Information Skills for Health

  Do you need to answer a question?   When you need an answer to a healthcare question you need to find out what information already exists about it ; s o that you have the background information and latest research . Whether it is for an assignment, dissertation, research, audit or other w ork you need to complete a literature search to get the latest information and best evidenc e to answer your question .   Complete a literature search plan   How do you start your literature search? Star t with a plan. Make a literature search plan to help you to focus your search, be systematic and keep a record in case you want to repeat it.   How can the Health Library help you?   Information Skills etutorials   Develop your information searching skills by completing our short , enga ging etutorials . Read presentations, complete quizzes and watch videos to learn the essential skills to finding information efficiently and effectively.   Start off with...

Start to develop your literature searching skills; follow these easy steps to improve your searching.  I have updated the tabs for this blog. Check the new Literature Searching tab (above) to learn how to conduct a literature search to find the information you need for your studies, research, work and patient care. You'll find all the steps listed along with links to blog posts and etutorials to help you to develop your skills.

We’ve been sharing tips and tricks on twitter/X to help you to develop and demonstrate your digital skills and use them to deliver best patient care. It is a reminder of the many ways that the Health Library can support you. Here are tips 21 to 25: 21. Use critical appraisal tools to identify the best articles Critically appraising the literature you find is a key digital skill. Read our blog post to find out where you can get critical appraisal tools to help you use the best evidence. Get critical appraisal tools to help you use the best evidence 22. Communicate better with your patients Use your #DigitalSkills in your work to deliver patient education - learn about our tutorial 10 steps to creating patient information. 10 steps to creating patient information 23. Learn about referencing You need to acknowledge the work of others in your own assignments - learn about our referencing etutorial to help you to understand why this skills is essential. Why is referencin...

 We’ve been sharing tips and tricks on twitter/X to help you to develop and demonstrate your digital skills and use them to deliver best patient care. It is a reminder of the many ways that the Health Library can support you. Here are tips 16 to 20: 16. Read the British Journal of Healthcare Assistants Keep up-to-date with good practice by regularly reading ejournals. Nursing and healthcare assistants can sign-up to regular updates from the British Journal of Healthcare Assistants. Instructions for signing up to updates 17. Watch Health Library videos on Youtube The Health Library YouTube channel is an excellent resource; packed with informative and engaging videos that cover health library services and resources as well as support to help you to develop your information skills. Go to the Health Library Youtube channel 18. Install the Ebsco App NHS staff can use their #DigitalSkills to get quick access to articles from your NHS resources via the Ebsco mobile app. ...

 We’ve been sharing tips and tricks on twitter/X to help you to develop and demonstrate your digital skills and use them to deliver best patient care. It is a reminder of the many ways that the Health Library can support you. Here are tips 11 to 15: 11. Explore NHS eBooks eBooks offer you a wealth of information. NHS staff can access ebooks conveniently and easily via the NHS Knowledge & Library Hub. Learn how to search for ebooks and read them online by following these instructions Finding eBooks on the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub – step-by-step instructions 12. Install the Clinical Key App Get information quickly to support day-to-day clinical decisions. UHNM staff can install the Clinical Key app for articles, overviews, guidelines and much more... Clinical Key mobile app - new instructions 13. Explore NHS resources via the NHS Knowledge & Library Hub Avoid the hit and miss of searching google. Up your #DigitalSkills and search the NHS Knowledge and L...

 We’ve been sharing tips and tricks on twitter/X to help you to develop and demonstrate your digital skills and use them to deliver best patient care. It is a reminder of the many ways that the Health Library can support you. Here are tips 6 to 10: 6. Read RCN journals for best practice and best patient care Are you a nurse looking for articles to support your work and professional development? Do you want to stay up-to-date with changes in nursing practice? Demonstrate your #DigitalSkills by reading from our online collection of RCN journals. Learn more about this key collection of nursing journals from this blog post 7. Install BMJ App for information on the go Use online digital resources to deliver good patient care - consult BMJ Best Practice to help you to make confident clinical decisions. Install the app now for quick access – follow these instructions 8. Discover OrthoEvidence for musculoskeletal conditions Discover OrthoEvidence to save you time. Use you...

 We’ve been sharing tips and tricks on twitter/X to help you to develop and demonstrate your digital skills and use them to deliver best patient care. It is a reminder of the many ways that the Health Library can support you. Here are tips 1 to 5: 1. What are digital skills? First of all, let’s start by checking what digital skills are. Watch our video for a brief overview of the types of skills we’re looking at and how the Health Library can help: Watch the video Digital Skills support from the Health Library 2. What are Literature Searching Skills So, are you ready to find the right information? Where do you start? Start with our Beginner's guide to literature searching - find out what digital skills you'll need. Learn more from our Beginner’s guide to literature searching 3. NHS OpenAthens Account You’ll need the right login to access online resources. NHS staff need to register for an NHS OpenAthens account so that you can search databases and access full-...

 If you study and work in healthcare you need to find the best evidence to support your healthcare-based decisions. Do you have the right skills to find the best evidence? We've got a quick way for you to find out: Complete our short quiz Check Your Skills . Answer all the questions, find out if you have the right skills and download your action plan to help you to improve.

 You need to find the right information quickly - then you need information skills. A key component of digital skills are information skills. Want to know what they are and why they're so important? Watch our YouTube video Introduction to Information Skills for a quick overview of the essential skills you need:

 Start the new year by updating your skills. Make sure you can find the best information you need for your assignments, dissertation, research or work. Make sure you get the best evidence to make the best decisions with your patients. How? Get the right skills to get the right information efficiently and effectively. Check the training options from the Health Library: Information Skills etutorials - online tutorials to help you to update your skills quickly Courses and workshops - training from our librarian team; whether via webinars or in person, in groups or 1-to-1, we'll have something to help you We'll be sharing lots of information about our etutorials, so stay in touch with this Information Skills for Health blog .

 Have you completed one of our etutorials recently? Did you check out an online library induction? Watched a video or one of our sway presentations? Let us know what you thought! Please complete our online feedback form and let us know what you thought and how we can improve.

 Digital skills are the skills that you need to develop to help you to work, learn and live in a digital society. The Health Library can help you to develop, practice and demonstrate those skills. How do we do that? Watch our new, short video to get an overview of digital skills and how the Health Library can help you. There are a number of different definitions of digital skills, this is what we have chosen to use. Digital skills include: Information skills - finding, interpreting, evaluating, managing and sharing information Learning skills - studying and learning in technology-rich environments ICT skills - adopt, adapt and use digital devices, applications and services Communication and collaboration - participating in digital networks Media literacy - critically read and creatively use a range of media Digital scholarship - participate in academic and professional practices that depend on digital systems Digital identity and wellbeing - manage your digital reputation and onlin...

   Are you an evidence-based practitioner?  Do you have the right skills to find the best evidence? Complete our short quiz  Check Your Skills  and find out what information skills you have and how you can improve them. Make sure you have the right skills to find the best evidence for your work and studies. We've updated the Check Your Skills tutorial: choose your guide easily navigate the quiz questions get feedback on your answers download your action plan summary dashboard providing links to more resources helpful to both NHS staff and university students Let us know what you think about our updated tutorial -  send us your feedback .