ELHT Evidence Hub
A case study about setting up and evidence hub for clinicians.
Who wrote this case study?
Graham Haldane from East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) (2016).
Who asked?
Staff from across the Trust and feedback from Deanery visits.
What did they say?
Concerns had been expressed through e.g. Deanery visits about use of Google and Wikipedia, rather than more evidence-based resources.
The library service had received feedback that our current awareness services were too generic, and we also wanted to increase awareness and usage of our online resources.
What did you do?
We created an online portal, the ‘ELHT Evidence Hub’ (www.ehub.elht.nhs.uk).
There were two initial priorities:
- links to core resources
- tailored links for clinical specialties
These encourage access to evidence-based information for best practice and continuing professional development.
Quick links are provided (password free on the Trust network wherever possible) to core resources such as NICE Guidelines, British National Formulary, Cochrane Library and UpToDate and to high impact journals. We now have 40 ‘Knowledge Centres’, structured by clinical Division and specialty, which provide tailored links to print and e-books, journals, ‘What’s new’ for the specialty within UpToDate and other current awareness services, national guidelines, professional organisations, web sites, apps and Twitter feeds.
Additionally, there are Knowledge Centres for various professions (including medical and nursing/midwifery revalidation) and to support Trust-wide initiatives. We have now added a staff publications section and ‘NHS Improvement News’ blog, and have moved all our library service information (including online forms) into the Evidence Hub.
How did it help?
In an impact survey in 2015, over 90% of respondents indicated that the Evidence Hub saved them time and raised their awareness of evidence-based resources.
The eHub supported the Trust’s priorities for delivering Safe Personal Effective care, including e.g. clinical decision making, training, personal development, guideline & policy review and service improvement. In terms of Trust objectives, over 71% identified the Evidence Hub as helping to ‘Put safety and quality at the heart of everything we do’ and 68% agreed that it helped to ‘Encourage innovation and pathway reform, and deliver best practice’.
The use of online resources, whether part of the National Core Content or purchased at regional or local level, has increased considerably since the introduction and promotion of the Evidence Hub. The fact that the eHub can be accessed on the internet and via mobile devices, as well as through the Trust network, has helped to enhance access and awareness.
The Evidence Hub won the Gold Award at the Library Knowledge Services North (LIHNN) Quality Improvement Awards for 2014, selected by health care librarians across the North West.
For further information see the article in LIHNNK-UP, Issue 45, Spring 2014, pp16-17
May 2016