Author: CLAHRC

CLAHRC North Thames has joined forces with colleagues at PenCLAHRC to bring their successful ‘Searching and Beyond’ workshop developed by information professionals for information professionals to London.

Systematic reviews are an essential component of evidence based health care and the number being undertaken is increasing.

PenCLAHRC’s  popular workshop has been redesigned with an exciting new online element followed by a day of discussion and participation on how our skills as information professionals can be used in carrying out a systematic review.

The online modules will require around 5 hours of your time prior to attending the workshop and will include videos and learning activities. We hope they will make you think of questions to bring along to the face-to-face workshop which will involve discussion, demonstration, practical work and participation.

The workshop includes:

• Systematic reviews in context;
• Systematic review search methods:
  • Grey literature searching
  • Search filters;
  • Updating searches;
• Reference management
• Protocols
• Screening
• Data extraction and critical appraisal
• Synthesis
• Reporting
• Writing

This one day, hands-on, interactive workshop offers librarians and other information professionals the chance to discover more about the systematic review process and how they can utilise many of the skills they already have within a systematic review. The workshop may also be of interest to researchers who have database searching experience and are keen to fine-tune their skills in both searching and reference management specific to systematic reviews.

Developed by: Evidence Synthesis Team, PenCLAHRC at the University of Exeter Medical School, in collaboration with clinical librarians at the Knowledge Spa, Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust.

Delivered by: Alison Bethel, Morwenna Rogers, (Information Specialists) and Rebecca Abbott (Systematic Reviewer)
Organised by: Jenny Lowe

Date:    Thursday 26th April 2018

Time:    TBC

Previous dates and locations:
23rd April 2014 – Exeter
13th January 2015 – Exeter
13th November 2015 – Winchester
14th January 2016 – Exeter
20th April 2017 – Exeter

Cost:   £175

Booking:    Please visit: http://store.exeter.ac.uk/conferences-events/university-of-exeter-medical-school/workshops/searching-and-beyond-2018-a-systematic-review-workshop-for-information-professionals

Feedback from our last course, April 2017, Exeter:
“I liked the teaching methods of videos/exercises a lot, then building on it face to face reinforced learning”  “all relevant” “I found it all useful”

#BeyondSearching

Islington Council, Islington Clinical Commissioning Group, North East London Commissioning Support Unit, and the CLAHRC,  have been granted an award for a project which aims to create a linked data-set between NHS and a local government data for households across Islington.

Local authorities hold data on their residents in terms of social care, housing, early years settings, education and crime. All of these are important to health: and in turn affected by health.

Linking local government information with health data offers an opportunity to better understand the local population’s combined health and social needs and to improve health and wellbeing in the widest sense across the Borough.

We would be able to answer questions such as:

What are local pattern of health and social risk factors for homelessness at a household level?

How could we best target prevention services and support to households at high risk of homelessness?

The project builds on our close ties to Islington, and is part of the Health Foundation’s Advancing Applied Analytics programme, aimed at improving analytical capability in support of health and care services.

The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK.

A new piece in Open Access Government highlights the scale and scope of the work of our funder the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

In its role as the “research arm of the NHS” the NIHR’s mission is to improve both the health and wealth of the UK by means of research. A piece by Jonathan Miles (Editor, Open Access Government) gives a great overview of the work of the NIHR, and how it works with charities, industry and other sectors.

There are also a couple of examples of the groundbreaking and impactful research funded by the NIHR and the difference it is making – read the piece below.

CLAHRC researcher Dr Victoria Wood is among those presenting at an upcoming conference on “nurse specialing” – the continuous presence of a member of the nursing team for a single patient. Registration is now open for the event on Friday February 9th, hosted by our partners at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Some patients admitted to hospitals may have increased confusion, delirium, and dementia or be at risk of harm from falling or leaving the ward unsafely. Other patients may present with mental health needs that require additional therapeutic care to support and maintain safety of the patient and staff and reduce risk while in hospital.

Dr Wood is one of our Embedded Research Team (ERT) based within UCLH. The ERT works closely with staff and leaders across the Trust to improve patient care and provide research evidence that staff and management can use when planning and designing services. Victoria carried out a Rapid Appraisal study of Specialling and Nurse Specials and will share her learning about the appraisal, and speak about demystifying research for NHS staff.