Things in the library 26 Feb...

 Things to join...

I don't know where February has gone but already it is nearly time for the next Reading Group meeting. This month we are discussing Ben Elton's 'High Society' about the pervasive nature of illegal drugs within society. If you want to join us please contact the library for the link - we meet online on the first Wednesday of every month at 18:30 for about 1 hour.  Our next book will be 'Once upon a River' by Diane Setterfield. 

Things about digital technology... 

Digital technology can support the NHS to deliver high quality specialist care more efficiently. To achieve these digital advances, the right environment for innovation, education and collaboration needs to exist. On the 24 March there is an event as part of National Health Executive's NHE365 Festival  'Achieving Digital Efficiency' - a topic in which has been a top priority during the global pandemic.

Things online...

As well as Reading Group going online we have developed more of our training to be available in this way and this could be something we continue even after the pandemic. It is useful for people based away from the Acute site of the hospital and hopefully will also reduce the number of people not turning up for booked training.

We now run our popular Critical Appraisal Course online. Please email the library if you would like to participate. There needs to be a commitment from participants to engage with all three elements of the course.

Virtual Critical Appraisal Course (SCH employees only)

The course is in 3 parts and all 3 must be completed, a certificate is awarded on completion

Part 1 Course slides and workbook

Part 2 Article appraisal

Part 3 Microsoft teams meeting to discuss workbook answers and article appraisal

Things about Girls... 

For over a decade, Girlguiding’s research has captured girls’ and young women’s lives, highlighting their views, experiences, and the challenges they face. From gender stereotypes to body image concerns, girls and young women continue to face unequal pressures and barriers to living confident and full lives. Now, as well as these, they are confronting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has radically changed their lives and opportunities and shaped their perspectives. Through this recent publication 'Back in lockdown: Girls’ and young women’s hopes and fears for the future', girls’ and young women’s voices reveal how they’re coping with the profound changes that have occurred in their lives over the past year. They tell us about the things they’re finding hard, what they’re concerned about and their hopes for the future. This research builds on the Girlguiding's previous survey with girls and young women in May 2020. 

Things about SEN... 

This House of Commons Library briefing sets out the system of support for children and young people in England aged 0-25 with special educational needs (SEN). The briefing provides an overview of the new system introduced in 2014, the transitional arrangements, and how the new system differs from that which preceded it. It also includes a brief history of the movement towards reform that preceded the 2014 changes, and information on the impact of the new system available to date.

Things about carbs and fats... 

A recent study in Nature Medicine was highlighted recently by NIH Research Matters.  The amount and types of food available to the average person have changed over time. These changes are believed to contribute to the rise in obesity by promoting increased calorie intake. Excess weight can cause various health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. 

There has been a great deal of debate over what aspects of our food have promoted obesity. High carbohydrates are believed to result in large swings in your body’s insulin levels, which may cause increased hunger and calorie consumption. High-fat foods may promote increased calorie consumption because they contain more calories per bite and can leave you feeling less full. 

In the research when on the low-fat diet, the participants ate 550 to 700 fewer calories per day than when on the low-carb diet. Despite the large differences in calorie intake, they reported no differences in hunger, enjoyment of meals, or fullness between the two diets.

People lost weight on both diets, but only the low-fat diet led to a significant loss of body fat. The low-fat diet resulted in higher blood glucose and insulin levels compared with the low-carb diet. This is a concern because variable glucose levels can be a risk factor for coronary artery disease.

“Interestingly, our findings suggest benefits to both diets, at least in the short-term. While the low-fat, plant-based diet helps curb appetite, the animal-based, low-carb diet resulted in lower and more steady insulin and glucose levels,” Hall says. “We don’t yet know if these differences would be sustained over the long term.”

The researchers note that the study was not designed to make diet recommendations for weight loss. Results may have been different if the participants were actively trying to lose weight. Further, results may be different outside the lab, in which all meals were prepared and provided in a tightly controlled clinical environment. Factors such as food costs, food availability, and meal preparation constraints can make adherence to diets challenging.

Things about digital resilience... 

NSPCC Learning has released a podcast looking at the NSPCC's InCtrl service, designed to prevent technology-assisted child sexual abuse by supporting children and young people to build digital resilience. The podcast discusses: concerns that lead to children being referred to InCtrl; how practitioners work with young people on their online behaviour; the importance of involving parents and carers; and how children and young people’s views have been incorporated into the development and implementation of the service. Listen to the podcast or read the transcript : Building children and young people’s digital resilience

Things to make...

A beautiful spring-like day today but still cold. So a perfect meal would be this vibrant  Green pesto minestrone which is really easy to make.

Things in the library 19 Feb...

Things about healthy relationships... 

Women's Aid have published an update to their Expect Respect Healthy Relationships Toolkit. The toolkit, to be used with children and young people aged 4 to 18, is designed for work in schools and communities around holding conversations on violence and gender-based violence. It includes information on themes such as: assumptions about gender, power and equality; digital footprints; understanding consent online and offline and resolving conflict.

Things to join... 

The SCH Journal Club is open to all SCH staff - to join the meeting via a link or to request a copy of the paper please contact the library.

Next meeting:   Thursday 25 February 08:00 to 09:00 am  

Venue:   Virtually & from the Education & Skills Centre. 

Presenter:   Manovenu Madhav

Paper:   Experiences of telemedicine in neurological out-patient clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic

Things for practitioner health... 

Please click on the link for  a calendar of upcoming wellbeing events, this will include, webinars, meetings, podcasts and more. All of these events are available freely to NHS staff. Webinars and podcasts are delivered by experts in their field. Common rooms and support spaces are hosted by NHS practitioner Health Clinicians and trained psychologists. If you would like to know more about these read this or watch this video where the hosts reflect on their experiences running the groups.

Things to watch... 

The University of Sheffield has many of its prestigious public lectures archived and available to watch online ...speakers from the arts, sciences and politics and current planned events may also be available online.

Things to remember...

The library will be closed for staff training Wed 24th Feb until 13:00 

Things to eat...  

A recipe suggested by a former member of library staff (Jac) this week, from a favourite restaurant in San Francisco that she is hoping to re-visit eventually. The Stinking Rose® 40 Clove Garlic Chicken Jac suggests not getting too close to other people after eating it...so no problem with that at the moment!  I have had a similar dish cooked by my son and that amount of garlic genuinely does work. If you have a favourite recipe or something else of interest you would like to share in the Blog  please email the library.

Things in the library 12th Feb...

 Things to make you feel special... 

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

Valentine's Day this weekend and so a reminder that you can always 'book a date' with a librarian! We can give you individual or small group training in Literature Searching, using Mendeley (reference managing software), how to obtain articles etc. Please use our booking form  ... gifts of chocolates and roses are not necessary and the service is available all year round.

Things to read... 

February is LGBT+ History Month. To mark the event the NSPCC library has compiled a reading list highlighting a selection of resources from the library collection. Don't be confused into thinking this is our library catalogue you are looking at (the NSPCC library uses the same system as us) but if you want to check the availability of any of these items in our library check here to see if we already have them or you can suggest books for us to purchase - please explain why you want them and how many staff in your department are likely to use the resource.

Things about teenagers... 

From the NSPCC a summary of risk factors and learning for improved practice around working with teenagers. Published case reviews highlight that practitioners sometimes struggle to work with teenagers who are experiencing complex issues. Interventions can focus on tackling challenging behaviour, rather than exploring the underlying causes and risk factors. This sometimes causes practitioners to lose sight of the fact that teenagers are children in need of protection.

The learning from these reviews highlights that professionals need to listen to teenagers, but also be able to balance the young person’s wishes with their best interests. Intervention needs to be timely and appropriate. The NSPCC also hold a repository of case reviews in UK searchable by subject, year or area.

Things about Covid-19 and children... 

A recent article looks at 'The role of children in the spread of COVID-19' . They used a mathematical model to fit the data, collected from households in the city of Bnei Brak, Israel, in which all household members were tested for COVID-19 using PCR. In addition, serological tests were performed on a subset of the individuals. They estimate that children are about half as susceptible to infection as adults, and are somewhat less prone to infect others compared to adults. The full article is available online.

Things closed...

On Wed 24th Feb the Illingworth Library will be closed in the morning until 13:00 for staff training.

Things in progress... 

The current Randomised Coffee Trial is now underway with 70 pairings across the trust meeting virtually for a chat. All current participants have been notified but if you missed out this time and want to sign up for the next one (probably in May) then please do so,

Things to watch... 

I really miss being able to go to the Showroom Cinema and they normally programme a season of films exploring the history of LGBTQ+ representation and showcase films that haven’t always been given the spotlight they deserve. Though they aren’t open to share a big screen programme with you, they have highlighted some films you can watch from home. 

Things to eat... 

Sarah can recommend this Chicken, Quinoa & Sweet Potato casserole which she made recently. Certainly sounds perfect for this cold weather!

Things in the library 5th February...

 Things Orwellian... 

The Reading Group read and discussed '1984' this week and it scored very highly (84%) despite having being written in 1947. Many comparisons to be made with current society (fake news etc) but also enjoyed purely as a fiction. Ironically the imagined 'telescreens' are what enables us to keep the Reading Group active despite lockdown. Our next book on 3rd March will be Ben Elton's 'High Society'.

Things to celebrate...

I believe Feb 12th will be the start of the Chinese New Year - the year of the Ox. In Chinese culture, the Ox is a valued animal. Because of its role in agriculture, positive characteristics, such as being hardworking and honest, are attributed to it. Although the family reunion dinners will not be possible I hope that if you celebrate this festival you enjoy your day.

Things about home working ... 

A fascination article here about the changes brought by home working and the inequalities that may come about given that it is broadly the case that wealthier neighbourhoods have more potential remote workers. If working from home becomes the new normal, many restaurants, cafes, gyms and other locally consumed services may migrate away from city centres towards these neighbourhoods. The graph shows (if the figures are accurate) an amazing correlation between working at home and deprivation.

Things about safeguarding...

The NSPCC, with support from the Home Office, has launched a new initiative that will give ten local authority areas access to a package of support and training that will help them to expand the services they provide to children.  Local safeguarding partners can apply to join the programme for free. In addition, the NSPCC will offer free advanced training to agencies within six of the selected local authority areas to support them to provide Letting the Future In, the NSPCC’s therapeutic recovery service that helps children who’ve been sexually abused to rebuild their lives. 

...and continence

NSPCC Learning has published content to help professionals recognise and respond to continence issues that may affect the children and young people they work with. The content covers: the causes of continence issues; the impact these can have on a child’s wellbeing; what to do when challenges related to continence may indicate a safeguarding or child protection concern; how best to support children and young people with continence issues; and information about who should be providing intimate care, including information about vetting and barring checks, privacy and boundaries.

Things to have your say... 

The UK has comprehensive tobacco control legislation in place to help protect people from the harmful effects of smoking and encourage people to quit. This legislation has contributed towards smoking rates falling to their lowest ever on record in the UK.

Yet despite this positive news, smoking still remains one of the biggest causes of death and disability across the UK. Current figures show that smoking kills 75,000 people in England each year. This shows that there is still more work that can be done to address this issue.

The Government have launched a new consultation on current regulations for tobacco, related products and packaging. The consultation is open till 19th March. They want your views on how effective legislation has been in: 

- discouraging people from starting to use tobacco products

- encouraging people to give up smoking

Things to eat...

A Chinese fish dish is apparently a regular part of the New Year celebrations, this steamed sea bass sounds lovely.