Training

Whether you are hospital or community based, our Library Skills Trainer, Andy Parrett is available to help you get the most out of what is available from the library – particularly electronically. You can contact him on 01284-713343 or .

The main focus of training involves getting to grips with the Dialog-Datastar databases which help you to locate potentially useful journal articles. The databases are: AMED, British Nursing Index, CINAHL, DH-DATA, EMBASE, KINGS FUND, MEDLINE and PsycINFO and together they cover the full range of healthcare topics. Dialog is completely free to all NHS-England staff: you need a password because it is on the Internet and can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection – be it at work, at home, or a beach-front café on Ibiza!

You can get your own password – called an ‘Athens’ password – at any time by going on the Internet to: www.athens.nhs.uk/region/nhseas and filling out the on-screen application form. (Do this on an NHS-net computer for an instant response.) As well as gaining access to Dialog, your Athens password allows you to acquire/print out articles from over 1000 healthcare journals: also a collection of nearly 50,000 medical images (photos, tables, diagrams).

Training sessions are normally held in the Library Computer Room in the Education Centre on Thursday mornings, 9.30-11.30am. Please phone the Library Counter on 01284-713112 to book a place. If Thursdays are always going to be a problem for you, get in touch with Andy and he’ll find an alternative time. This could be an on-site visit if you’re based in the community, particularly if one or two of your colleagues would also like to take part. Even if you don’t want to attend a training session, you can contact Andy for a printed guide to using Dialog and accessing the full-text journals.

Please note: Andy also trains regularly in Ipswich and several venues in Norfolk, and one of these may  be more convenient to you.

Training can also be provided in general Internet use for healthcare information, especially the National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH); and the Cochrane Library (a database system like Dialog, but one specialising in evidence: it can help you to locate clinical trials of all types, as well as meta-analysis articles and systematic reviews.)