The Oxford Transplant Nurses’ Blog: Current Awareness for Specialists

Eli Bastin - Bodleian Health Care Libraries

13 June 2011ICL 2011

Supporting the NHS

Overview of presentation:

1. The readers’ request…2. The blog3. The future

BHCL Outreach Team

My initial email to Claire

Claire’s reply

Shirley

Team Meeting

Is a blog an effective tool for this purpose?

Pros and consPros ConsFREE! Time-consuming to write and maintain (3)

Quickly distribute information (1) Got to keep updating the blog to maintain interest (3)

Don’t have to present information in context of the library’s website [formatting freedom!] (1)

Writing a successful blog is difficult! (4)

Content archived automatically with most recent post displaying first (1, 2)

Search engines scan them = readers can find them! (3)

Comments functionality (2)

References:(1)Sapp, L. and K. Cogdill (2010). "Blogging in support of health information outreach." Medical Reference Services Quarterly 29(3): 240-8.(2)Kraft, M. A. (2006). "The use of blogs in medical libraries." Journal of Hospital Librarianship 6(1): 1-13.(3)Blogging – Pros and Cons. Available from http://ezinearticles.com/?Blogging---Pros-and-Cons&id=275144 [accessed 27/05/11] (4)Pros and Cons of Blogging. Available from http://webupon.com/blogging/pros-and-cons-of-blogging/#ixzz1JsBJeWJu [accessed 27/05/11]

Quick word about nurses’ blogs…

For example:•http://militantmedicalnurse.blogspot.com/•http://www.codeblog.com/•http://ernursey.blogspot.com/

Updating the blog (Dec ‘10-May ‘11)

• RSS feeds from PubMed searches for LRD, SPK and transplant-related systematic reviews

• Clinical Trials RSS feeds for all transplant-related trials info

• Collect my RSS feeds in Google Reader • Check feeds twice a week and update the blog

with relevant links

Shirley promoted the blog to colleagues!

EliJust a thought -can outsiders external to the trust see or access this blog? I would like to give the site address to nurses and consultants from Bristol, Dorset, Portsmouth,etcShirley

EliI am getting very positive feedback on this-alerts on any trials would be fab as well-what we should do is maybe review in 6 months as to what people are finding useful?Many thanks for this!Shirley

Why I created the Oxford Transplant Nurses Information blog…

• Contacted December 2010 by transplant nurses wanting help with current awareness

• Realised that they wanted a way of keeping a group of transplant nurses updated with the latest evidence for different subjects

• Previous experience of blogging from participating in Oxford 23 things project last year

• Colleagues sowed the seeds…!

April 2011: Time for another discussion with colleagues…

Emails to Claire and Shirley!Dear Claire and Shirley, Is the blog still useful? Can it be improved? I’m going to give a presentation to other clinical/medical/outreach librarians in June about the blog, and it would be good at this point to review what we’ve got so far and evaluate whether it is fit for your purposes: Are you looking at the blog on a regular basis? – Once a week or once a month? Is the information adequate or can you think of other information that I can include in the blog posts which would be useful to you in your work? Is the information provided clearly enough for you? Is there a department intranet or a handbook (or equivalent) given to new staff that can include the link to the blog as a way of helping staff to keep up to date? Finally… Can you please give me a list of your favourite journals? I can create a post about how to access the journals to get the articles in full text if you think that would be useful! Do please get in touch if you have any other library-related needs, such as literature searches to request or any database training needs. Many thanks, Eli

Shirley’s replyHiYes this is v useful still-I am accessing it about once a month.I think I and we need to publish it further as I know that other services were asking me about it.The info is very useful!Let me have a think about journals!The tx physicians use it and the surgeons(how often I am not sure)Keep it going if possShirley

Claire’s replyHi EliPerhaps we could meet up and chat about this and some ideas I have for developing the blog to represent the whole of the renal, transplant and urology unit? But yes, I find it useful and make a point to access it each month to see what is there. There is a link to the blog from the renal and transplant intranet site.For the other questions, perhaps it would be an idea to invite you into the unit to meet some of the staff and discuss their needs. We have just started a master class for the senior/specialist nursing staff across the unit that runs twice a month on the first Tuesday and the third Wednesday. If you are happy with this we could arrange a date.Many thanks, Claire

Meeting with Claire

Latest developments: New inclusion/exclusion criteria

Trialling the new-look blog

Next steps: Evaluation

• May/June – survey the transplant nurses to see if they are using the blog, do they find it useful…?

• A few teething problems with the Comments functionality on the blog…

• Keep asking Claire, Shirley et al to promote the blog to colleagues, and tell me if it is useful!

Please contact me with thoughts, suggestions, criticisms, ideas:

Eli.bastin@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Tel: 01865 289383

http://oxfordtransplantnursesinformation.blogspot.com/

Thoughts?