Skills workshops

Library and Evidence Services provide support to all members of staff at associated trusts, including those working in clinical and non-clinical roles, and at every stage of your career. Whether you're a new starter, a returning member of staff, new to using the Library, or simply want a refresher, this induction session provides a quick overview of everything we offer: on-site and remote access resources, as well as services provided by a dedicated team of NHS Support Librarians and library staff. We recommend attendance for all new staff, as this is your opportunity to meet online with one of your librarians, ask any questions, and find out how we can help you.

By the end of the session attendees will: 

• Know how to sign up for access to the Library, OpenAthens and KnowledgeShare
• Know about Library locations and on-site services
• Know about electronic resources and remote services provided by the Library
• Understand how to use Library resources to inform professional practice

Session dates

Evidence-based practice is the core of professional healthcare practice. This workshop will focus on appraised and summarised evidence resources, which often have recommendations for practice. These include the Cochrane Library, and clinical decision support tools such as BMJ Best Practice and Visual DX. You will be introduced to the Knowledge and Library Hub and resources available via OpenAthens. You will discover where to find and access evidence and consider how evidence can be used with patients.

This session will be delivered online via Microsoft Teams. Once you have booked through KnowledgeShare you will be sent a link to the Teams meeting by email.

By the end of the session participants will be able to:

• Understand where and how to look for information
• Understand the hierarchies of evidence
• Understand the difference between filtered and unfiltered resources
• Understand and use clinical decision support tools including BMJ Best Practice
• Consider how to use evidence with patients

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) – Domain 3, 8, 9
• NMC Code – Sections 6.1, 6.2, 9.4
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals – Standard 4
• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics - Sections 3.3, 3.4, 3.5
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England - Sections 3.6, 4.3, 6.3, 6.4
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 1.4.1, 2.3.2, 6.1.1, 7.1.1, 7.2.1, 7.2.2
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 5.3, 7.4, 7.6, 12.4.3
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 1.1, 1.4, 2.1, 2.4, 4.1, 4.2, 5.3 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 1, 2, 3, 4 

Finding the strongest evidence requires searching beyond Google and PubMed and using medical databases such as Medline and Embase. This session outlines the principles of database searching and introduces some advanced techniques, focusing specifically on the Ovid platform. 

Some of these sessions will be delivered online via Microsoft Teams. Once you have booked through KnowledgeShare you will be sent a link to the Teams meeting by email.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Understand where to search for academic literature and evidence on health topics
• Develop a research question into a structured search strategy
• Carry out a search for literature on a specific topic using the Ovid platform

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics - Sections 2.5, 2.6, 3.3, 3.4, 10.1
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) - Domain 3, 6, 9
• NMC Code - Sections 6.1, 6.2, 8.6, 9.4, 22.3
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals - Sections 1, 4, 5
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England - Sections 3.6, 6.4, 6.6
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 7.1.1, 7.3.2
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 5.3, 6.1, 7.6
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 1.1, 4.1, 4.2 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 1, 2, 4 

The NHS Knowledge and Library Hub is your gateway to a wide array of online resources including all nationally-funded resources and selected open access and repository collections. This bite-sized session will introduce you to the Hub's key features and functionalities, helping you find and access full-text research papers to support your work, research, or studies in healthcare. 

This session will be delivered online via Microsoft Teams. Once you have booked through KnowledgeShare you will be sent a link to the Teams meeting by email. 

Learning objectives:

• Learn effective methods to search for journal articles on a specific topic using the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub
• Understand the processes for retrieving the fulltext of scholarly articles
• Learn how to place requests for articles that are not readily available on the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub
• Discover how to check the availability of e-journals through the BrowZine platform
• Familiarize yourself with LibKey Nomad to enhance your access to articles while browsing Pubmed and Google Scholar

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information. 

• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) – Domain 3, 8, 9 
• NMC Code – Sections 6.1, 6.2, 9.4, 19.2, 22.3,  
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals – Standard 4 
• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics - Sections 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England - Sections 3.6, 4.3, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 7.1.1, 7.2.1 
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 5.3  
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 1, 2, 3, 4  

Session dates

Critical appraisal and evidence-based medicine can seem daunting, but with practice and confidence anyone can pick up the necessary skills to improve their engagement with, and understanding of, the literature. Working on these skills allows us to better approach clinical evidence and research, reading journal articles with a critical eye and an idea of if and how we might transform evidence into practice.

These sessions are aimed at those with no prior experience of critical appraisal but would be a good refresher for anyone who wants more practice. There are separate sessions; one will provide an overview of the critical appraisal process as applied to quantitative research (in particular randomised controlled trials); the other will look at critical appraisal of qualitative research, including methodologies such as grounded theory, with both sessions examining how the process is undertaken, and why it is important.

By the end of the session participants will be able to:

• Understand what critical appraisal is and why it is useful
• Have an insight into the process of critical appraisal as recommended by CASP for different research methods
• Understand and begin interpreting commonly used statistics and theoretical frameworks
• Prepare for undertaking critical appraisal of an article

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics - Sections 2.5, 3.3
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) - Domain 2, 3, 6, 9
• NMC Code - Sections 6.1, 6.2, 9.4, 19.2, 22.3
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals - Sections 4, 5, 8, 9
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England - Sections 2.4, 3.6, 6.4, 6.6
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 7.1.1, 7.3.2
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 5.3, 10.1
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 4.1, 4.2 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 4 

Critical appraisal and evidence-based medicine can seem daunting, but with practice and confidence anyone can pick up the necessary skills to improve their engagement with, and understanding of, the literature. Working on these skills allows us to better approach clinical evidence and research, reading journal articles with a critical eye and an idea of if and how we might transform evidence into practice.

This session is aimed at those with no prior experience of critical appraisal but would be a good refresher for anyone who wants more practice. This session will focus on the practical aspect of critically appraising a randomised controlled trial and offers the chance for experiencing critical appraisal and discussion in a group environment online.

This session is intended for those who have attended 'How to read a research article: an introduction to critical appraisal', which introduces the concept, theory and tools required for critical appraisal, so it is highly recommended that participants also book a place on that session.

By the end of the session participants will be able to:

• Understand critical appraisal in a practical context
• Have an insight into the process of critical appraisal as recommended by CASP for randomised controlled trials
• Understand and begin interpreting commonly used statistics
• Critically appraise an article and consider its value to clinical practice
• Engage in group discussion of an article during and following critical appraisal

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more infomation.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics - Sections 2.5, 3.3
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) - Domain 2, 3, 6, 9
• NMC Code - Sections 6.1, 6.2, 9.4, 19.2, 22.3
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals - Sections 4, 5, 8, 9
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England - Sections 2.4, 3.6, 6.4, 6.6
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 7.1.1, 7.3.2
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 5.3, 10.1
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 4.1, 4.2 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 4 

Critical appraisal and evidence-based medicine can seem daunting, but with practice and confidence anyone can pick up the necessary skills to improve their engagement with, and understanding of, the literature. Working on these skills allows us to better approach clinical evidence and research, reading journal articles with a critical eye and an idea of if and how we might transform evidence into practice.

This session is aimed at those with no prior experience of critical appraisal but would be a good refresher for anyone who wants more practice. This session will focus on the practical aspect of critically appraising a qualitative article and offers the chance for experiencing critical appraisal and discussion in a group environment online.

This session is intended for those who have attended 'How to read a research article: an introduction to critical appraisal', which introduces the concept, theory and tools required for critical appraisal, so it is highly recommended that participants also book a place on that session.

By the end of the session participants will be able to:

• Understand critical appraisal in a practical context
• Have an insight into the process of critical appraisal as recommended by CASP for qualitative research
• Understand and evaluate the use of different theoretical frameworks and methods of qualitative analysis
• Critically appraise an article and consider its value to clinical practice
• Engage in group discussion of an article during and following critical appraisal

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics - Sections 2.5, 3.3
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) - Domain 2, 3, 6, 9
• NMC Code - Sections 6.1, 6.2, 9.4, 19.2, 22.3
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals - Sections 4, 5, 8, 9
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England - Sections 2.4, 3.6, 6.4, 6.6
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 7.1.1, 7.3.2
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 5.3, 10.1
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 4.1, 4.2 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 4 

A good academic poster at a conference enables you to both network and communicate clearly the work that you've been doing. This bite-sized session will help you in designing and producing a great conference poster to make you and your work a talking point.

By the end of the session, participants will learn:

• What makes a good poster
• How to summarise your text effectively
• How to plan and design your poster for maximum interaction

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics – Sections 2.5, 3.3, 5.1, 5.2
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) – Domain 2, 3, 5, 6, 9
• NMC Code – Sections 5.2, 5.3, 6.2, 9.4, 10.6, 21.4
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals – Sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4, 6
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England – Sections 3.6, 5.2, 6.2, 6.6
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 1.3.3, 4.2.1, 4.2.7
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 1.4, 3.1, 10.1, 14.1, 14.3, 16.6
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 1.4, 2.5, 4.1 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 4 

This introductory session will be a helpful to staff undertaking an evidence review for a dissertation, QI project or other work-based project. The workshop will focus on planning an evidence review, constructing the methodology section of the review, and some options for presenting your results. It will show a step-by-step pathway for undertaking this kind of review, some top tips for keeping on track with your review, and resources to support your skills in this area.

N.B. If you are undertaking a more comprehensive review, such as a scoping or systematic review, please book instead on our other skills workshop, Introduction to undertaking scoping and systematic reviews.

If you do not feel confident with database searching, or critically appraising papers, please complete our Database Searching and Critical Appraisal workshops before attending this session.

By the end of the session participants will:

• Understand how to plan a review
• Know the factors in constructing a methodology
• Recognise some ways of presenting results
• Know what resources there are to support undertaking an evidence review

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics – Sections 2.5, 2.6, 3.3, 3.4,9.1, 9.2, 10.1
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) – Domain 2, 3, 6, 9
• NMC Code – Sections 6.1, 6.2, 8.6, 9.4, 10.3, 20.2, 20.8, 21.4, 22.3
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals – Sections 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 4, 6
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England – Sections 1.2, 3.6, 6.2, 6.4, 6.6
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 4.2.1, 4.2.7
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 3.1, 5.4, 10.1, 14.3, 14.6
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.4 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 4 

This session will be a helpful overview if you are undertaking a scoping review or systematic review. It will introduce you to review processes, tools and resources to select and organise your papers, look at approaches to writing a methodology, suggest ways to present your findings, and signpost you to resources to further develop your skills in this area. If you do not feel confident with database searching, or critically appraising papers please complete our Database Searching and Critical Appraisal workshops before attending this session.

By the end of the session participants will be able to:

• Understand review processes
• Know about resources and tools to help organise and manage review processes
• Consider ways to present results
• Know where to get further information and support to develop review skills
• Know how library and evidence services can support those undertaking reviews

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics - Sections 2.5, 2.6, 3.3, 3.4, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) - Domain 2, 3, 6, 9
• NMC Code - Sections 6.1, 6.2, 8.6, 9.4, 10.3, 20.2, 20.8, 21.4, 22.3
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals - Sections 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 4, 6
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England -Sections 1.2, 3.6, 6.2, 6.4, 6.6
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 4.2.1, 4.2.7
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 3.1, 5.4, 10.1, 14.3, 14.6
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.4 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 4 

Whether you’re writing academic assignments, doing research or keeping up with the evidence, managing your references well can save you time. Reference management software allows you to organise your reading materials and cite what you’ve read easily and accurately. In this session we cover the reasons you may wish to use reference management applications, provide examples of these, and demonstrate the main functions on freely available software (Mendeley or Zotero).  

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Understand how reference management tools help to reference and avoid plagiarism
• Choose an appropriate reference management tool for their own needs
• Use a reference management tool to save and organise references

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics – Sections 3.3, 3.4 9.1, 9.2
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) – Domain 2, 3, 5, 9
• NMC Code – Sections 10.3, 20.2, 20.8, 21.4
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals – Sections 6, 8, 9
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4, 6
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England – Sections 1.2, 6.2, 6.6
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 2.5, 4.1, 4.2 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 3, 4 

This session will introduce you to the basics of preparing your piece of work for publication. It aims to provide a set of tools and principles with which to approach publishing your piece of work, as well as aiming to increase your awareness of the areas of academic writing you need to focus on and improve.

By the end of this session, participants will:

• Understand what 'writing for publication' means
• Have explored the places that writing can be published
• Think about what they could write, and why it could be published

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics - Sections 2.5, 3.3, 5.1, 5.2
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) - Domain 2, 3, 5, 6, 9
• NMC Code - Sections 4.2, 5.2, 9.2, 10.4, 10.6, 21.4
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals - Sections 7, 9
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England - Sections 3.6, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.2, 6.4
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 4.2.1, 4.2.7
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 1.4, 3.1, 5.1, 5.4, 10.1, 14.1, 14.3, 14.6, 16.4, 16.6
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 1.2, 2.3, 2.5, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 4 

Ensuring that individuals and communities can access, understand, appraise and use information and services to make decisions about health is key to health literacy. Improving people’s health literacy will enhance their ability to self-manage their health. This session will introduce the concept of health literacy, show examples of both good and bad resources providing information to patients, and demonstrate ways to help improve how information is provided to patients to allow them better control over their own health care.

This session will allow you to meet the following professional standards. Contact us for more information.

• HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics – Sections 1.2, 1.3, 2.2, 2.3, 6.1
• GMC Generic Professional Capabilities Framework (PDF) – Domain 1, 2, 4, 6, 8
• NMC Code – Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.3, 7.1, 7.4
• GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals – Sections 1, 2, 3, 6
• Professional Standards Authority Standards for Members of NHS Boards and Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Bodies in England (PDF) - Standard 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England – Sections 2.4, 3.6, 4.1, 4.3, 4.5
• GDC Standards for the Dental Team – 1.1.1, 2.1.1, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.3.3, 2.3.4, 2.3.5, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 3.2.1
• GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians – 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 13.1
• CIPD Code of Ethics and Conduct – Sections 1.2, 2.4 
• ACHCA Code of Ethics – Expectation 2, 4