The RCM Library is closing on February 16th 2008. The stock is being put into storage and the library staff have been declared redundant. There will therefore be no more entries in this blog. It will be retained on Blogger, however, for reference. I am moving to a new job: library manager at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, based in Middlesbrough. My new email address will be catherine.ebenezer@tewv.nhs.uk.

Goodbye everyone!

Catherine

RCM Library survey 2007: results and analysis

This report discusses and analyses the results of the survey of staff and members that was conducted in March and April 2007 regarding use of the RCM Library. It indicates that, while the number of readers is relatively small, the RCM Library's services are highly regarded. As well as commenting on existing services, the respondents offered opinions regarding possible new initiatives. The report has significant implications for the future direction of the College's library and information services.

The report is available to download.

Maternity and Infant Care (MIDIRS) database now on NHS e-libraries for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The Maternity and Infant Care (MIC) database, more usually known as the MIDIRS database, is now available on the NHS Wales e-Library for Health, on the NHS Scotland e-Library, and on Health on the Net Northern Ireland (HONNI). MIC is a key resource for midwifery information, so this is a most welcome development. As with the pay settlement for this year, once again the English are losing out. (Is MIC to be included in the new NHS England e-resources procurement contract for 2008, one wonders?)

New books: June 2007

The following new titles have been added to the library stock:

The art and soul of midwifery: creativity in practice, education and research
Davies, Lorna
Churchill Livingstone, 2007.

Caesarean birth in Britain: a book for health professionals and parents
Churchill, Helen
Middlesex University Press, 2006

Career planning for everyone in the NHS : the toolkit
Chambers, Ruth
Radcliffe Publishing, 2005

Conception and pregnancy over 35
Goetzl, Laura
Dorling Kindersley, 2005

Crisis in childbirth - why mothers survive: lessons from the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths
Dob, Daryl et al.
Radcliffe Medical, 2007

Emergencies in obstetrics and ynaecology
Arulkumaran, Sabaratnam
Oxford University Press, 2006

Evaluating the processes of neonatal intensive care: thinking upstream to improve downstream outcomes
Schulman, Joseph
BMJ Publishing, 2004

Evidence-based care for normal labour and birth: a guide for midwives
Walsh D
London, Routledge, 2007

Fathers and family support: promoting involvement and evaluating impact
O'Brien, Margaret
National Family and Parenting Institute, 2004

Haematological complications in obstetrics, pregnancy and gynaecology
Bick, Rodger L
Cambridge University Press, 2006

Key topics in neonatology
Mupanemunda, Richard
Taylor & Francis, 2005

Labour ward manual, 4th ed
Liu, David
Churchill Livingstone, 2007

Making an impact : children and domestic violence : a reader
Hester, Marianne, 2nd ed.
Jessica Kingsley, 2007

Midwifery: freedom to practice? an international exploration of midwifery practice
Reid, Lindsay
Churchill Livingstone, 2007

Natural pregnancy: complementary therapies for preconception, pregnancy and postnatal care
West, Zita
Dorling Kindersley, 2005

The new midwifery : science and sensitivity in practice
Page, Lesley.
Edinburgh : Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier, 2006.

A pocket guide for student midwives
McKay-Moffat, Stella.
Chichester : Wiley, 2006.

Qualitative research for allied health professionals : challenging choices
Finlay, L. (Linda)
John Wiley, 2006

Recent advances in obstetrics and gynaecology 23
Bonnar, John
Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2005

Sexual health in obstetrics and gynaecology
Wilson, Janet
Remedica Group, 2003

Succeeding in nursing and midwifery education
Meyler, Eddie
Wiley, 2007

Thank you, Dr Lamaze
Karmel, Marjorie
HarperCollins Publishers, 2005

All books may be borrowed by members in the normal way.

A big thank you to Mary Dharmachandran, our librarian, for her hard work in acquiring and cataloguing these titles.

Technorati

I have just joined the Technorati service as a member. Technorati is a blog search engine, among other things, so this should help increase the exposure of the blog. This is a link to my Technorati profile.

Lists of open access e-books

I have recently created a new page on the RCM web site listing freely-accessible e-books relating to midwifery and maternity services. The list is being regularly updated as my library colleagues and I find more. Please visit this page, and let me know of any other useful e-books that you find.

UPDATE on the development of the National Service Framework and National Standards for NHS knowledge services in England

The following update on the development of the NSF for NHS knowledge services has recently been circulated to NHS librarians. It is of strategic importance to us in respect of the effects it will have on shaping the wider knowledge services environment within which the RCM library operates, and in turn the experiences and expectations of the NHS staff who use these services.
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The consultation on the National Service Framework (NSF) has been completed and the work on creating national standards is well underway.

A Task and Finish Group was established at the beginning of the year and is made up of 10 members who were invited to participate because of their knowledge and experience of standards creation, quality performance monitoring, and/or of the needs of service delivery. The Group will submit its work to the new Library Service Development Group when it meets on the 26th April. It is intended that the first draft document will then be available to librarians in early May 2007.

The NSF and standards work will establish quality assurance for knowledge services and a performance monitor process. The work has been facilitated by Health Accreditation Quality Unit (HAQU), who is an operating division of CHKS Ltd, a company specialising in healthcare knowledge systems.

HAQU aims to improve the quality of service offered by health care providers and other associated organisations and works with a wide range of health care providers and their standards-based quality assessment programmes have been developed for hospitals, primary health care teams, community health services, mental health and learning disability services, nursing and residential care homes, primary care trusts and hospice services.

The NSF

The national service framework establishes the core and developmental requirements for library services, focusing on the outcomes for knowledge services and emphasising access to the knowledge base.
The framework establishes the principle that a knowledge service is not expected to be delivered by an individual organisation. Rather, knowledge services must work collectively to deliver an integrated and seamless service to their customers and stakeholders.

It is intended (hoped) that this principle will build on the professional tendency of librarians to work in networks.

National Standards

The national standards for NHS Knowledge Services in England are being designed to continuously improve the quality of knowledge services within healthcare organisations. The standards reflect government health policy and guidance in the United Kingdom and statutory requirements (e.g. Improving Working Lives and Standards for Better Health), the core and developmental components defined in the National Service Framework, and alignment with the requirements of the International Standards for Quality in Healthcare and other international standards (e.g. ISO 9001:2000 International standard for quality management systems).

The standards address core and developmental elements that aim to deliver high quality information services and resource that support evidence based practice, clinical governance, leadership, the quality of the learning environment, the experience of staff working within knowledge services and teamwork. The standards include those essential elements concerning systems, processes and environment.

The philosophy that informs our work is that:

a. Knowledge must be embedded within the strategic direction and operational activity of all health care organisations. Knowledge is a key organisational asset, that when managed and mobilised can underpin organisational activity
b. Access to knowledge is a right and not a privilege.
c. Knowledge services must be aligned with the requirements of the organisation and stakeholders, as well as being integrated with wider regional and national service provision.
d. There is a strong commitment to continuous improvement in patients’ care and experience whilst ensuring the resources are used well.
e. The requisite physical, technical and organisational environments are in place to enable staff to give of their best.
f. Those who provide and deliver service are fully engaged and supported in influencing and achieving desirable change.
g. The promotion of continuous improvement and self-development is based on proper accountability and the achievement of essential standards of good practice.
h. The whole organisation, service or systems are functioning well.

Quality improvement

The programme is a powerful tool for healthcare organisations to put in place systems for continuous quality improvement. That is, making sure that at all suitable points, staff within the knowledge service are questioning what is done, how they do it and how better results could be achieved, more efficiently and more effectively.

The programme enables the health knowledge service to examine itself critically against a nationally recognised framework of knowledge services standards. The process of self-assessment and external peer review highlights good practice, whilst setting an agenda for service and team development throughout the healthcare organisation.

Links with other programmes

The NSF/standards and assessment programme aim to complement local and national quality initiatives. Many of the criteria statements are referenced to legislation, statutory guidance, Department of Health guidance, National Service Frameworks and other required assessments such as the Standards for Better Health. The references will help staff to understand where the statements have come from and provide a guide as to where to go for further information about the issues covered in the criteria.

What next?

The details for the next stage are yet to be confirmed, but proposals include:

Apr-Jun
Finalise standards
Devise project manager training
Train pilot sites project managers
Write project manager guidance manual
Create pre-assessment forms

Jun-Nov
Pilot Standards in nominated sites (x3)
Devise assessor training
Train pilot sites assessors
Write assessor guidance manual
Create report writing template

Dec
Feedback from pilot sites and assessors used to refine standards and process
Update materials

Jan 2008
Publish NSF and standards

Also during 2007 the NLH will lead a discussion on the assessment and accreditation award process. Proposals will be published in autumn 2007.

A Task and Finish Group will be established to determine national performance indicators and a mechanism for the collection and analysis of this data.

At this stage is anticipated that services will have 12 months from the NSF and standards being published before assessment begins. This means assessment of services against standards will begin in January 2009, allowing time for the training of assessor and assesses, and for services to prepare.

List of open access e-journals now available

I have compiled a list of open access (i.e. free) e-journals relating to midwifery and maternity services, which is now available within the library web pages at www.rcm.org.uk. It includes both completely free titles and those with embargoed recent content, such as the Oxford medical journals. Currently there are 66 titles listed. I hope you find it useful. Please let me know if I have missed anything (I am aware that there are quite a few relevant health sciences journals published in developing countries which I have found in the past for readers, but subsequently lost track of.)

New books: March 2007

The following titles have recently been added to stock:

Billington, Mary and Stevenson, Mandy
Critical care in childbearing for midwives
Blackwell Publishing 2007

Cluett, Elizabeth and Bluff, Rosalind
Principles and practice of research in midwifery, 2nd ed.
Churchill Livingstone 2006

Coad, Jane
Anatomy and physiology for midwives, 2nd ed.
Churchill Livingstone 2005

Hicks, Carolyn
Research methods for clinical therapists: applied project design and analysis, 4th ed.
Churchill Livingstone 2004

James, DK
High risk pregnancy: management options, 3rd ed.
Saunders 2005

Wylie, Linda
Essential anatomy and physiology in maternity care, 2nd ed.
Churchill Livingstone 2005

Mohanna, Kay; Wall, David and Chambers, Ruth
Teaching made easy: a manual for health professionals, 2nd ed.
Radcliffe Medical 2004

Walsh, Denis
Improving maternity services: small is beautiful - lessons from a birth centre
Radcliffe Medical 2007

Library survey 2007

The staff of the RCM Library are conducting a survey among RCM members and other library users to help evaluate the service it provides and to get a sense of its current position within the economy of midwifery information. We also aim to gain feedback on our recent electronic service pilots, and to establish members' priorities for future service developments.

Whether or not you are a regular library user, you are encouraged to complete the survey, which is accessible online. The survey will run from March 5th until April 20th 2007. All information provided will be kept entirely confidential. Once the results have been collated, a summary will be made available to members.

If you encounter any problems with the survey, or have other questions, please contact Catherine Ebenezer, Information Systems Manager: catherine.ebenezer@rcm.org.uk.

EBSCO database trial
We are delighted to be able to provide members with trial access to several important bibliographic databases with linked full text, for the period February - April 2007. These are hosted and provided by the company EBSCO.The databases in the trial are:

CINAHL® Plus with Full Text
A comprehensive collection of nursing, midwifery and allied health (PAMs) literature.

MEDLINE® with Full Text
The U.S. National Library of Medicine's journal index; includes the International Nursing Index.

DynaMed
DynaMed provides clinically-organized summaries for more than 1,800 topics.

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
A comprehensive database covering topics in psychology, psychiatry, and anthropology. About 500 key journals are covered.

Instructions on accessing the trial are available to members.

At the conclusion of the trial, the library staff will of course be analysing the usage statistics. We should welcome your comments.If you have comments to make about this service, or experience any difficulty accessing the databases, please email Catherine Ebenezer (catherine.ebenezer@rcm.org.uk) or telephone 020 7291 9213.

Please be informed that SAGE is offering free online access to SAGE journals including newly digitized deep backfile until 28 February, 2007.

SAGE has scanned and digitized over 300,000 articles from its print journal backfiles* and uploaded them to the SAGE Journals Online platform. This means over 3.5 million additional pages are now online across the fields of Business, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science, Technology and Medicine.
To celebrate, throughout February all content on SAGE Journals Online is accessible for free**.
*Complete backfiles are not available for all titles.
**Free access offer does not include access to the SAGE Full-Text Collections on SAGE Journals Online.

Please visit https://online.sagepub.com/cgi/register?registration=FT20074 to register for free online access to the free trial today.

Titles added to MyiLibrary e-book collection

Our pilot collection of midwifery e-books, using the MyiLibrary platform provided by Coutts Library Services, has proved popular during 2006. Six additional titles have recently been purchased:

Henderson, C and Jones, K (2005) Essential midwifery
Belfort, M A et al. (2002) Hypertension in pregnancy
Toby, F (2001) Labour ward rules
Subcommittee for Clinical Applications (1992) Nutrition during pregnancy and lactation: an implementation guide
Hobbs, L (2005) The best labour possible?
Kohner, N and Henley, A (2001) When a baby dies: the experience of late miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death

The e-books page has recently been moved to the main library area, and is accessible by logging on as a member. No additional login is necessary: the URL MyiLibrary midwifery collection should take you straight to the RCM content. If you experience difficulty in accessing the e-books, please contact Catherine Ebenezer: 020 7291 9213.

RCM Midwifery Search - custom search engine

I have created a custom midwifery search engine, RCM Midwifery Search, using Google Coop. It is accessible via the Library services page on the web site. It indexes around 200 high-quality web sites, predominantly thought not exclusively British. Most have professionals as their main intended audience, although a few also include consumer health material.

I look forward to receiving your feedback on this service - please email me.

IT system upgrade at the RCM

From 8-14 December 2006 a major upgrade is taking place to the IT system at RCM HQ, including the installation of new servers.

We had orginally thought that there would be no access at all to any networked services (ADLIB library catalogue, world wide web, email, printing) within the library during this period. In fact we seem to have access to the web and to the library catalogue normally at present, so the disruption to normal service is not nearly as great as we had feared.

We will keep you updated as the week progresses. All work should be completed by Friday 15th December. Our web access should then be much faster.

The following books and reports have been added to the library collection recently:

Arnold, Elizabeth and Boggs, Kathleen
Title: Interpersonal relationships, 4th ed.
Saunders 2002

Arnold, Elizabeth and Boggs, Kathleen
Interpersonal relationships-professional communication skills for nurses, 4th edition
2003

Bazerman, Max H.
Judgment in managerial decision making
Wiley 2005

Brown, Brian and Crawford, Paul
Evidence-based research: lemmas and debates in health care
Open University Press 2003

Bulman, Chris
Reflective practice in nursing
Blackwell 2004

Burnard, Philip
Learning human skills: an experiential and reflective guide for nurses and health care professionals, 4th ed.
Butterworth-Heinemann 2004

Clark, Andrew
The handbook of practice development
Quay 2001

Cody, Lisa Forman
Birthing the nation: sex, science, and the conception of eighteenth-century Britons
Oxford University Press 2005

Cotterill, Hilary
Midwife crisis: the calamities of a trainee midwife
Monarch 2005

Cottrell, Randall R; Girvan, James T
Principles and foundations of health promotion and education, 3rd ed.
Benjamin-Cummings 2005

Cutcliffe, John R.
Fundamental themes in clinical supervision
Routledge 2001

Davies, Maggie;
Health promotion theory
Open University Press 2005

Roger B. Ellis, Bob Gates and Neil Kenworthy
Interpersonal communication in nursing: theory and practice
2nd edition 2003

Greenhalgh, Trisha
How to read a paper: the basics of evidence based medicine
3rd edition 2006

Griffiths, Siân; Thorpe, Allison; Wright, Jenny
Change and development in specialist public health practice
Radcliffe 2005

Goulding, June
The light in the window
Ebury 2005

Hackley, Barbara; Kriebs, Jan M.
Primary care of women a guide for midwives and women's health providers
Jones and Bartlett 2006

Harrison, Simon; Pollock, Colin
Getting to grips with clinical governance
TFM 2003

Hartly, Peter
Interpersonal communication, 2nd ed.
Routledge 1999

Henry, John
The British Medical Association new guide to medicines and drugs, 6th ed.
Dorling Kindersley 2004

Holloway, Immy and Wheeler, Stephanie
Qualitative research in nursing, 2nd edition
2002

Sally Huband, Pam Hamilton-Brown and Gillian Barber
Nursing and midwifery: a practical approach
2006

James, Sarah
Midwife wisdom, mother love
Lothian 2005

Jame Torr Is there a father in the house? A handbook for health and social care professionals (2 copies)
2003

John T Queenan, John C Hobbins and Catherine Y Spong (Ed.)
Protocols for high risk pregnancies, 4th edition
2005

Laverack, Glenn
Public health: power, empowerment and professional practice
Palgrave Macmillan 2005

London, Marcia L.
Maternal and child nursing care, 2nd ed.
Pearson Prentice Hall 2006

McClure, Vimala
Infant massage-a handbook for loving parents
2001

MacDonald, Theodore H. (Ed.)
The social significance of health promotion
2003

Moore, Rachel and Maclean, Iain
Cultural sensitivity in social and health care
Kirwin Maclean Associates 2004

Moullin, Max
Delivering excellence in health and social care: quality, excellence and performance measurement
Open University Press

Newman, Robert Bruce
Calm birth: new method for conscious childbirth
North Atlantic Books 2006

Oliver, Sandy;
Using research for effective health promotion
Open University Press 2001

Pearson, Pauline, Steven, Alison and Dickinson, Claire
Learning together in practice: a final report on inter-professional education for modernised health and social care

Pollard, Andrew; Collins, Janet
Reflective teaching: evidence-informed professional practice, 2nd
Continuum 2005

Pomerleau, Joceline and Mckee, Martin
Issues in public health: understanding public health
Open University Press 2005

Randall R. Cottrell, James T. Girvan and James F. Mckenzie
Principles and foundations of health promotion and education, 3rd edition (2 copies) 2006

Shaw, Fiona
Out of me: the story of a postnatal breakdown
Virago 2001

Siegemund, Justina; Tatlock, Lynne
The court midwife: the other voice in early modern Europe
University of Chicago Press 2005

Stevenson, Janet
Dictionary of information and library management, 2nd
A & C Black 2006

Taylor, Steve and Field, David (Ed.)
Sociology of health and social care 2003

Tharpe, Nell
2006-2009 clinical practice guidelines for midwifery and women's health
Jones and Bartlett 2005

The Times atlas of the world, reference edition
Times Books 2005

To borrow any of these titles, please telephone the library on 020 7291 9213 or email library@rcm.org.uk .

The RCM Library has joined the virtual reference cooperative Chasing the Sun on a trial basis. The aim of the Chasing the Sun service is to provide an after-hours online reference service for urgent clinical questions relating to patient care. The project takes advantage of global time differences between countries to offer out-of-hours librarian support for clinicians seeking urgently needed information. The service is not intended to be used for research purposes or academic assignments.

The project has now been running successfully for about four years. The initial participants were the South Australian Health Services Libraries' Consortium (SAHSLC) and the South West Information for Clinical Effectiveness (SWICE) network of NHS libraries. However, the intention is now to broaden the membership base to include other regions of the world and different types of health library, thereby improving the service’s scope and coverage.

Members will be able to obtain answers to clinical questions out of normal library hours via an internet messaging application called Question Point, which is accessible via the RCM web site members’ area. These will be picked up by librarians in Australia who are logged in to the application. Similar, professional staff in our library will be logged into Question Point during opening hours and can answer incoming questions from clinicians in Australia.

Books acquired from the Women's Health Library

The library has recently acquired some of the stock from the now sadly defunct Women's Health Library. We will be adding it to stock over the next few weeks and months. Women's Health formerly provided an information service and a variety of publications. The latter have been saved and will be distributed by another charity. Much of the remaining book and journal stock is being transferred to the Feminist Library in Southwark, itself under threat of closure.

New books: May 2006

The following titles have been added to the book stock over the last six months:

Adair, John
Decision making and problem solving
Institute of Personnel and Development, 1999

Ashcroft, Loraine (Ed)
The diary of a Kendal midwife 1669-1675
Curwen Archives Text, 2001

Boud, David (Ed)
Reflection: turning experience into learning
Kogan Page 1985

Briggs, Gerald G and Freeman, Roger K. (Joint Author)
Drugs in pregnancy and lactation: a reference guide to fetal and neonatal risk
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005

Chambers, Ruth and Wakley, Gill
Clinical audit in primary care: demonstrating quality and outcomes
Radcliffe, 2005

Coppen, Regina
Birthing positions: what do women want? do midwives know best?
Quay Books, 2005

Cox, John and Holden,Jeni
Perinatal mental health: a guide to the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)
Gaskell, 2003

Dick-Read, Grantly
Childbirth without fear: the principles and practice of natural birth, 4th edition
Pinter & Martin, 2004

Donabedian, Avedis and Bashshur, Rashid
An introduction to quality assurance in health care
Oxford University Press, 2002

Driscoll, John
Practising clinical supervision: a reflective approach
Bailliere Tindall, 2000

Evenden, Doreen
The midwives of Seventeenth-Century London
Cambridge University Press, 2000

Ewles, Linda
Promoting health: a practical guide, 5th ed
Bailliere Tindall 2003

Gaskin, Ina May
Inna May’s guide to childbirth
Bantam Books, 2003

Gerrish, Kate and Lacey Anne, (Ed)
The research process in nursing, 5th ed
Blackwell Publishing, 2006

Hinchliff, Susan M.
The practitioner as teacher, 3rd ed
Churchill Livingstone, 2004

Kadfield-Law, Lisa
Effective presentation for health care professionals
Butterworth – Heinemann, 1999

James, DK (Ed)
Evidence based obstetrics, 2nd ed
Saunders 2003

Jasper, Melanie
Beginning reflective practice
Nelson Thornes 2003

Johnson, Ruth and Taylor, Wendy
Skills for midwifery practice, 2nd ed
Elsevier Churchill Livingstone, 2005

Kitzinger, Sheila
The politics of birth
Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005

Lugon, Myriam
Clinical governance in a changing NHS
Royal Society of Medicine Press 2005

Mantle, Jill
Physiotherapy in obstetrics and gynaecology, 2nd ed
Butterworth Heinemann 2003

Momoh, Comfort
Female genital mutilation
Radcliffe 2005

Morton-Cooper, Alison and Palmer, Anne
Mentoring, prceptorship and clinical supervision: a guide to clinical support and supervision, 2nd ed
Blackwell Science 1999

Neary, Mary
Teaching, assessing and evaluation for clinical competence
Cheltenham Thornes, 2000

Nicklin, Peter J
Teaching and assessing in nursing practice
Balliere Tindall, 2000

Nolan, Mary L (Ed)
Birth and parenting skills: new direction in antenatal education
Churchill Livingstone 2005

Paddison, Jacqueline
Home birth: a family affair- a qualitative research case study of home birth and social boundaries
GC Book Publishers Ltd, 2005

Parahoo, Kader
Nursing research: principles, process and issues, 2nd ed
Palgrave Macmillan, 2006

Polit, Denise F
Essentials of nursing research: methods, appraisals, and utilization, 6th ed
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins 2006

Quinn, Francis M
The principles and practice of nurse education, 4th ed
Nelson Thornes Ltd 2000

Rahman, Anika
Female genital mutilation: a guide to laws and policies worldwide
Zed in association with CRLP and RAINBO 2000

Shields, Brooke
Down came the rain: my journey through postnatal depression
Michael Joseph 2005

Shipway, Lyn
Domestic violence: a handbook for health professionals
Routledge 2004

Skaine, Rosemarie
Female genital mutilation: legal, cultural and medical issues
McFarland 2005

Stables, Dot
Physiology in childbearing: with anatomy and related biosciences, 2nd ed
Elsevier, 2004

Stuart, Ci Ci
Assessment, supervision and support in clinical practice: a guide for nurses, midwives and other health professionals
Churchill Livingstone, 2003

Taylor, Beverley J
Reflective practice: a guide for nurses and midwives, 2nd ed
Open University Press, 2005

Thompson, Faye E
Mothers and midwives: the ethical journey
Books for midwives, 2004

Van Ooijen, E
Clinical supervision made easy
Churchill Livingstone, 2003

Weinberger, Jo
Learning from Sure Start: working with young children and their families
Open University Press, 2003

Wickham, Sara
Appraising research into childbirth: an interactive workbook
Elsevier, 2006

Winson, Nicola V and McDonald, Sandra
Illustrated dictionary of midwifery
Elsevier, 2005

Content from the Midwifery Today web site is now available as an RSS news feed. The orange button is hidden away at the bottom of the page, hence hard to find.

TOCs from Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health also seem to be available as an RSS feed via PubMed (www.pubmed.gov). I haven't sorted out the mechanics of this yet, but will investigate. Presumably such TOCs are available for other journals indexed in PubMed, too.....

It's not strictly a library matter; however, the RCM's Campaign for Normal Birth may be of interest to readers. New content is to be added to the site over the next few months.

The RCM Library is keen to develop the electronic services and resources it provides to members. We are running two pilot projects during 2006. First of all, we are offering access for members to a series of 'top twenty' electronic textbooks (e-books) in midwifery. These are being provided for us by Coutts Library Services using the MyiLibrary platform. (MyiLibrary will be familiar to many people, since it is also used by the National Library for Health in England to provide a pilot collection of mental health and WHO titles).

The e-book collection is accessible via a new "e-books" page in the members' area of the main RCM web site. Clicking on the link "MyiLibrary midwifery collection" takes you to the MyiLibrary welcome page. Click on "my content" here. On the next page, click on the subject headings ("medicine" and "social sciences") to display the list of titles. These include the most recent edition (13th) of Mayes' midwifery: a textbook for midwives, one of the editors of which is Sue Macdonald, Education and Research Manager at the College. The licence we have is for all College members, for one concurrent user.

We are also piloting a small collection of electronic journals from Blackwell Publishing: Birth, BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Journal of Nursing Management, and Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology. Access to these will be via the SwetsWise platform, accessible via a link from the main library web page. Please contact the library (catherine.ebenezer@rcm.org.uk) for a username and password. Although any member will be able to access the collection, the licence is officially for members of the library, not the entire membership of the RCM, so anyone who has not already joined the library will need to do so. (This will provide access, of course, to our other library services, such as book loan and document supply.)

The library staff would be very interested in your opinions of these collections and your experiences in using them. We will be conducting a formal evaluation during the summer of 2006 after six months; meanwhile please let us have your views . Also, please contact us also if you are having any problems accessing or using the collections.

Catherine Ebenezer
Information Systems Manager

After a gap of 18 months we have decided to relaunch this blog as a library newsletter. Announcements about library services and lists of new titles will be posted here.

Regretfully I have decided that I will have to give up maintaining this weblog owing to pressure of time. It is more of a priority that our library should create records for BIOME than that I continue to maintain a blog which is essentially a collocation of information available via other news sources (press cuttings services, BBC News, NurseLinx Perinatal Newsletter etc.) My apologies for the inconvenience this will undoubtedly cause to some. I hope it was useful while it lasted.

Catherine

catherine.ebenezer@rcm.org.uk

Worried doctors opt for caesareans

The Observer of 23/10/04 features an unpublished Cambridge University survey which suggests that that fear of legal action is a major factor behind the rising number of caesarean sections performed during childbirth. The high rates of caesarean sections in the UK , which are up to 28 per cent of all births in some trusts, may have less to do with women choosing an operation, and more to do with doctors' anxieties about being sued. Two-thirds of obstetricians admitted that such anxieties influenced their decision.

However, the perception that patients are becoming more litigious is a myth not born out by the statistics, according to experts. The number of legal claims against NHS trusts actually fell by 20 per cent last year.

Baby sex link to domestic status (BBC News 20/10/04)

The living arrangements of parents at the time a baby is conceived may play a role in determining its sex, research suggests. A US study found parents who were married or living together before conception were slightly more likely to have a boy than those who were not. The study, by the US National Bureau of Economic Research, is based on data from 86,436 births. Details are published in Proceedings of The Royal Society.

Overall, the study found that 51.5% of babies born to couples living together at the time of conception were boys, compared to 49.9% among parents who were not.

Pregnant to be questioned on home violence (Independent 20/10/04)

Pregnant women are to be routinely asked by doctors and midwives if they have been beaten up by their partners in a new drive to tackle domestic violence. The move follows evidence that women are more vulnerable to domestic violence during pregnancy. Melanie Johnson, the Public Health minister, will announce plans today for questions to be put to women during their first NHS ante-natal visits.

The initiative means that health service professionals will play a vital role in rooting out hidden domestic violence. At NHS appointments during the early stages of pregnancy, such as for foetal scans, they will inquire whether women are being abused. Sufferers will be referred to appropriate support and counselling services or the police if it emerges that they need protection or want charges to be pressed.

New Chief Nursing Officer appointed (DH 19/10/04)

Health secretary John Reid has announced the appointment of Christine Beasley as England's new chief nursing officer.

For those of you who are not familiar with Christine Beasley she has held a wide range of nursing roles in hospitals and the community. Her most recent roles were as the NHS modernisation agency's Director of Partnership Development and then interim head of the agency.
On accepting the appointment Christine Beasley said that she was delighted to take up the post and was "looking forward to the challenge of ensuring all staff put hospital cleanliness and infection control at the top of the agenda".

The RCM welcomed this announcement, and said we are looking forward to working with the new chief nursing officer on a number of issues, including the extension of midwifery led care and further action to address the recruitment and retention of midwifes.