, Ethnicity and the Workplace / Genetics / Co morbidity / Dual Diagnosis

  The NHS Evidence – mental health team have searched and sifted evidence from a number of databases, including Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cinahl and TRIP.
• Antenatal and Pregnancy Care: 27 September - 1 October 2010
  NHS Evidence - women's health is holding its next Annual Evidence Update from Monday 27 September. The Antenatal Care Evidence Update builds on the accumulated knowledge-base and provides an up-to-date summary of the latest evidence in this area including the provision of antenatal care, patient information needs, common pregnancy problems, antenatal ultrasound and fetal monitoring. All the information contained in our AEU has been subject to rigorous selection criteria.  We know it is very difficult for busy health professionals to keep up-to-date with the huge volume of literature that is published each year and so the specialist collections are here to do this for you.  

NHS Evidence is now mobile

1. Start the web browser you phone
2. Type http://m.evidence.nhs.uk into the address field
3. Press “Go”

It's as easy as that to access the high quality evidence searchable via NHS Evidence on you iPhone, or any mobile device.

NNT - critical appraisal just got easier

"number of patients that need to be treated for
one to benefit compared with a control"

- Bandolier Glossary

Number needed to treat is a useful measure when evaluating the benefit (or harm) of a new treatment. Sometimes that's not terribly clear from the articles which are published (although there are calculations you can do to work out the NTT, such as this one from EBEM.org, or this one from CEBM.org or this one from GP-Training.net)

There's a new website that might help too - http://www.thennt.com/
"At TheNNT.com we believe that the traditional peer review process, while effective in some ways, has led to important problems in the way evidence is presented, interpreted, and implemented. In particular the methods of results reporting in peer-reviewed medical journals have not been consistent, clear, or understandable. TheNNT.com is designed to address this gap."

You can search, or browse by speciality, system or by rating (green, amber, red, depending on how much benefit or harm there is). 

Essence of Care 2010

Essence of Care 2010 is now available.


It contains 12 benchmarks, following a consultation exercise late in 2009. It aims to support localised quality improvement, by providing a set of established and refreshed benchmarks supporting front line care across care settings at a local level. 

The benchmarking process outlined in Essence of Care 2010 helps practitioners to take a structured approach to sharing and comparing practice, enabling them to identify the best and to develop action plans to remedy poor practice. This edition supersedes the previous versions originating since 2001.

Full range of documentation is available from DoH website.