June 2008

Caption Competition!

Click on the 'comments' link to leave a caption.

Click on the image for a bigger view of the picture.

Fabulous prize to be won!

NICE Guidelines, May 2008

Anaemia (cancer-treatment induced) - erythropoietin (alpha and beta) and darbepoetin	Technology appraisals
Ankylosing spondylitis - adalimumab, etanercept and infliximab	Technology appraisals
Canaloplasty for primary open-angle glaucoma	Interventional procedures
Diabetes - type 2 (update)	Clinical guidelines
Endoaortic balloon occlusion for cardiac surgery	Interventional procedures
Lipid modification	Clinical guidelines
Promoting physical activity in the workplace	Public health intervention guidance
Single-incision sub-urethral short tape insertion for stress urinary incontinence in women	Interventional procedures

For more NICE Guidelines, Technology Appraisals and Interventional Procedures, see http://www.nice.org.uk

Search 2.0 Tips

At the end of June when you want to search Medline, Embase, Cinahl or one of the other healthcare databases to which the NHS subscribes, you have to use the new NLH Search 2.0 interface.

Keep an eye on the Library Newsletter for more drop in dates, and have a look at some quick tips.

National Library for Health Knowledge Weeks

The National Library for Health's numerous Specialist Libraries gather together the best evidence, guidance, patient information and resources for different subjects.

Another part of their work is to organise summaries of the best available evidence on topics on an annual basis. And here are some of those Annual Evidence Updates...

Heavy menstrual bleeding - from June 2nd

Oral Health

Rhinitis

Complementary and Alternative Medicine for asthma

Keep up to date with Annual Evidence Updates, and National Knowledge Weeks from the National Library for Health here: http://nlhnews.blogspot.com/

The Quality of Evidence

The BMJ this month has published an article explaining the importance of rating the quality of evidence being used by clinicians. The article focuses on writing a clinical guideline, but the same ideas would apply to any time a clinician uses information.

See http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/336/7651/995

(you might need to sign in with your NHS Athens account)

To see an example of this in action, see how DynaMed put together their evidence summaries here: http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/content.php

And to see DynaMed itself, click here: https://www.cks-nhs.net/dynamed.aspx

New Official Statistics Website for the UK

The UK Statistics Authority is the body which gathers and publishes statistics on all aspects of society in the UK.

The Statistics Authority is independant of the government, a move designed 'to restore public trust in the quality and integrity of official statistics'

There is a considerable amount of information that can be found on this website, covering health care, demographics, the economy and more.

One very useful section is the Neighbourhood link, in which you can find detailed statistics on different geographical areas. Click the Neighbourhood link, and try putting in your postcode to see what you can find out!

The UK Statistics Authority: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

And don't forget about the NHS Information Centre at http://www.ic.nhs.uk/

NHS North West Healthier Horizons

NHS North West have published a major review of the direction to be taken by the NHS in the region...

"Healthier Horizons for the North West marks the culmination of a wide ranging clinical review of health services across the region. The review has not only been informed by our clinicians and NHS staff but also by the views of our partners, patients and members of the public across the region, all who have played an important role in shaping this vision.

We are proud of the considerable progress that has been made in the North West towards a healthier future for residents of the region. We must now target the unacceptable health inequalities which result in many people living in poor general health and with shorter life expectancies than those in other areas of the country. We must shift the focus much more towards the promotion of health and the prevention of illness.

Healthier Horizons for the North West outlines how we are proposing to tackle this."

See http://www.northwest.nhs.uk/healthierhorizons/ for the full report

Clinical Knowledge Summaries - updated topics

Clinical Knowledge Summaries constantly updates its content, based on new evidence which is published.

This month, the updated topics are

Anal fissure
Blepharitis
Dyspepsia - pregnancy-associated
Haemorrhoids
Nausea/vomiting in pregnancy

Keep an eye on the CKS homepage for more new and updated topics: http://cks.library.nhs.uk

Medicins Sans Frontieres research free to all

Medicins Sans Frontieres have launched a new website to give free access to their published research.

You can access the website here: http://fieldresearch.msf.org

The research by MSF is based on their field experience with vulnerable populations, and is made available via this site through permissions gain from various publishers.

This site is a good example of an institutional respository, an online archive which makes research freely accessible. Most UK Universities have taken this approach, and the NHS may well do so in the future.

Professional development opportunities

Here's an opportunities to attend a free one-day course for any health professionals entitled,

"Raise your game: personal development activities to benefit you, your organisation and patients"

Salford University are also offering a Professional Doctorate in Health and Social Care.

Click the links above for more details.

New code for nurses and midwives

On 1 May 2008 the new Code for nurses and midwives in the UK came into effect. It addresses standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives.

Click here for details