Tuesday 15 July 2014

Spreading the good word

Head Librarian Jenny with our eye catching UpToDate display in Springs
If you've been to Springs today for your lunch or a sneaky bit of chocolate, you'll probably have noticed our lovely display boards with loads of information on 'UpToDate'. Hopefully this will answer questions like, "What is it?" "How do I access it?" "Is it evidence-based?"

You'll also find some handy 'user guide' leaflets on the tables that show all the features of UpToDate, feel free to take away one for you and your colleagues.

Pick up a UpToDate leaflet in Springs or in the Library
General interest and usage of UpToDate is on the up and hopefully the display boards will encourage more healthcare professionals to make good use of the resource.

Also this week...

 
Jenny Lewis from UpToDate will be giving a presentation at the next Hospital Round on Friday and we hope there will be a good crowd of enthusiastic listeners in attendance... or at least a decent crowd of people taking advantage of the free lunch!

If you would like to book one to one or a group training session on UpToDate please contact us and we'll arrange a time best suited to you. Feel free to get in touch if you ever have any questions or queries.

Finally I'll leave you with some nice comments from some of our UpToDate users:

"I've used Up-To-Date for some time now for ENT information, and can highly recommend it. The site is comprehensive and has the most current evidence."

“…Using UpToDate helped consolidate my knowledge and reassure me that my clinical management was based on recent evidence base.”
“I am really enjoying having UpToDate - that has changed my practice - it is a  really good quick source of information for when I am on the wards and need to look something up.” 
Until next time...

Wednesday 2 July 2014

8 Reasons to use Anatomy TV

Explore the human anatomy in extraordinary detail
Anatomy TV is a free resource for all Salisbury staff and students who have an NHS Athens account. We in the library were given an online demonstration on how Anatomy TV works and what it’s capable of and I must say that we were all mightily impressed. Now we’re not medical professionals of course but even we can see what a great reference and teaching tool Anatomy TV is. Here's some of the reasons you should try Anatomy TV if haven't already.


Multiple 3D layers of the anatomy
1. Amazing 3D Models

Going into the Functional Anatomy link on the homepage will take you to a 3D model of the human anatomy. From here you can add or remove muscle, tissue and skin layers. You can also rotate the model 360 degrees so that you can get exactly the right view of the body you need.

2. Information

Clicking on any of the structures within the image (bone, muscle, organ etc.) will bring up information on that particular structure in a text box. The text box contains general information, articulations and muscle attachments. (This will probably mean more to you medical folks then it does to us... sounds good anyway!)


Skeleton run
3. Animations and Movies

This is my favourite! You can view short videos or animations on all the major body parts. The videos have ranges of motion showing bone and muscle movements. You can also view the 3D model performing gross motor movements in animations including sit-ups, jogging, climbing stairs and standing jumps, and just like the static 3D model you can rotate the image. There are also movie clips with human models performing the same motor movements.

4. MRI's


Compare a 3D model to an MRI
Again, something that means absolutely nothing to us but would certainly be of interest to any Radiologists or for those who need to use an MRI for educational purposes. You can view an MRI of all the major organs and compare them to a detailed 3D image. Linking the two images allows you to highlight a particular area in the organ and this will show up on the MRI, clever huh!?
 
5. Saving and using the content

I said right at the beginning that this was an excellent tool for teaching and learning. All of the content and features are fantastic but one of the best things about Anatomy TV is the fact that you can save and use all the images, videos, animations, slides and text for presentations or demonstrations. It is so easy to save and import any of the content into PowerPoint (or any other presentation software for that matter) and there is no copyright restrictions providing it's used for educational purposes. How impressive would it be to bring up a detailed, animated model for your next teaching session?

6. Online tutorials

When you first log on it can be a tad overwhelming but fear not because there's simple to follow tutorials to help. You can choose to have an overview of how it works in text format or watch a video outlining all the functions and how to use them.

7. Accuracy

The software has been created in collaboration with a team of expert clinicians and educators and is currently being used as a key learning resource at a number of medical education establishments, including the Royal College of Surgeons. So don't just take our word for it.

8. Easy to access

I'm sure most of you have now registered for an NHS Athens account and if you have you can simply link to Anatomy TV from the SWICE homepage (see below). When you click on the link it will bring up a box asking for your Athens username and password, enter the details and you're away. If you're already logged into Athens then you won't need to worry about logging in again.
 
Link to Anatomy TV from the SWICE homepage
 
Hope you enjoy getting the most of Anatomy TV and like with anything we're always here to help if you have any problems or queries. We'd also be happy to provide any training or demonstrations to individuals or groups, just let us know.
 
Until next time...