Hospital clinicians information behaviour and attitudes towards the 'Clinical Informationist': an Irish survey

Background: Hospital clinicians are increasingly expected to practice evidence-based medicine (EBM) in order to minimize medical errors and ensure quality patient care, but experience obstacles to information-seeking. The introduction of a Clinical Informationist (CI) is explored as a possible solution. Aims:  This paper investigates the self-perceived information needs, behaviour and skill levels of clinicians in two Irish public hospitals. It also explores clinicians perceptions and attitudes to the introduction of a CI into their clinical teams. Methods: A questionnaire survey approach was utilised for this study, with 22 clinicians in two hospitals. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics. Results: Analysis showed that clinicians experience diverse information needs for patient care, and that barriers such as time constraints and insufficient access to resources hinder their information-seeking. Findings also showed that clinicians struggle to fit information-seeking into their working day, regularly seeking to answer patient-related queries outside of working hours. Attitudes towards the concept of a CI were predominantly positive. Conclusion: This paper highlights the factors that characterise and limit hospital clinicians information-seeking, and suggests the CI as a potentially useful addition to the clinical team, to help them to resolve their information needs for patient care

Library Association of Ireland Task Force on Information Literacy (TFIL): Challenges and New Directions

This paper outlines the work of Library Association of Ireland’s (LAI) Task Force on Information Literacy (TFIL), which was convened in 2011 to make recommendations to the LAI for the development of a cohesive national strategy for information literacy education and advocacy across all LIS sectors in Ireland. The paper will outline the background to the development of TFIL and how the group came together to advance the recommendations of the LAI Working Group on Information Literacy (WGIL – 2006-2008). TFIL is represented by all library sectors and the paper will describe how TFIL has played a significant role in advancing a policy driven approach for digital and information literacy at national level and outline the rationale for the recent merger of TFIL with the LAI Task Force on Literacy & Numeracy. The paper will present the terms of reference of the group in the context of Government strategies for digital and information literacy and highlight the key role to be played by libraries in all sectors in Ireland’s digital agenda. The authors will highlight the key national digital/information literacy strategy initiatives of the past three to five years; identify the major themes and discuss some of the key concerns. TFIL is currently investigating best practice digital and information literacy activities in the various library sectors in Ireland, focusing on practical and collaborative ways in which DL/IL education can be further developed and advancing the goal of a more integrated national strategy. TFIL is also active in ongoing advocacy initiatives, promotion and dissemination of information, which have proved vital to raising awareness of the strategic value of digital and information literacy nationally. These activities will be discussed in the paper, in addition to some of the difficulties and practicalities of the cross-sectoral approach. Suggestions for further research and development and a vision for library participation in the digital and information literacy agenda in Ireland will also be outlined. The overall aim is to contribute to the development of a national strategy for digital and information literacy for Ireland and promote the development of these skills in education, the workplace and wider society. Context The authors are currently members of the Library Association Task Force on Information Literacy

MEASURING CONTINGENT EMPLOYMENT IN IRELAND. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 74 AUGUST 2018

The term ‘contingent employment’ generally refers to an employment relationship that is non-permanent. There is a belief that recent years have seen a substantial emergence of contingent employment as a facet of modern labour markets, but there is little work that has documented or measured the incidence of contingent employment in Ireland. This report addresses this deficit by measuring the incidence of contingent employment in Ireland, assessing the extent to which this is changing over time and profiling the individuals most likely to be contingent workers. The report uses three datasets for the analysis: the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS), the EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU SILC) and CEDEFOP’s European Skills and Jobs Survey (ESJS). The two principal components of contingent employment in Ireland are employees on temporary contracts and freelancers. The incidence of contingent employment ranged from 8 to 9 per cent of total employment between 1998 and 2005, before increasing to over 10 per cent between 2011 and 2013. It had fallen back towards its pre-recession level by 2016. Therefore, the evidence does not support the view that the incidence of contingent employment has been increasing steadily over time in Ireland. Freelance employment has been increasing steadily in Ireland since 1998; however, freelancers are a relatively minor component of the Irish labour market, accounting for just over 2 per cent of total employment (employment + selfemployment) and 12 per cent of self-employment in 2016. Temporary employees account for 80 per cent of contingent workers. Temporary employment has not shown an increasing trend over recent years. It increased somewhat during the post-recession period of 2011 to 2013 to just over 8 per cent of total employment; however, the rate had returned to its long-run average of 7 per cent of total employment in 2016

Enriching the undergraduate curriculum with digital research skills: A blended approach

This paper describes an 18-month digital learning project, designed to support the development of students’ digital research skills in UCD’s BA and BSocSc programmes. The project involved the creation of six original interactive e-tutorials focusing on key digital research topics, which were embedded in the institutional VLE (Blackboard) in a blended learning structure, and rolled out in four modules in the School of Information & Communication Studies in 2017/2018. During the post-evaluation phase, student feedback was gathered via an online survey and in two qualitative focus groups. This paper outlines the rationale, implementation and results of the project, and offers insights into incorporating digital learning into undergraduate programmes, and student experiences of blended learning

Lifetime hypertension as a predictor of brain structure in older adults: cohort study with a 28-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is associated with an increased risk of dementia and depression with uncertain longitudinal associations with brain structure. AIMS: To examine lifetime blood pressure as a predictor of brain structure in old age. METHOD: A total of 190 participants (mean age 69.3 years) from the Whitehall II study were screened for hypertension six times (1985-2013). In 2012-2013, participants had a 3T-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan. Data from the MRI were analysed using automated and visual measures of global atrophy, hippocampal atrophy and white matter hyperintensities. RESULTS: Longitudinally, higher mean arterial pressure predicted increased automated white matter hyperintensities (P<0.002). Cross-sectionally, hypertensive participants had increased automated white matter hyperintensities and visually rated deep white matter hyperintensities. There was no significant association with global or hippocampal atrophy. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term exposure to high blood pressure predicts hyperintensities, particularly in deep white matter. The greatest changes are seen in those with severe forms of hypertension, suggesting a dose-response pattern