The National Library for Health (NLH) Specialist Libraries have been developed to identify and meet the information needs of particular communities of practice. They are web-based collections containing clinical and non-clinical information on the major health priority areas. Each NLH Specialist Library identifies and provides access to quality assessed information of relevance to the community that it serves.
An aspect of this involves the production of Annual Evidence Updates, which aim to highlight the best current evidence for selected healthcare topics. Annual Evidence Updates consist of the good quality evidence from a search of research evidence on a particular topic over a 12 month period, plus user-friendly summaries written by relevant experts, and links to guidelines, secondary research and primary research, if applicable. All information included in Annual Evidence Updates has been subject to rigorous selection criteria.
The following Annual Evidence Updates are scheduled for April 2009:
Colorectal cancer (Cancer Specialist Library) 6th April
This update has been timed to coincide with Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. It consists of all relevant systematic reviews and national guidelines that have emerged in the past twelve months covering:
- Causes, risks and prevention
- Assessment and diagnosis
- Treatment and disease management
- Service delivery and standards
Schizophrenia (Mental Health Specialist Library) 14th April
Brings together the latest evidence-based guidelines, systematic reviews, important primary research, service development literature and patient information.
Cardiac rehabilitation (Cardiovascular Diseases Specialist Library) 14th April
The results of new systematic reviews and other relevant information published since the first Annual Evidence Update in June 2008. There is also a “what's new” analysis discussing new evidence and its implications for clinical practice.
Acupuncture (Complementary & Alternative Medicine Specialist Library) 20th April
This update will provide a summary of systematic reviews, large RCTs and other relevant studies published in the twelve months since the 2008 AEU on Acupuncture.
Obesity (Public Health Specialist Library) 20th April
This is an update on last year's topic of Childhood Obesity: Surveillance and Prevention. There has been a lot of new evidence published in these areas, especially in regards to prevention in terms of diet, physical activity, and protection due to breast feeding and early childhood health and diet. The National Obesity Observatory have reviewed the evidence and written summaries about what this means for current programmes and schemes such as the National Childhood Measurement Programme.
Rheumatoid arthritis (Musculoskeletal Diseases Specialist Library) 27th April
This update will focus on guidance and systematic reviews published before March 2009. As in recent years the majority of publications relate to various aspects of treatment with biologics. Although this constitutes an increasing proportion of the clinical activity in relation to this disease, we should not lose sight of other important developments and various aspects of rheumatoid disease management feature prominently in our update. It might seem obvious that patients should be able to expect the same high standard of care from the NHS wherever they are located in the UK but the fact that their experience varies greatly has been highlighted in a report from the Kings Fund. This would be justifiable if there was no evidence to guide practice but this is far from being the case. Perhaps the most important publication during the year has been the NICE Guideline on Rheumatoid Arthritis. The widespread implementation of this guidance has the potential to greatly improve the lives and outlook of very many patients with this devastating disease.
Failure to cope in old age (Later Life Specialist Library) 27th April
This update will focus on the challenges with independent living faced by people in later life. It will identify systematic reviews, guidelines and important policy documents. Carer support will also be considered.
From 30th April, when NHS Evidence is launched (see http://ipswichinformation.blogspot.com/2009/03/nhs-evidence.html), the specialist libraries will be known as specialist collections, each with an individual name such as NHS Evidence - Women's Health. A review of the specialist libraries is currently underway; this is due to be completed in September 2009.
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