Palliative Medicine Information service

The regulation and administration of medicines for patients under palliative care can be a complex and challenging  task even for experienced healthcare practitioners.

To provide support for such practitioners the Palliative Meds Info service was launched in September 2010. Based in the pharmacy department of Our Lady’s Hospice Harold’s Cross, the service provides phone and email support on all aspects of medication for patients under palliative care from dosage and delivery methods to side effects and reactions.

The service, funding for which was provided by a development grant from the Irish Hospice Foundation has been expanding since its launch and has now developed a dedicated webpage. The Palliative Meds Info webpage which includes medication guidelines, patient information leaflets and newsletters can be accessed HERE   

Irish Hospice Foundation’s New Bereavement support e-learning site

Last year the Irish Hospice Foundation’s Bereavement education and training service   launched a bereavement training resource DVD titled ‘Lost for Words; words for loss‘. The content has now been developed into an e-learning module, the first module of its kind to be made available on the Irish Hospice Foundation’s new e-learning site.

The site will be officially launched by Miriam O Callaghan (who provided narration on the  Lost for words DVD) on Thursday September 29th at the Irish Hospice Foundation offices on Nassau st. More details available HERE

The new e-learning site will deliver training in bereavement theory and best practice through subscription to learning modules (additional modules are to be developed over time). The e-learning facility is particularly beneficial for organisations wishing to provide staff with introductory training in bereavement support direct to their desktops.

To mark the launch of the new site an introductory offer of €10 (the module will cost €15) is available until November 30th.  You can find out more about the e-learning module by contacting Breffni Mc Guinness, Training officer at the Irish Hospice Foundation on 01 6730074 or breffni.mcguinness@hospice-foundation.ie or you can register online for the module HERE

Starting the conversation about death & dying

This week (May 16th – 22nd) marks the second ‘Dying Matters awareness week’ in the UK. The week aims to put a spotlight on all aspects of death & dying and get people talking about everything from where they want to die to wills, legacies and their funeral arrangements.

Though the events to coincide with the awareness week all take place in the UK the Dying Matters site is worth a visit as its packed with useful resources and conversation starters all aimed at smashing the taboos around death and dying.

The resource material includes ‘Things to do before I die’, leaflets and flyers to get you thinking about how to plan for a good death. There are even specific resource materials for schools and for GP’s.

If that all seems a bit weighty you can start off with the ‘Dying for a laugh’ videos in which comedians share their feelings and experiences about death – they include Ardal O’ Hanlon recalling a uniquely Irish wake experience. For information on attitudes to death and dying in an Irish context have a look at the Irish Hospice Foundation’s Forum on End-of-life website. 

Bereavement resources booklet – 2011 update available to download

Therese Brady Library - Bereavement Resources booklet 2011

Last year the library compiled a booklet of bibliotherapy titles for bereaved people informed by the Irish Hospice Foundations bereavement leaflets. The booklet has now been updated and expanded to include both public and professional support material as well as information about the Therese Brady Library and QR links directed to further resource listings in the resource sections of the blog.

The professional resources section  lists recommended titles and online tools for; palliative and end-of-life care, Bereavement theory and support, self care for professional carers, working with bereaved children and bereavement in schools.

You can download the booklet in PDF format here – Bereavement resources 2011

Getting smart at the Therese Brady Library – What is a QR code?

This week (Library Ireland Week) is all about smart libraries, or finding smarter ways to use libraries and access information quickly and while on the move so no better time to introduce you to QR codes.

QR or Quick Response (or Quick Reference) codes are three-dimensional barcodes designed to be scanned by smartphones (iPhone or Android). They act as embedded information links and have begun to appear in magazines, billboards, advertisements business cards and …libraries.

In a library context the QR code works as a rapid route to additional information. To use a QR code you will need a smart phone, or a phone with internet capability (like an iphone, HTC desire or wildfire or Samsung Galaxy to name but a few). The phone’s camera will be able to scan the QR code, or you can download a QR reader app to perform this function. Once scanned the code will open up embedded URL link or information on your phone’s web browser.

Libraries have begun using QR codes to embed quick links in posters and promotional flyers to take you directly to additional support material (for example the posters in the library with QR codes linking to the blog) or to link to subject portals, QR codes can even be seen in some library catalogues to link to further details about the title  (have a look at THIS library catalogue to see QR codes for titles)

To get started check that you have a QR scanner on your phone & scan the code above – for additional details contact Laura in the library.

 

Happy Library Ireland Week!

It’s that time of year again, this week (March 7th to 13th) libraries around the country will be showcasing their services and collections with special spotlight features, events and promotions. This year’s theme of ‘Smart people use smart libraries’ aims to illustrate the ways in which libraries use technology to enhance, extend and promote their services. Staff and students of the Irish Hospice Foundation can book in for 10 minute library fix sessions. These short personal tutorials cover anything from effectively using the library catalogue and database searching to setting up personal searches and alerts using RSS feeds or finding out about social media tools or iphone apps useful for work or research – contact Laura in the library to book a session.

Here on the blog there will be features to highlight smart libraries and resource recommendations throughout the week.

To get you in the mood have a look at this great promotional video produced to celebrate Library Ireland Week 2011.

Resource spotlight – LENUS – Irish Health Research

I’ve highlighted LENUS, the Irish Health repository before but just it’s worth a specific mention, if for no other reason than to point out that LENUS also houses Irish Hospice Foundation reports and publications, such as the Palliative Care for All report (2008) and the Baseline study (2006)

LENUS, provides a one stop open access platform for retrieval of a growing collection of Irish Health research material including research conducted within the HSE and by corporate and non profit groups.

LENUS recently became the first Irish research repository to be added to World Wide Science, the global science gateway which provides access to science, medical and technical research from 56 countries worldwide.

LENUS can be searched by community & collection (for example, children & young people, Health information, community or mental health) or by title, keyword or author. Among its features are RSS feeds to track content as it is uploaded (a good idea as new titles are added daily). It is worth noting that if searching for Irish Hospice Foundation publications, entries exist for both Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) and Irish Hospice Foundation, Health Service Executive (HSE).

Social Science Index & Health Business Index – Databases on trial

SocIndex & Health Business Full Text via EBSCO

Between now and April 9th the library has access to both Social Science Index with full text and Health Business full text on trial.

SocIndex with full text is an extensive sociology research database containing over 700 full text academic journals, more than 13,000 conference papers and proceedings and over 800 ebooks. Its coverage ranges from social psychology, research methods, gender studies, gerontology and social anthropology. Full details of title holdings can be found HERE  - Some titles of particular relevance are; Age & Aging – British Journal of Clinical Psychology – British Medical Journal – Clinical psychology & psychotherapy -  American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine -  Health Policy – Journal of  social work in end of life and palliative care.

Health Business Full Text covers over 130 full text titles in health management and administration as well as healthcare economics, personnel and marketing. A full list of titles is available HERE . Publications of note include; Harvard Business Review –  Behavioural Healthcare – Death Studies -  Total Quality Management

Access to these databases on site is cc via IP recognition but a username & password for off site access is available to external staff, researchers and students email laura.rooneyferris@hospice-foundation.ie  if you have not already received it.

Resource of the day

‘Theres an app for that’ is the theme of today’s resources so here are a few iphone apps for palliative care and general medical information

Pallimed blog App - Pallimed is a palliative care and end-of-life focused blog detailing research publications, news and current practice. All of this can be delivered to your phone with this app.

PubMed App  - PubMed content direct to your iphone.

Skyscape Medical Resources app - Medical resources and calculators

Resource of the day

Today’s resource focus is on open access research repositories.

LENUS - Lenus is the Irish health services searchable research repository and houses digitized full text research reports, published and pre print articles and policy documents from the Irish health research community including HSE research output and reports.

RCSI E-Pubs - E-Pubs is the RCSI’s institutional repository housing the research output of RCSI faculty and students. Content includes articles submitted for peer reviewed publications as well as student Theses.

TARA -TCD’s institutional repository housing Trinity research output and theses.

OpenDOAR – A search engine for locating open access repositories which will allow you to search across or locate repositories by country.