Mpilo Siwela, Clinical Outreach Librarian, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
After experiencing trouble with few or zero attendees at our events – like all other NHS Library and Knowledge Services – and getting fewer opportunities to attend formal resident doctors’ inductions, we decided to try something different for the new resident doctors in August.
The plan was to hold a drop-in session to promote BMJ Best Practice, our e-resource of the month for August. The event was held on 27th August to give them time to settle in and the place chosen was going to be a convenient one. A guest from BMJ Best Practice was invited to expertly explain how to make the most of this point of care tool and the Clinical Outreach Librarian provided support and promoted other library resources and services.
The spacious café meeting room was chosen as the venue is centrally located, and its big glass windows made the stands visible and free from the Café noise – this made communication easier, and people could bring in their lunch or coffee. The event was promoted via the usual Trust communication channel (Intranet) and by asking the Medical Education team to promote it via email to the resident doctors – we did not expect any huge turnout, even from this group.
The BMJ Best Practice and Library stands were strategically set up around 10:00 am – 15:00 pm to catch the doctors’ attention as they came to grab their coffee or lunch at the café. Doctors are the primary users of this point-of-care tool, which provides step-by-step guidance on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention – as such, we did not expect the event to be a multidisciplinary one, even though access through NHS England is for everyone.
The location of the event not only attracted doctors but also other clinical staff as they came to grab their lunch and coffee – this came as an opportunity to also talk to them about this point-of-care tool and other library resources and services. Other people spoken to included nurses, radiographers, pharmacists, and medical students – all seemed to acknowledge its applicability to their different roles as well.
It was not the diverse attendance that was extraordinary, but also the number of people who attended the drop-in session: We had 27 people attending, a huge difference from our usual 6 and below! This was our best drop-in session on record and it also presented a great opportunity to showcase how evidence-based resources can empower staff across disciplines to deliver informed, high-quality patient care.
Reflecting on what could have changed:
- Asking the Medical Education team to send email reminders again on the day, was one new thing we did and most of the doctors who visited the stand mentioned receiving the email
- The location also allowed them to grab and bring their lunch or coffee for a chat, and inviting an expert helped in explaining to the untraditional user groups
- Explaining to untraditional users of BMJ Best Practice that using it as a learning tool to understand the conditions of the patients they were caring for, in order to give them the best care, did the trick to capture their attention
Health Libraries Group 