Training


The Library and Knowledge Service offers a series of training and induction sessions.

Facilitated by experienced librarians, these training sessions will enable you to develop a range of skills. Our sessions will teach you to structure a search, find, retrieve and appraise information gathered from a range of health related resources. Used effectively this information can help to change clinical practice, support continuing education and improve patient care.

Please see below for the details of the courses that the Library offers. Some of these are scheduled on the trust’s course booking system. However, they can all be provided at other times to suit you. We can also tailor a training course to your needs, just get in touch to discuss.

To find out more or to book a session, please contact colin.lynch@nhs.net or michelle.bendall1@nhs.net or call extension 4222 or extension 4226.

A short training session (45 mins) on the new NHS Library and Knowledge Hub, an OpenAthens-authenticated platform allowing you to search for evidence across multiple sources. Session to include: 

  • Introduction to the NHS Library and Knowledge Hub 
  • Basic searching 
  • Using advanced search 
  • Limiting your search results 
  • Saving your search and results 
  • Brief introduction to additional resources you can access through the Hub

This course (1 hour) builds on the introductory session on the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub and covers and explores in more detail the variety of Evidence Based resources accessed through the Hub and wider on the Internet which have been designed for health professionals to provide quick access to the latest evidence to inform their decision making.

(1.5 hours) To start a more detailed search for articles and other research evidence, you'll need to use online databases. These are collections of resources that allow you to search for articles from hundreds of different journals at the same time.  The practical workshop is designed for all health care staff to enable them to find journal articles on specific subjects and guidance on how to develop a search strategy using Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, etc.. It will introduce techniques such as planning your search, combining search terms using Boolean logic and getting better results by using thesaurus subject headings (MeSH in Medline) and filters.

The course is designed for all health care staff to enable them to critically appraise journal articles in order to support evidence based healthcare practice. It is of particular interest to those who need to appraise articles for an academic course or are being asked to present at departmental journal clubs.

The training will include an introduction to the key aspects of critical appraisal followed by the practical example of appraising a journal article of interest.

This health literacy awareness session aims to give an understanding of health literacy levels and the effect that this can have on a patient's health outcomes and the financial impact on the NHS. As well as giving an overall awareness of the issues, techniques such as 'chunk and check' and 'Teach back' are covered, which ensures that the patient has understood what has been communicated to them. 

Once booked on, you will receive a Teams invite the week before the session.

This 30 minute session covers services that enable you to find and receive the latest news, research and reports in clinical or managerial areas of interest to you.

Sessions that cover the use of Infographic software such as Canva and what makes a good poster including those produced for academic purposes.  This will usually last about one hour.

This one hour session explains how to understand different types of academic assignment and how to write and structure your work.

This session covers the process of having a paper published in an academic journal including tips on how to publish successfully. It will usually last around 45 minutes.

A range of topics are available explaining the basics of different of types of research design.  These are systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, observational research and qualitative research.  Each of these sessions would normally last an hour though they can be combined with critical appraisal or a two hour session.