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This course is for anyone who would like to know more about Health information resources on the Internet. It will focus on the resources related to medicine, nursing and health management. The course is provided by the Tameside Hospitals Knowledge & Library Services. It is based on the one designed by Laura Sims of Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS FT. Our thanks to Laura for allowing us to customise it. Click to Continue

The course will take the form of a presentation that you can work through at your own pace. It will take about 30 minutes to complete. You will be prompted to complete tasks that will help you gain a better knowledge of the resources available. There will also be additional optional exercises to reinforce the learning. If you have any questions about this course or any issues accessing the course, please contact the library on or by us at Click Here to Start the Course

The Library Services webpage can be accessed either from a link on the Trusts Intranet page Or by going directly to : clinical_services/Knowledge_Library_Services Click to Continue

Membership information and other relevant documents can be found on the homepage. The menu to access the various resources and library services is on the right of the main page. Click to continue

The library catalogue can be viewed online from the link on the Librarys webpage. It is only available when you are using a PC on the Trust network From here, you can check whether the library stocks a particular book and whether it is available. You can also request a PIN number from the library to then reserve books and see your personal library account. N.B. Accessible only within the hospital. Click to continue

Optional Task Optional Task: Take a moment to have a look at the Library Catalogue online. Click here to go to the Librarys webpage (If you do not wish to do this now, or are unable to do so now because you are not using a PC on the Trust network, click to continue with the course) Click to continue

Information about some of the services offered by the Library can be found on our webpage. You may need to scroll down the webpage to find the appropriate section. Forms to request articles or books (Library documents) Information Skills Training Literature Searching Service Alerting Services (Current Awareness) Optional: Click on the dots to find out more, otherwise click to continue. Click to continue

There are also links to several resources and information about services from the Library web pages, for example: Physical Resources here Electronic Resources (Useful links) here Expert Services here here Doctors Revalidation here Please note: You will need an NHS Athens username and password to access many of these resources! Click to continue

If you do not have an NHS Athens username and password you should register now. To register for an Athens password click here.click here Complete the form and you will then receive an with further instructions about how to set your password and activate the account. You will need your Athens username and password to access many of our online resources including the e-journals, e-books, databases and other resources such as the Royal Marsden Online or Medline Full-text Click to continue

There are a number of important resources available via links on the Trusts intranet, including the BNF and the BNF for Children, UpToDate and the Royal Marsden Online. Links to these resources can be found here at the bottom of the main page of the Intranet. Please note that some resources are only available when you are using a PC on the Trust network. Click to continue

What is UpToDate? UpToDate is an electronic resource offering evidence- based medical information. It is comprised of original topic reviews that are continually updated and designed to answer clinical questions. Optional: Click here to view this resource Click to continue Please contact the library if you would like us to obtain for you, the full- text of any article you might have found.

To view this resources click here and log in using your Athens username and password. here Click to continue

British National Formulary & British National Formulary for Children The BNF provides UK healthcare professionals with authoritative and practical information on the selection and clinical use of medicines in a clear, concise and accessible manner. Click to view the BNF or BNFCBNFBNFC Click to continue

We will now take a look at some resources that are available on the internet from any PC. Remember that some of these resources will require an NHS Athens username and password to access. Click to continue

There are several important resources available through NICE Evidence Search including A-Z topics which brings together information on a large number of health topics and Journals and Databases linking to e-journals, e-books and databases. The NICE pathways are also available here. Click to continue

A-Z Topics include general information, information about treatments, guidance and some patient information. There are several topic areas now available. When you click on a topic it will look like this…

MEDLINE is a vast source of medical information, covering the whole field of medicine including dentistry, veterinary medicine and medical psychology. DATABASES INCLUDE… EMBASE provides current and comprehensive information on drugs and pharmacology, and all other aspects of human medicine and related disciplines. British Nursing Index comprises over 250 of the most popular and important journal sources in the nursing and midwifery fields. CINAHL covers all aspects of nursing and allied health disciplines. Allied and Complementary Medicine is a unique database covering the fields of complementary or alternative medicine. HMIC - The Health Management Information Consortium database is a compilation of data from two sources, the Department of Health's Library and Information Services and Kings Fund Information and Library Service. The PsycINFO database provides extensive international coverage of the literature on psychology and allied fields. Click to continue Health Business Elite provides comprehensive journal content detailing all aspects of health care administration and other non-clinical aspects of health care institution management.

Once you have your Athens password you will have access to hundreds of online journals. You can access them either by going to the library webpage and clicking on the A-Z List, or by going to and clicking on Journals and Databases and then on the Journals link. Remember, you will need to sign in with your Athens username and password to be able to access full text articles and see the complete list of journals available. Click to continue

Your Athens password will also give you access to a large collection of e-books including many of the Oxford Handbooks. To access these e-books go to and click on the Journals and Databases link, and then the eBooks link. You will need to log in with your Athens username and password to access these books. Click to continue

Firstly choose a topic area that is relevant to you, for example asthma, heart failure, diabetic foot. Your task is to use NICE Evidence Search to see what information is available. Click here to go to NICE Evidence Search when you are ready to complete the tasks below.NICE Evidence Search Click to continue TASK 1: Go to the databases and perform a basic search on a topic of your choice. TASK 2: Go the journals list and select a journal of your choice, find a full text article and open it. TASK 3: Go to the e-books and view any e-book, take note of the options for viewing and browsing the content. TASK 4: Look at the A-Z topics, choose one to explore further and take note of the way the information is presented.

You should now feel more confident about using the NICE Evidence Search resources. The library also offers training courses on NICE Evidence Search Searching the Databases effectively and Accessing the E-Journals & E-Books These will go into more detail and help develop your knowledge of the resources. For more information, contact the library on Click to continue

There are a number of useful websites that are freely available. we will now look at some of these in more detail… Click to continue

Click here to view Click to continue

Click here to view Click to continue

The TRIP Database is a clinical search engine designed to allow clinicians to quickly find answers to their clinical questions using the best available evidence. Registration is free. Click here to view Click to continue

Subject specific gateways provide access to reliable and up-to-date web resources for a particular subject area. Examples include: OT SEEKER – Occupational therapy PEDro – Physiotherapy Optional task: Click on the buttons to view the websites. Click to continue

ADVANTAGES: The results will be more relevant overall The information will be of a higher quality Less time will be wasted looking through irrelevant results DISADVANTAGES: Smaller information base may not be able to satisfy a specific query Click to continue

Department of Health Click to continue Optional task: spend some time familiarising yourself with the Department of Health website.

Health related issues are constantly in the media. TASK: See what is in the news today… look at the following websites and compare how the same stories are portrayed. Click on each website in turn. BBC NEWS/ HEALTH NHS CHOICES: Health News Click to continue

Although we do not recommend that you rely solely on Google to find the information you need, there are still some very useful aspects to this search engine. You can limit your Google searches by using the following options: Google Scholar Google Advanced Search Images Click to continue

Whenever you use the Internet to find information please bear in mind the following: Authority: who authored the site? What type of organisation/ individual owns the site? Objectivity: how accurate is the information? Does the site mention editorial policy? Currency: is there information about when the site was last updated? Validity: what level is the information targeted at? Is the information in keeping with current research? Click to continue

Click here for your certificate. Simply fill in your name and the date of completion before printing. Please note that if you save the certificate, it will not include any details you might have entered. However, you can print out the form & write in your name & date at a later stage. So remember the date you completed the course!here If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this course, please contact the library by ing us on Thank you. You have now completed this introductory course. We hope that you have found it useful.