The State Hospital Covid-19 Weekly Bulletin

This case study is part of Health Librarians Add Value, a campaign run jointly by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and CILIPS. It has been provided by Rebecca N. Hart, Librarian at The State Hospital. Read other case studies here. 

Outline of the project

The Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) at The State Hospital approached the Librarian to provide a weekly update of evidence relating to Covid-19. These have been provided on a weekly basis since 4 May 2020. The focus of the bulletin relates to mental health and Covid-19, although references relating to the general medical management of the virus are also included.

References of journal articles and web resources, along with a summary of each item, are provided on a weekly basis to STAG. These bulletin items are reviewed by this group every week and used to inform local practice. The bulletins are distributed directly to STAG, with a subject specialist in each area reading and reviewing the articles detailed. These reviews are collated and housed on The State Hospital intranet site for all staff to be able to consult. The evidence is sought in order to inform practice and determine if there is any relevance or changes to practice required locally. The bulletins are also uploaded onto The Knowledge Network Covid Knowledge Service (https://covid19ks.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb) so that users across NHS Scotland can also access these weekly bulletins. By uploading the bulletins onto this site it ensures that the reach of the bulletin is as wide as it can be.

Impact

This project ensures that the evidence base is being consulted in a rapidly-evolving situation. The below quote from a service user shows how valued the weekly bulletin from library staff has been:

Getting this bulletin every week gives me a reassurance of the evidence that is available