Recording, citing and presenting references a guide from Sheffield
University Library.
British Computer Society - Nursing Specialist Group, The NSG is the
leading UK organisation for nurses and therapists interested in the
management and use of information to improve care, the development of
learning programmes for all staff, enabling better response to patient
inquiry, and improved direction to nursing andtherapy specialties for clinical information and education.
British Healthcare Internet Association,
for people concerned with the quality and use of health information
on the Internet, and use of Internet technology.
British Medical
Informatics Society: Details of the society, conferences, career opportunities.
The
Caldicott Committee Report, the full text of the report on confidentiality
and security of electronic clinical information, and The
Caldicott Report, a commentary by Dr RJ Anderson.
Collection of Health Data from General Practice Project, from
Nottingham University, one of the national facilitating projects within
the NHS IM&T Strategy, working towards maximising the potential of GP clinical computer systems, both for storing clinical data and for using that data to improve clinical care and service delivery. The team will also be carrying forward the three PRIMIS (Primary
Care Information Services) Project for the NHS Information Authority.
COPAC, COPAC
gives access to the on-line catalogues of some of the largest university
research libraries in the UK and Ireland. Most COPAC records represent
books and periodicals (but not periodical contents). Other materials
include videos, printed and recorded music, and electronic materials.
Fourteen collections are now covered, the latest additions being
Birmingham University, Sheffield University and Durham University.
The Cyber Hospital,
this project aims to offer on-line
computer skills education facilities and specific training in the use of
Internet technology; and to provide a "supergateway" to on-line resources.
Computer virus myths: advice
about when to realise someone is propagating a hoax and when to sit up
and take notice of infection risks.
Creating and
Documenting Electronic Texts, aims to take users through the basic
steps involved in creating and documenting an electronic text or similar
digital resource. The notion of "electronic text" is interpreted very
broadly, and discussion is not limited to any particular discipline, genre,
language or period - although where space permits, issues that are
especially relevant to these areas may be drawn to the reader's attention.
The guide is intended as a reference work for individuals and organizations
involved with, or planning, the digitization of texts or similar material.
By Alan Morrison , Michael Popham , Karen Wikander.
Sheffield databases:List
of databases held by Sheffield University Library, including MEDLINE and
CINAHL, with downloadable guides and information leaflets.
Decision Modeling Add-Ins for Excel,
an Excel add-in titled, "treeplan," the program is about 330 KB size,
presented as a working version is downloadable free, with installation
instruction and documentation.
eHealth Ethics Initiative,
aims to develop and promote ethical principles relevant to the fast expanding area of online, interactive healthcare
communications, through a consensus of industry, academic, government,
patients, and consumer leaders.
E-mail lists -
how they work Directory of health related discussion lists, with
joining instructions and a description of each one's purpose and any entry
criteria.
Health Care
Informatics: On-line magazine, available back to January 1997.
How
to read a paper: Trish Greenhalgh’s excellent recent BMJ series on
how to get most out of the medical literature.
Hull University Medical Informatics
Group: Details of the group's research, publications and courses.
ICD-9,
ninth international classification of diseases.
International Medical
Informatics Association, set up to promote informatics in health care
and biomedical research, to international cooperation, and to stimulate
research, development, dissemination and application, within the specialty. Provides access to newsletter, details of national and international conferences,
and the activities of various working and special interest groups.
Internet Medic,
A "teach yourself" tutorial on Internet information skills for medics,
including key sites, self-assessment and reflective sections, and
includes sceanarios of using the Internet to support teaching,
research and assignment writing.
Joint
Information Systems Committee, a body set up to stimulate and enable
the cost effective exploitation of information systems and to provide a
high quality national network infrastructure for the UK higher education
and research councils communities. Includes a useful Glossary of technical terms from the Advisory Body on High Performance Computing to Working
Papers in Economics, many with hypertext links for more information.
Manchester University
Bio-Health Informatics Group: Includes outlines of teaching programmes
and current research projects.
Medical Sub-headings,
the NLM guide to MeSH.
National
Library for Health
NHS Information Centre
NHS Connecting for Health
Open Source Health
Care Alliance, for those interested in software development around
healthcare, coding and data sharing networks.
Primary care internet
guide: Provides access to a variety of search tools and journals, some
available in full text.
Reference Management,
ScHARR guide and exercises to get you started with versions 7.02 or 9.0
Back to library catalogue
Health Promotion
The Centre for Health Promotion Studies at the University of Alberta,
Canada. Site includes:
- Information on the MSc and Postgraduate Diploma graduate programmes in
Health Promotion.
- Information useful to professionals engaged in health promotion research
and practice. In particular, "The HP Network" contains a forum for
asynchronous debate on current issues in HP research, theory, and practice
as well as a listing of health promotion sites around the world.
- A summary list of the research projects the faculty is engaged in.
- Current and archived issues of a newsletter published by the CHPS that
explores the links between health promotion research and practice available
in printable html and pdf formats.
- Online presentations of research symposia series available in
Realaudio.
The Multimedia Unit
from the Health Education Authority; monitors emerging trends and
opportunities presented by information and communication technologies
(ICTS) for health promotion.
Smoking Cessation: New Approaches to Old Problems, discussion of the
various nicotine replacement mechanisms and alternatives.
You will need to register (free) with
Cyberounds
Health
Promotion Professionals and Internet access.
Back to library catalogue
History of Medicine and Science
A Beginner's Guide to
Research in the History of Science, an extensive guide to the history
of science, including the cultural and social relations of modern science.
Extensive reading list on the history and philosophy of science and
impressive bibliographic and biographic reference lists.
A Biological Century, a tour through Web resources on some of the
most intriguing biological events of the twentieth century. To access this
you will need to register (free) at BioMedNet.
Bioscience History Alive On-line, extensive guide to on-line
exhibitions and articles, from the history of microscopy to the
discovery of DNA. (You need to be logged on to
BioMedNet to access this site).
From
Quackery to Bacteriology: The Emergence of Modern Medicine in 19th
Century America - an on-line exhibit that traces the development of
medicine through printed works. Includes alternative therapies, and the
American Civil War. From the University of Toledo Libraries.
Images from the History of Medicine:
large pictorial archive which can be searched by browsing or key word for
suitable illustrations.
The Nothing That Is , a natural history of zero - it stands
for an absence, but may be the most powerful number of all - read about
its profound effects on mathematics, society, culture, and religion. To
access this you will need to register (free) at BioMedNet. For another history of
chronology and counting see Zero, from The Atlantic Monthly.
WWW
Virtual Library for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine,
an excellent gateway to all history of science and technology,
established by the University of Melbourne in 1995.
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Malignant Disease
Cancer BACUP Guidelines, on-line collection of cancer treatment guidelines from
the charity BACUP for the UK, with links to US and European guideline projects.
HELP,
Helpful, Essential Links to Palliative care, a guide to managing
problems in palliative and terminal care from Dundee University,
including a section on communication skills and techniques.
Internet Resources
for Cancer: Large collection of material for professionals and patients
maintained by Newcastle University.
CancerNet, from the US National Cancer Institute, allows searching on
most cancers, treatment options, side effects and trials in progress.
PDQ
Physician Data Query, from the American National Cancer Institute, a
database of peer-reviewed summaries on cancer treatment, screening,
prevention, and supportive care; a registry of approximately 1,600 open and
9,500 closed cancer clinical trials from around the world; and directories
of physicians, genetic counsellors, and organizations that provide cancer care.
Trent Cancer Registry
University of Pennsylvania Cancer
Centre (ONCOLINK); Information about tumours by site; psychological
factors; clinical trials, and
Clinical trials at the University of Pennsylvania, register of clinical
trials arranged as searchable databases.
NEW!
UKCCCR, the UK Co-ordinating Committee on Cancer Research clinical
trials homepage. Includes explanation of the methods and purposes of
clinical trials for patients. The register currently contains more than 500
trials of which approximately 20% are open to patient recruitment.
Back to library catalogue
Medical Statistics
Bandolier’s Risk Ladder, comparing risks of death from natural and
"violent" causes.
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention,
Atlanta, Georgia: Useful material on tropical and infectious diseases
and travel health.
Interpreting statistics:
Bayesian Calculator, from the University of British Columbia’s
Faculty of Medicine. For more Bayesian
Software, see Lawrence Joseph’s pages from McGill University.
Cox Proportional Hazards Survival Regression, shows you how to
analyse survival-time data by the method of Proportional Hazards regression
(Cox).Given survival times, final status (alive or dead) , and one or more
covariates, you can produce a baseline survival curve and co-variate
coefficient estimates with their standard errors, 95% confidence intervals,
and significance levels. Wow!
Conversion tables, from traditional to SI units for
various drugs and biochemistry assays, either from JAMA, or MedCalc3000, which also includes on-line calculators
for formula such as anion gaps and volume of distribution.
Epi
Info, a statistical package supported by the WHO and originally designed to
analyse food poisoning epidemics, also useful for analysing questionnaire
results.
NEW! Epidemiology, the internet and
global health, designed to provide an overview on epidemiology and the
Internet for medical and health related students around the world,
from the University of Pittsburgh.
Government Statistical Service,
official UK statistics and information about statistics as well as providing free access to a selection of
recently released publications in downloadable pdf.
Meta-analysis:
Accumulating Results Across Research Domains: Discussion of the historical
development of the technique of meta-analyis and detailed manual of how
to run one using the Hunter-Schmidt methodology, with all the statistical
tools. For real fanatics, there is a list of other web sites dealing with
meta-analyses.
National Centre for
Health Statistics: Lots of tables about rates of disease and disability
in America, so of little use to British researchers, but if no local data
is available for an epidemiological study, it might provide some idea of
prevalence and incidence rates.
NHS Research and Development Centre for EBM,
includes statistical notes, information on CATs
(Critically Appraised Topics), links to evidence-based journals and
Levels of
Evidence and Grades of Recommendations,
including a detailed table of what weights to attach to different
studies of therapy, prognosis, diagnosis and economic evaluation,
with notes on the statistical descriptions used.
Numbers needed to
treat,
a useful collection of definitions and explanations from ScHARR,
with NNT tables for a variety of common interventions.
OECD Health Statistics, on-line access to comparative analysis of the health data of 29 countries
Stats Direct,
covers commonly used statistics for EBH including likelihood ratios
and numbers needed to treat. Statistical validation of the methods/
algorithms used is presented
in the help systems. Includes detailed explanations with examples.
What is cost effectiveness
? notes on how to generate and use these analyses in PDF.
What are health utilities
? discussion of generating and using these parameters in PDF.
What is an NNT? PDF full text, with two
worked examples and notes on how to calculate NNTs, and also Implementing NNTs.
What is an QALY? PDF full text, with two
orked examples and notes on how to derive, apply and Implement QALYs.
Back to library catalogue
Medico-legal Issues
The
Caldicott Committee Report, the full text of the report on confidentiality
and security of electronic clinical information, and The
Caldicott Report, a commentary by Dr RJ Anderson.
The Wisdom
Caldicott Guardians' Resource Pack, revised October 2000 - Wisdom also runs a closed discussion
list for those working in Caldicott implementation in Trent NHS Region:
e-mail Alan O’Rourke
if you wish to join.
Computer Network Security,
technical issues around electronic security.
NEW!
Law and the Internet, Not all available in full text yet: posted sections cover obscenity, defamation, domain names, copyrights so far.
Legal and political considerations of clinical practice guidelines,
Brian Hurwitz BMJ 1999; 318: 661-664
Medical Defence Union,Acces to case histories (cautionary
reading for practicing clinicians!) and a Risk Management section.
Medical Protection Society,
contact details; what to do when confronted with a medico-legal
problem; society publications (including advice on court appearances
and common problems); and case studies organised by specialty.
What's New In The Law, from Sheffield Solicitors Keeble Hawson Moorhouse,
includes a Library,
of legal notes in reverse chronological order, including sections on the
Internet, intellectual property and Y2K issues.
Legal Disclaimers
Some web sites now carry discalimers to protect the authors from
liability. The following is an example:
Please read this agreement entirely and carefully before accessing
this web site. By accessing the site, you agree to be bound by the
terms and conditions below. If you do not wish to be bound by these terms
and conditions, you may not access or use this site.
THESE LEGAL NOTICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
So now you know how to protect yourselves!
Back to library catalogue
MEDLINE Sites and other databases
BioMedNet First
Register:
Provides free access, extensive help notes on stemming, use of wild
cards, MeSH terms, Boolean Logic and such refinements. Also offers two
interesting refinements:
-
Annotated comments on some seminal articles
-
Links to articles which have cited the reference you have retrieved, allowing
you to follow a citation trail.
BMA Library: Registration
site for BMA members
Evidence-based Filters for Ovid CINAHL.
PubMed, for free access, and Clinical
Queries using Research Methodology Filters refined search strategies
from Brian Haynes, allowing searches to be focused on therapy, diagnosis,
aetiology or prognosis, seeking either high sensitivity or specificity.
Evaluated
Medline Fourth Generation Bibliographic Searching: Discussion of MEDLINE
developments for the technically minded, but you need to be a logged on
member of Biomed to access this
site.
Trawling the
Net, A ScHARR introduction to free databases on the Internet which
meet three criteria: (1) they contain material of interest to staff working
in the UK National Health Service, (2) they have some form of search facility,
and (3) they do not require individual passwords or payments of any kind.
Back to library catalogue
Mental Health sites
CeNeS, this organisation
is dedicated to developing improved products for the diagnosis,
management and cure of major diseases of the central nervous system,
including automated psychological testing for Alzheimer's.(NB: Commercial site)
Counselling In Primary Care Trust,
this promotes and supports counselling and psychotherapy. The site
includes a number oF articles about the application of these techniques
to primary care.
Centre for Evidence-Based Mental Health,
Promoting and supporting the teaching and practice of evidence-based
mental healthcare, aims to provide mental health professionals with a portal to quality evidence on the web. The site includes:
National Electronic Library for Mental Health, the NeLMH is one of the first virtual branch libraries of the National electronic Library for Health (NeLH) and will be one of the main areas of focus for the draft Mental Health Information Strategy announced in the National Service Framework for Mental Health. This development is taking on from where OXAMWEB left off; and Evidence-Based Mental Health,
A secondary publication journal aimed at keeping mental health professionals up-to-date with the latest high quality research evidence. From January 2000 EBMH will be available as a full-text (subscription only) web database; and Clinical Practice Guidelines , from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, this section offers access to the full-text of Royal College of Psychiatrists’ guidelines. Each guideline is available as a full version or a quick reference guide. Also available are a variety of locally produced systematic guides and links to other mental health related guidelines sites ; and Toolkit, useful resources for evidence-based practice. A detailed collection of tools to help you develop your skills in practicing evidence-based mental health. Including worked examples of how to find, appraise and implement evidence relevant to day-to-day practice in mental health. Also includes information on how to set up your own evidence-based journal club, and a full-text interactive glossary of EBM terminology.
The Effectiveness
of Psychotherapy: a substantial document, outlining an empirical basis
for evaluating psychotherapy.
Evidence-Based
Mental Health, sister journal to Evidence-Based Medicine, with full-text
of the EBMH notebook; full-text of selected articles; archive of previous
issues; glossary of terms; letters and debate section.
Help is at hand, a
series of "self-help" and information leaflets for the general public from
the Royal College of Psychiatrists, dealing with areas like eating disorders,
bereavement, depression and anxiety.
Mental Health Act Reform, full text of the November 1999 green-paper,
with proposals for the future of mental health care and the reform of the
1959 and 1983 Acts, incorporating the
findings of the committee headed by Professor Genevra Richardson.
Personality Disorders, Home office proposal
for policy development in the management of such cases, July 1999.
NEW!
PsycINFO, PsycINFO covers literature from 1887 to the present and
contains more than 1.5 million references to journal
articles, books, book chapters, technical reports, and
dissertations published in over 45 countries. All abstracts
are in English, but the covered literature includes
material in more than 30 languages.
Royal College
of Psychiatrists' Guidelines, as yet the management of imminent violence
is complete and guidelines for counselling and managing depression are
under development.
Back to library catalogue
NHS information and documentation on the Web
Department of Health
includes access to press releases and details of departmental publications.
Education, Training & Development
Programme, from the NHS Information Authority.
Information for Health, includes the full text of the November 1998
white-paper (in PDF format), and the executive summary and a shortened
version, from the NHS Executive.
COIN, NHS circulars
and executive letters published since 1997, but needs an Adobe Acrobat
viewer.
NEW!
NHSE Eastern Regional Office, includes PDF of the regional IM&T
newsletters; contacts for the Regional smoking cessation programme;
local responses to the national plan and IM&T implementation strategies.
NHSIA, the NHS Information Authority.
The NHS IM&T Electronic
Library: an on-line knowledge base for all involved in the management
and delivery of Information Management and Technology (IM&T) within
the UK National Health Service.
NEW! NHSE
Primary Care Homepage
NHS R&D HTA Unit: NHS
Research and Development Health Technology Assessment Unit, information
about research and access to full text reports on topics like vision testing
in pre-school children.
NHS Centre for Reviews and
Dissemination:
Provides access to DARE,
the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness;
NEED,
the NHS Economic Evaluation Database; and
the Health
Technology Assessment Database, also the
Effective Health Care Bulletins
Back to library catalogue
The New NHS
NeLH-PC, the National electronic Library for Health, Primary Care
Branch, links to various journals, databases and texts: main strengths at present seem
in pharmacology and toxins, but also has IT section and includes search facilities.
Also available on NHSnet
The New NHS, full text of the December 1999 document setting forward
the government’s plans for the modernisation of the NHS over the next ten
years, and NEW! the NHS Plan for investment and reform,
July 2000, in full text, or
Executive summary.
See also
the BMA Response, from Dr Ian Bogle, and the
GPC-RCGP Joint Response
NELH Building site,
a description of National Electronic Library for Health developments to
date, including monthly reports and access to a discussion list.
NHS Direct,
description of this plan to extend a 24 hour health telephone service
across the country by 2000, and some statistics from the pilot sites.
NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.
See also
How NICE appraisal will
work, a brief description of what the National Centre for Clinical
Excellence will do.
Back to library catalogue
Nursing, midwifery and health visiting sites:
Achieving Effective Practice, a clinical effectiveness and research
information pack for nurses, midwives and health visitors, NHSE, 1999. The
leaflets in the Pack describe the key ideas which are involved in each
activity and they provide sources for further reading and networking.
British Computer Society - Nursing Specialist Group, The NSG is the
leading UK organisation for nurses and therapists interested in the
management and use of information to improve care, the development of
learning programmes for all staff, enabling better response to patient
inquiry, and improved direction to nursing and
therapy specialties for clinical information and education.
British
Nursing Index: contains references to over 220 nursing and allied health
journals (from 1994 onwards) and increases annually by approximately 9000
entries. The index consolidates from 1994 NMI and Nursing Bibliography
and RCN Nurse ROM. To obtain Internet access to BNI you need a password.
You can apply for a free trial password which will give you access to the
trial database of 1994 BNI records. Access to the full database is by subscription.
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy,
ENB Link Page, English
National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, includes sections
on careers, research and a database of nursing abstracts, and the Dear
Colleagues newsletters.
NEW!
Evidence-based Nursing,
Each issue contains journal club style summaries of 24 pieces of research
into nursing interventions, plus notes on making better use of the
nursing literature.
Framework for Continuing
Professional Educationand Higher Awards, for Nurses, Midwives and Health
Visitors from the ENB.
NEW! The
Internet and other ICTs: an introduction for nurses and therapists,
by Carol Cooper, includes basic introduction to computers, word-processing
and e-mail, and detailed descriptions of indexing and citation systems.
NEW!
Midwivery Research,
archives of the discussion list for research on midwifery and reproductive health
NBS, the National Board
for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland. Information on
career structure, professional standards and the Board's publications.
Also sections on Statutory
provisions, and a Glossary.
Nurses, Midwives
and Health Visitors Act, full text of the 1997 legislation, and a Commentary
from the ENB.
Nursing Ethics, a bi-monthly journal written to guide you through the
maze of complex issues around ethical and legal issues in nursing.
The Nursing
Ethics Network, American based organisation of professional nurses
committed to the advancement of nursing ethics in clinical practice through
research, education and consultation, offering a focused service to the
nursing community that is designed to complement, but not to duplicate,
the work of other professional nursing organizations.
Nursing &
Health Care Resources on the Net, a collection of over 2500 web sites,
mailing lists, newsgroups etc. for nursing and health. The sites are
categorised by type and geographical area.
Resources for teaching/ learning skills for EBP, materials that have
been produced to support the teaching and learning of Evidence Based Practice, but adapted for workshops
for nurses and the PAMS, to get away from a narrow medical model.
The Scope of Professional
Practice, a UKCC position statement on the range of responsibilities
for nurses, midwives and health visitors in relation to their personal
experience, education and skill.
UK Health
Professionals Forum, Interactive community area for UK health workers
promoted by the UK Health Centre and Nursing and Health Care Resources
on the Net.
Back to library catalogue
Online Text Books
First register (free) at
Medical
Matrix. This provides access to a wide range of on-line hypertext
books
Or go directly to the Merck
Manual. This is a text book of medicine which can be searched either
by working through a hierarchical index or by using a built in search engine.
The Electronic Textbook
of Dermatology Good text. The photographic reproductions are very good,
but for such a graphic speciality, there are disappointingly few illustrations.
Medical
Management of HIV Infection: (John G. Bartlett) available in full text,
as part of the Johns Hopkins Hospital
AIDS management section: which also includes clinical cases, and a
quiz.
Merck Manual of
Geriatrics, searchable on-line version of the second edition.
Back to library catalogue
Paediatrics
Centre for Evidence-based
Child Health: mostly details of courses and seminars, rather than
clinical reference material.
Evidence-Based Pediatrics Web Site, from University of Michigan. This
has a list of CATS and other EBM material of interest to Paediatricians.
It also has a link to four other child-health orientated EBM sites.
PEDBASE, designed by Dr. Alan Gandy, Consultant Paediatrician in
Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada. It has a huge list of topics,
but a secondary care bias: still could be useful if you need some
information on rare conditions and eponymous syndromes.
Paediatric Surgery
Update, includes a journal, handbook, and information on meetings.
SIDS Network Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome, sections on frequently asked questions and concerns,
with answers from journals and paediatricians, background information,
contacts for self-help and support groups.
Back to library catalogue
Patient information sites
CHiQ,
the Centre for Health Information Quality has started to put out topic bulletins
containing advice for consumers and patients on illnesses and treatments.
Quality of data is variable at present.
Doctors Swept Up by Connected Consumers,
Christine Wiebe considers the effect on the healthcare professions and
patient-doctor relations, once patients
are regularly coming to clinic armed with internet downloads.
Electronic Medicines Compendium, requires free registration.
Facts for Families,
from The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, a collection of information on common emotional and
behavioural problems in these age groups.
Health Care Information
Resources,
Canadian based site for patients and relatives.
Medical Pages, a "healthcare portal" to the Internet, including a
dictionary, Medline
search facilities and directories of specialists and clinics.
Healthfinder, US
government site, providing information and links to patient support groups,
which can either be searched by disease type or demographic groups.
Help is at hand, a
series of "self-help" and information leaflets for the general public from
the Royal College of Psychiatrists, dealing with areas like eating disorders,
bereavement, depression.
The Libra Project,
an independent community based project about drug and solvent abuse.
MyAsthma,
information on the use of controlled exercise programmes
and a medications resource.
NEW! National
Childbirth Trust, guide to research-based information on pregnancy,
childbirth and postnatal care (part of NHS Direct).
NEW!
National Osteoporosis Society
NHS
Direct,
it is very refreshing to hear of some aspect of Information for Health that
has delivered a tangible and widely accessible resource, is proving
popular with the public and is heading for national coverage ahead of
schedule, but questions, particularly about the wisdom of committing
large resources to such a novelty without proper evaluation. Still, an
impressive 1.5 million hits in the first day! Depending on your viewpoint
"the first official site with all its contents and links kite-marked by
the NHS" or "either so trite it is not worth having, or else it could
lead to misdiagnosis." (Dr. Grant Kelly, BMA IT Committee). Have a look
and decide for yourself.
Nutrition and Obesity,
part of theNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
site (NIDDK).
Office of
Rare Diseases, US based information on rare diseases, including
patient support groups, glossaries and registers of research work and
clinical trials.
Patient information Publications:
From Patient (UK). Aims to help non-medical people find information about
health issues. Links to several hundred UK self help groups, and sections
on dental and travel health, the NHS, benefits and advice for carers.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, news items;
membership services; the on-line Pharmaceutical Journal drug
information and consumer health links.
SIDS Network Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome, sections on frequently asked questions and concerns,
with answers from journals and paediatricians, background information,
contacts for self-help and support groups.
NEW!
UKCCCR, the UK Co-ordinating Committee on Cancer Research clinical
trials homepage. Includes explanation of the methods and purposes of
clinical trials for patients.
Back to library catalogue
Pharmacology
NEW!
The electronic British National Formulary,
Serachable full text on-line
NEW!
Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin,
Summary of latest issue and contents list for issues since December 1994.
Electronic Medicines
Compendium, separate sections for health care professionals (you will
need to register and have some proof of status, such as GMC number to
access this section);
pharmaceutical industry employees and the general public.
The Internet Drugs Index
The PRODIGY project,
a major UK initiative to develop and evaluate a computerised decision support
system for General Practice. When a diagnosis is entered PRODIGY immediately
offers decision support by presenting authoritative and appropriate
managementadvice.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, news items; membership
services; the on-line Pharmaceutical Journal drug information and
consumer health links.
Therapeutics Letter:
from Canada, the native home of EBP. A series of monthly newsletters, covering
topics like lipid lowering therapy, type II diabetes, smoking cessation.
For each, a review of the evidence, including NNTs and relative risks is
provided, and notes on applying the research to the (Canadian) population.
Back to library catalogue
Primary Care Groups and Trusts
NHSE PCG Page: alphabetical list of PCG/PCTs with contact details.
PCG and PCT Homepages
Joining up care
in London - establishing the North Southwark PCG, from the BMJ, 1999,
318:850-852.
A model for clinical governance in PCGs, from the BMJ, 1999,
318:779-783
Towards PCGs:
Managing the future in Bradford, from the BMJ, 1999, 318:783-785
Unified budgets
for PCGs, from the BMJ, 1999, 318:772-776
The NHS Primary Care Group Alliance,
this grew from the National Association of Commissioning GPs (NACGP)
after the Telford conference on "Alternatives to Fundholding" in March, 1994,
which for four years provided an informative/supportive network and acted
as a pressure group to promote the concept of GP Commissioning.
Provides access to the first three issues of
Primary Care Network, which so far appears to be a digest of news
items, conference reports and such ephemeral items, rather than
any in-depth analysis.
The National Association of Primary
Care, an alternative view of the PCG process, apparently the new
face of the old National Association of Fundholding Practices.
Back to library catalogue
Public and Occupational Health
Duke OEM, extensive American resources about chemical, industrial,
agricultural, and work-place health hazards.
Electronic
Public Health, from the Public Health
Resource Unit, providing access to taught courses, training and local
public health networks, and a link to the Mailbase Public Health Discussion List.
Epi
Info, a statistical package supported by the WHO and originally
designed to analyse food poisoning epidemics, also useful for analysing questionnaire
results.
NEW!
Evaluating evidence on public health information, a schema for
developing an evidence-base to public health. The second stage of the
project is currently underway to test the ideas developed here in a series
of case studies and revise, update and modify the schema accordingly. See
also
Evidence and public health, from the King’s Fund and:
The Effective Public Health Practice Project, which so far this has
run 16 systematic reviews of public health interventions.
NEW! Health Evidence
Bulletins (Wales), for a wide variety of clinical conditions,
a fact sheet of epidemiological statistics, followed by summaries of the
causative and preventative factors and clinical interventions with the
evidence ranked by strength. The Bulletins are the result of a
collaboration between the Departments of Public Health in the Welsh Health
Authorities, health professionals in primary and secondary care, the
Department of Information Services at the University of Wales College of
Medicine and the National Assembly of Wales.
NEW!
Health Equity Network (HEN), a virtual network
of people interested in equity and inequality in health,
aiming to promote the translation of evidence and analysis into
policies for tackling inequalities in health and public involvement in the
debate about equity and inequality in health.
OECD Health Statistics, on-line access to comparative analysis of the
health data of 29 countries
NEW!
Public Health Knowledge,
recent reports, guidelines and educational opportunities.
NEW!
Reducing health inequalities in Britain, a new report from the Joseph
Rowntree Foundation concerned with tackling the widening 'health gap' in
Britain. Authored by Dr Richard Mitchell and Professor Daniel Dorling from
the University of Leeds and Dr Mary Shaw from the University of Bristol
(September 2000)
NEW!
Review of
the Public Health Function in Scotland
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Sites offering help with research
Adapt
or die, advice on writing successful grant proposals. You will need
to be registered with BioMedNet
AMRC, Association of
Medical Research Charities links to charities that fund biomedical research.
ARIF,
Aggressive Research Intelligence Facility, a specialist unit at Birmingham
University, to help health care workers access and interpret research
evidence.
CentreWatch American based,
but possibly international, register of clinical trials, with a patient
information section, and a brief account of how clinical trials are run.
Current Controlled Trials includes
a meta-register of current, planned and completed but as yet unreported trials, and a publications section of reports and protocols. Requires free and unlimited registration. Such registers are one of the tools
suggested to cope with publication bias when running meta-analyses.
Digest of health-related research
funding and training opportunities, contains details of over 750 funding
sources ranging from the MRC to small research charities.
Healthcare Events
listings of current conferences and links to clinical effectiveness,
audit, evidence based and other healthcare internet sites.
Mapi Research Institute,
based in Lyons (don’t panic: it’s written in English!), includes an
interesting section on translation and validation of methodologies for
cross-cultural use.
The
NHS Executive Trent Regional Office R & D Group: Mission statement,
access to full text of Trent R & D newsletters, lists of databases
held by the group and hints on funding sources.
The National Research Register, covering current and
recently completed NHS projects, including purpose, methodology and
outcomes.
Quality of Life Database,
includes on-line validated questionnaires for quality of life surveys
(SF-36, EORTC etc) (- please note I am note sure of copyright issues
about using these!); sections on methodology and a bibliography,
but this is also a commercial site with adverts for their products. Of
further interest to quality of life researchers, there is also a Mailbase list, Qolnet. To join, send:
- join qolnet firstname lastname
To:
R&D
in primary care: National Working Group report, with Professor David
Mant, Director of Research and Development, NHS Executive, South and West
as author. This document is the final report of a working group of the
Central Research and Development Committee. It sets out strategic principles
and objectives to guide the development of R&D in primary care.
NHS Research &
Development, Health Technology Assessment: details of current projects,
how to submit research proposals for future ones and full text reports.
Nuffield Institute for Health
PUS, the Public Understanding
of Science (unfortunate acronym!), an ESRC New Opportunities Programme,
which provides resources to build on previous investments in the social
sciences and will run from February 1998 to April 1999.
Randomised Controlled
Trials, details Alejandro Jadad’s guide from the BMJPG.
Refund, the information service for those seeking academic research
funding, produced by the Research Services Unit at the University of
Newcastle upon Tyne, includes details of new national and international
calls for proposals, information about major research sponsors, newsletter and links to, other research sites.
Research Methods in Health Science, from the University of Salford, developed primarily for students following undergraduate courses is health related disciplines. It will be suitable for Health Sciences students, Nurses and PAMs. Also relevant to postgraduate students who need a research methods course, and who have little or no previous
experience. The emphasis in this course is research methods as a discipline and a tool to aid researchers. Covers qualitative and quantitative methods, data analysis, and evaluation and presentation. You will need a pass word, which you can obtain by e-mailing Peter Eachus: p.eachus@salford.ac.uk
R&D funding in the new NHS, the strategic Review of the HS R&D Levy
and information on the Central Research and Development Committee.
Sheffield
University Research and Consultancy Unit.
TRIAGE, The Trent Research Information Access Gateway, Links
to hundreds of educational resources for learning about Health Research,
such as on-line textbooks, articles, tutorials, discussion groups, and
downloadable software. Covers critical appraisal, EBM, epidemiology, health
economics, reference management, research, statistics and trials.
TRIP (Turning Research into
Practice): innovative idea for primary health care workers in Gwent,
about overcoming the barriers to getting research into practice. Includes
simple search engine, for Bandolier, SIGN, Effective Health etc. This means
you can find summaries of the evidence about issues like the use of anti-depressants
in people giving up smoking. Also access to a news letter, and the chance
to ask specific "effectiveness" questions. However, the answers to these
are not available on-line, and it seems that you have to work in primary
health care in Gwent to get the hard copies. Still, if you asked politely....
ScHARR: The
Sheffield School for Health and Related research, homepage provides details
of staff, current research, projects, such as WISDOM and taught courses.
The Wellcome
Institute, information on 400 funding bodies.
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Travel and Tourist Health
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention,
Atlanta, Georgia: Useful material on tropical and infectious diseases
and travel health.
Epidemics, rather
lurid gothic home page, but useful glossary of terms from epidemiology
and contagious diseases, quizzes, maps of distribution (BSE appears
still restricted to Western Europe, excluding Scandinavia).
NEW!
Parasitological Research Groups Worldwide
Tropical Medicine
Internet Resources Links to University departments of tropical and
infectious diseases around the world
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Other primary care sites
CME Plus, useful lists
of conferences and training and contact names and addresses for all UK
postgraduate education centres. Also, a service to search for "Educational
resources for GPs," which seems of limited use, as even putting in terms
as broad as "smoking" and "diabetes" failed to retrieve any resources.
GP-UK: How
to join their discussion list.
The Red Book, a special programme which works out your fees from basic information you provide.
It remembers your entries to build up an overall picture of your fee. You can
add your own notes which are also fully searchable, available as two versions either from
Visual Productions,
or The Electronic Red Book itself,
which also includes: the NHS (GMS) Regulations; the Pharmaceutical Regulations;
the Primary Care Trust Regulations; selected Health Service Circulars; the choice of General Medical Practitioner
Regulations: and the National Vocational Regulations.
NEW! Primary Care On-line,
news, current affairs and educational material from Radcliffe.
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Site for Sore Eyes
NEW!
Evidence that changed practice, RCTs and non-RCTs which have
influenced how we deliver health care.
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