Things in the library 12th April...

Things to help you organise...
If you have followed this blog for some time you will know I am a great fan of Evernote. It's an organising and productivity tool - you can keep everything you need to remember in one place including handwritten notes, photos of receipts and documents....and much more. They have just released Evernote for Gmail or Outlook which lets you take what matters out of your inbox and into a distraction-free workspace where you can curate your content, add context, and stay focused. Whilst I am not suggesting you do this for NHS business you might find it very useful for organising the rest of your life.

Things about rare diseases...

The measurement of quality of life in the context of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is challenging. This is because the disease is experienced by children and is rare, which makes data collection difficult. There are also practical and methodological challenges associated with capturing quality of life in paediatric populations. For children, it may be necessary to use proxy reporting (with a parent, for example). It can also be difficult to disentangle changes in quality of
life that arise as a result of age-related or  developmental changes, rather than because of a disease or its treatment.This briefing from the Office of Health Economics reports on a symposium that outlined some lessons that can be learnt from the SMA context that might be more widely applicable to other rare diseases.

Things about measles...

Sheffield City Council are promoting MMR vaccinations. In 2018, there were over 900 laboratory-confirmed measles cases in England. They want to make sure that all pre-school children are protected from Measles, Mumps and Rubella and are fully vaccinated before they start school this September. They are urging parents and guardians of all pre-school children to check with their GP that they are fully up to date with the 2 doses of the MMR vaccine.

Things about inhalers...

A new patient decision aid highlights that some inhalers have a much higher carbon footprint than others. The aid will help people with asthma, alongside health professionals, to identify which inhalers could meet their needs and control their symptoms. Where several inhalers could be viable options, patients can opt for the more environmentally friendly option, which may help to cut the health service’s carbon footprint. The new aid, partially funded by the Sustainable Development Unit, also says that all used inhalers should be returned to local pharmacies for environmentally safe disposal or recycling. The aid includes links to a new series of short videos created by Asthma UK, which give simple demonstrations of correct inhaler technique, potentially improving their effectiveness and preventing future exacerbations and attacks.

Things about opening hours...
There are some changes over Easter to our library opening hours. We will be closing at 5pm on Thursday 18th April and closed completely on the Bank Holidays (Good Friday and Easter Monday). We will also be closed at 5pm for the rest of Easter Week (23-26 April)

Last chance things...
Last chance to sign up for the next SCH Randomised Coffee Trial - matching will be happening next week with meetings in May...join the buzz!




Things to make...
For Easter Sunday it has to be roast lamb in our household - this Slow roast leg of lamb with herb rub sounds lovely.


Happy Easter!

Things in the library 2 Nov...

Things to stitch...
According to this report there are some who are concerned that the newest surgical recruits are not as dexterous as former surgeons due to having less experience in doing craftwork. I'm sure our surgeons all sew beautifully...but perhaps we should start an embroidery group in the library along with our reading group!

Things about Quality of Life...
Quality of life (QOL) measures are increasingly used when important prognostication and treatment decisions need to be made in the care of a critically ill child. Unfortunately, health-care professionals and families experience difficulties when attempting to accurately predict and estimate QOL for a patient. Aspects such as subjectivity, complexity and adaptation to illness play an important role in how QOL is ultimately experienced. This often leads to inaccurate estimates of QOL, when performed by individuals other than the patient, such as clinicians or family members. In order to make decisions in the best interest of the patient, a partnership between families and clinicians must be fostered, based on communication, trust and mutual understanding of values. This article in Paediatric Respiratory Reviews attempts to describe some of the challenges that come into play when assessing QOL for a patient and will provide tools for building a clinician-family partnership in the decision-making process.

Things about air pollution...
This WHO report summarises the latest scientific knowledge on the links between exposure to air pollution and adverse health effects in children. It is intended to inform and motivate individual and collective action by health care professionals to prevent damage to children’s health from exposure to air pollution. Air pollution is a major environmental health threat. Exposure to fine particles in both the ambient environment and in the household causes about seven million premature deaths each year. Ambient air pollution (AAP) alone imposes enormous costs on the global economy, amounting to more than US$ 5 trillion in total welfare losses in 2013.

The evidence is clear: air pollution has a devastating impact on children’s health.
says the report

Recent data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that air pollution has a vast and terrible impact on child health and survival. Globally, 93% of all children live in environments with air pollution levels above the WHO guidelines. More than one in every four deaths of children under 5 years is directly or indirectly related to environmental risks.

Although air pollution is a global problem, the burden of disease attributable to particulate matter in air is heaviest in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in the WHO African, South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions. Poverty is correlated with high exposure to environmental health risks.

Things about conversations...
This Ask Listen Do resource shares tips for health, social care and education organisations and practitioners with the aim of making feedback, concerns and complaints easier for people with a learning disability, autistic people, families and carers.





Things about nature...
It is commonly believed that nature has positive impacts on children’s health, including physical, mental and social dimensions. This review focuses on how accessibility to, exposure to and engagement with nature affects the mental health of children and teenagers. This review showed significant positive findings on the benefits of nature for all mental health outcomes; however, ADD/ADHD, overall mental health, stress, resilience and HRQOL were the only outcomes that demonstrated more positive significant findings over non-significant findings. Several outcomes (emotional well-being, self-esteem, depression) were associated with a greater number of non-significant findings than positive significant findings, supporting the inconclusive nature of the evidence reported in previous reviews. The authors believe that "By prioritising investments of natural spaces at all levels of government as well as within school districts, children have a better chance of receiving the benefits of interacting with nature."

Things about C*********...
Reluctant as I am to do things Christmassy this early in the year I spotted on the webpage for Weston Park Gallery (across the road from the hospital) that this December, they’ll once again transform the Arctic World gallery into Santa’s North Pole ho-ho-home. You can take the family along to meet the man himself, who’ll be there with a warm welcome, quality presents and plenty of Christmas cheer. To make the visit to see Santa stress-free they have a new online booking – just pick the day and timeslot that suits you £7 per child.

Things Roman...

A little bit more grown up and if archaeology interests you then there is a lunchtime talk at Weston Museum on Tuesday 27 November on Roman finds in Yorkshire. Ranging from evidence of military activity and the cult of Mithras, to the personal grooming habits of the Romans, and coin hoards and monumental statues, this talk will highlight some of the most interesting Roman finds from Yorkshire that have been recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and use them to illustrate a brief history of the Roman period in Yorkshire.

Things to eat...
I am hosting a bonfire party for 26 people ranging in age from 8 weeks to 86 years this Saturday...so hope it doesn't rain! So with jacket potatoes on my mind and apparently it being World Vegan Month in November here is a nice sounding recipe for Vegan chickpea curry jacket sweet potatoes.

Things in the library 27 July...

Things the government says...
The Government response to the joint report of the Education and Health and Social Care Committees on 'Transforming children and young people's mental health provision: a green paper' has been published.

Things about HPV...
It was announced this week that adolescent boys will be offered the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine to protect them from cancer. The vaccine not only protects men from HPV-related diseases – such as oral, throat and anal cancer – but also helps reduce the overall number of cervical cancers in women, though a process known as ‘herd immunity’.The extension of the vaccine to boys follows the success of England’s HPV vaccination programme for girls and the recent introduction of one for men who have sex with men. The programme is expected to vaccinate thousands of boys in England each year. This statement sets out the conclusions of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on extending the HPV vaccination programme to adolescent boys in the UK.

Things about quality of life...
Epilepsy in children negatively impacts on caregiver quality of life (QOL). The study [in Journal of neurology] aimed to evaluate the relationships between patient factors [demographics, clinical factors, health-related quality of life (HRQL)], contextual factors (socio-economic factors), caregiver mood, and caregiver QOL, and whether family factors mediate the relationship between patient HRQL and caregiver QOL. They conclude that:

"Patient HRQL and caregiver mood were more important correlates of caregiver QOL than seizure severity in medically intractable epilepsy. The findings are significant in delineating variables (caregiver mood and family factors) that are potentially modifiable, and show promise for improving caregiver QOL."

Things about parental pre-operative anxiety...

This systematic review and meta-analysis looks at studies assessing the effectiveness of audiovisual (AV) interventions aimed at reducing anxiety in parents whose children are undergoing elective surgery. Their primary outcome was parental anxiety. Secondary outcomes included children’s preoperative anxiety and postoperative outcomes; parental satisfaction, knowledge, and need for anesthesia information. If you cannot access the full text of this article (or any other) than SCH staff can request from us using our online form 

Things to read...
It is our August reading group meeting next week (Wed 17:15 in the library) we will be discussing 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' so do come and join us over a drink and nibbles. Our next book for Sept is the classic 'Catch 22'. Don't forget we have quite a large collection of leisure books available for you to borrow for your summer holiday reading - come and have a browse of check what we have online.



Things flapping about...

This summer we have constantly been serenaded by seagulls...no the tide hasn't come in to Sheffield ...they are nesting close by. This week we spotted the juvenile birds walking around on the roof.



Things to make without heat...
If you are finding it too hot to cook at the moment there is a nice collection of recipes here to tempt you