Thursday, November 05, 2026

After Action Reviews: Turning Experience into Learning


Every project, event, service improvement or initiative generates valuable learning. But too often, once the work is completed, teams move straight on to the next task without taking time to capture what they've learned.

The After Action Review (AAR) is a simple and effective knowledge mobilisation tool from the NHS Knowledge Mobilisation Framework that helps teams reflect on their experiences and identify practical lessons for the future.

By taking just 15-30 minutes to review what happened, teams can capture valuable insights, share knowledge and continuously improve the way they work.

What is an After Action Review?

An After Action Review is a structured discussion that takes place after a project, activity or event. Its purpose is not to assign blame or assess individual performance. Instead, it focuses on learning.

AARs create a safe space for teams to discuss what happened, why it happened, and what could be done differently next time.

They can be used following:

  • Quality improvement projects
  • Service changes
  • Training events
  • Clinical audits
  • Research projects
  • Incident responses
  • Meetings, workshops and conferences

The review should ideally take place as soon as possible after the activity while experiences are still fresh.

Four Simple Questions

An After Action Review focuses on four key questions:

1. What was expected to happen?

What was the original plan? What were we hoping to achieve?

2. What actually happened?

What were the outcomes? What went well? What did not go as expected?

3. Why were there differences?

What factors influenced the results? What helped or hindered success?

4. What can we learn from this?

What should we continue doing, start doing, or do differently in future?

Why Use an After Action Review?

AARs help teams to:

  • Capture learning before it is lost
  • Share tacit knowledge and experience
  • Identify improvements for future projects
  • Recognise and build on success
  • Encourage open discussion and reflection
  • Support continuous improvement

Most importantly, they help ensure that valuable learning benefits future work rather than remaining with individuals. 

Want to learn more? Explore the NHS Knowledge Mobilisation Toolkit and the After Action Review postcard for practical guidance on using AARs in your team.


Worked Example: Evaluating a New Staff Training Programme

A Trust introduces a new training programme to improve staff confidence in recognising and responding to deteriorating patients.

1. What was expected to happen?

  • Train 100 staff over three months.
  • Improve confidence in recognising deteriorating patients.
  • Achieve at least 90% attendance.
  • Receive positive participant feedback.

2. What actually happened?

  • 85 staff completed the training.
  • Participants reported increased confidence and knowledge.
  • Feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
  • Several sessions were underbooked.

3. Why were there differences?

What worked well?

  • Practical case studies increased engagement.
  • Sessions were well facilitated.
  • Participants valued the interactive discussions.

Challenges encountered

  • Clinical pressures made it difficult for some staff to attend.
  • Promotional communications were sent too close to the session dates.
  • Some managers were unaware of the programme.

4. What can we learn from this?



Actions Agreed



Making Knowledge Work for You

An After Action Review is one of the simplest ways to ensure that experience becomes learning and learning becomes improvement. By creating time to reflect as a team, organisations can capture valuable insights, avoid repeating mistakes and build on success.

Combined with a Before Action Review, AARs create a powerful learning cycle. A Before Action Review helps teams learn before they start, while an After Action Review helps them learn when they finish. Together, they support a culture where knowledge is actively shared, applied and reused across the NHS.

The next time your team completes a project, event or service improvement initiative, set aside just 15 minutes for an After Action Review. The lessons captured today could save time, improve outcomes and strengthen future work across your organisation.

Top Tip

💡 Keep it positive and focused on learning, not blame.

The most effective After Action Reviews create a safe environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing honest reflections. Focus on what happened and what can be learned, rather than who was responsible. Capturing just three key lessons and three actions is often more valuable than producing a lengthy report that is never revisited.

Remember: The goal of an AAR is not to prove success or failure, but to ensure that valuable knowledge is carried forward into the next project, service improvement, or patient care initiative.

Watch this video on Knowledge Mobilisation: After Action Reviews (AARS)  produced by the Somerset NHS Knowledge & Library Service

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Wednesday, November 04, 2026

Before Action Reviews : Learning before you begin

 


When starting a new project, implementing a change, or planning an event, teams often focus on what needs to be done. But how often do we stop and ask what we can learn before we begin?

The Before Action Review (BAR) is a simple but powerful knowledge mobilisation tool from the NHS Knowledge Mobilisation Framework. It helps teams draw on existing knowledge, experience and expertise before starting a piece of work, increasing the chances of success and avoiding the need to reinvent the wheel.

What is a Before Action Review?

A Before Action Review is a short, structured conversation that takes place before a task, project or activity begins. It encourages team members to share knowledge, identify potential challenges and learn from previous experiences.

Rather than asking "What went wrong?" after an event, a BAR asks, "What can we learn before we start?"

The process is quick, easy to facilitate and can be used for projects of any size, from implementing a new service to planning a meeting, training session or quality improvement initiative.

Four Simple Questions

A Before Action Review centres around four questions:

  1. What are we trying to achieve?
  2. What have we learned from similar situations in the past?
  3. What success factors and challenges should we consider?
  4. What actions will help us achieve our goals?

These questions prompt discussion, surface valuable insights and help ensure that existing knowledge is used effectively.

Why Use a Before Action Review?

Taking just a few minutes to conduct a BAR can deliver significant benefits:

  • Avoid repeating mistakes or duplicating effort.
  • Identify risks and opportunities early.
  • Build on previous successes.
  • Capture and share valuable tacit knowledge.
  • Improve team communication and collaboration.
  • Increase confidence and preparedness before starting work.

For NHS teams working in busy environments, BARs provide a practical way to make the most of collective experience and ensure that learning informs action. Want to learn more? Explore the NHS Knowledge Mobilisation Toolkit and the Before Action Review postcards for practical guidance on using BARs in your team.


Worked Example: Planning a New Falls Prevention Education Programme

A community therapy team is preparing to launch a new falls prevention education programme for older adults.

Before Action Review (BAR)

Project/Activity: Falls Prevention Education Programme

Date: 15 January 2027

Participants: Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Falls Nurse Specialist, Service Manager

1. What are we trying to achieve?

  • Deliver a six-week education programme for patients at high risk of falls.
  • Increase patient confidence in managing falls risk.
  • Reduce avoidable falls-related admissions.
  • Achieve high attendance and positive patient feedback.

2. What have we learned from similar situations in the past?

What worked well?

  • Interactive group sessions generated good engagement.
  • Providing printed resources improved information retention.
  • Inviting carers increased attendance and support at home.

What didn't work so well?

  • Sessions scheduled during school run times had lower attendance.
  • Referral criteria were unclear, leading to inappropriate referrals.
  • Some patients struggled to access online resources.

Who else has relevant experience?

  • The neighbouring community team delivered a similar programme last year and reported strong outcomes.
  • The Trust's Patient Experience Team has guidance on producing accessible patient information.


3. What success factors and challenges should we consider?



4. What actions will help us achieve our goals?



Key Takeaways

  • Previous programmes showed that carer involvement improves attendance and engagement.
  • Clear referral criteria are essential to ensure the right patients are enrolled.
  • Printed information should be available alongside digital resources.
  • Early engagement with stakeholders will reduce implementation challenges.


What Happened Next?

By spending just 15 minutes conducting a Before Action Review, the team identified several issues before the programme started. They clarified referral criteria, adjusted the session times, involved carers from the outset and ensured that printed resources were available.

Without a BAR, these lessons may only have emerged after the programme had begun. Instead, the team was able to use existing knowledge proactively, reducing risks and increasing the likelihood of success.

This is the essence of knowledge mobilisation: making the most of what we already know so that every project does not have to start from scratch.

Top Tip: BARs work best when they are short, informal and focused. Most can be completed in 10-15 minutes and can save hours of rework later. As the saying goes, "Learn before, not just after."

Watch this video on Knowledge Mobilisation: Before Action Reviews (BARS) produced by the Somerset NHS Knowledge & Library Service


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Friday, October 30, 2026

KNOWvember 2026

 

KNOWvember is a month-long campaign celebrating knowledge, evidence, research and innovation across our Trusts. Throughout November, our Knowledge and Evidence Specialists will be sharing practical resources, training sessions and activities to help you connect with colleagues, make better use of evidence, develop research skills, explore AI tools, and learn more about publishing and knowledge mobilisation.

 
Whether you're interested in using Copilot, improving your literature searching, undertaking a systematic review, exploring Open Access, or finding new ways to share learning and evidence, there's something for everyone. Join us throughout the month and discover how knowledge and evidence can support better decision-making and improve patient care.

 




Follow the KNOWvember calendar, explore the daily activities, and sign up for the sessions that interest you. Whether you join a training event, read a blog post, watch a video or take on the Open Access Escape Room challenge, there's something for everyone. 


Click here to view the calendar and find out more

We look forward to learning with you throughout the month!

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Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Green Libraries Week

 

During this summer’s heatwaves, the UKHSA recorded that there were 2,877 heat-associated deaths and academics have estimated that at least 42% of these were due to human-induced climate change. Climate change puts extra strain on the NHS by impacting people’s health. But the NHS has committed to become net zero in its own emissions by 2040 and small, positive actions are starting to add up.

During Green Libraries Week, 21-28 October, the theme is ‘climate facts for a greener future’. The library service, which aims to help our trust be an evidence-based organisation, is sharing resources to support staff in working towards the trust's Green Plan.

Find out more via the links below:



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Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Health Literacy Resources

Good communication is at the heart of safe, effective and person-centred care. Health literacy is about helping people access, understand and use health information to make informed decisions about their health and care.

During Health Literacy Awareness Month, we shared a range of practical resources, tools and techniques that can help staff improve communication, check understanding and support patients to navigate an increasingly complex health information landscape.

Start Here: Understanding Health Literacy

If you're new to health literacy, these resources provide an excellent introduction:

Understanding Your Population

Health literacy levels vary across communities. Understanding local needs can help tailor communication and patient information more effectively.


Practical Techniques for Everyday Conversations


Health Literacy Toolkit

The Health Literacy Place Toolkit contains evidence-based techniques that can be applied in clinics, wards, outpatient settings and community services.

Chunk and Check / Teach Back

These simple techniques help ensure patients understand information before they leave a consultation.


Creating Clear Written Information

Health literacy is not just about conversations. Written information should also be easy to read and understand.


Tackling Misinformation

Patients increasingly seek health information online. Supporting people to identify reliable information is an important aspect of health literacy.


Videos Worth Watching

These short videos are useful for individual learning or team discussions:


Learning and Development Opportunities


MTW Health Literacy Awareness Training

Join our one-hour virtual awareness session to learn practical techniques you can use immediately in practice.

📅 Upcoming dates

  • Wednesday 11 November, 12:30-13:30
  • Thursday 3 December, 09:30-10:30
  • Tuesday 12 January, 13:00-14:00
  • Friday 5 February, 14:00-15:00

🔗 Book on MTW Learning: https://mtwlearning.org/course/view.php?id=2213

e-Learning for Healthcare

Can't attend a live session?

Complete the national Health Literacy e-learning programme:

https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/healthliteracy/


Final Thought

Health literacy is everyone's responsibility. Whether you are explaining a diagnosis, discussing treatment options, writing patient information or helping someone navigate online health information, small changes in how we communicate can make a big difference. By using plain language, checking understanding and signposting people to trusted information, we can help patients feel more confident, informed and involved in their care.


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Friday, October 16, 2026

Health Literacy Awareness Month: Is Your Patient Information Easy to Read?

Did you know that the average reading age of adults in the UK is around 9 to 11 years? Yet many healthcare documents are written at a much higher reading level, making them harder to understand. The NHS Document Readability Tool has been developed to help address this challenge by making it easier to create clear, accessible health information. 


What is the NHS Document Readability Tool?

The NHS Document Readability Tool is a free online resource that analyses text and estimates its UK reading age. It can help you identify elements of your writing that may make documents difficult to understand, including:

  • Complex sentences
  • Passive language
  • Complex words
  • Long words
  • Long paragraphs and sentence structures

The tool also provides useful metrics such as reading age, average reading time, word count and sentence length.

🔗 Try it here: https://readability.ncldata.dev/


How can it help NHS staff?

Whether you're creating:

  • Patient information leaflets
  • Appointment letters
  • Trust website content
  • Service information
  • Consent information
  • Staff communications

the readability tool can help ensure your message is clear and accessible to a wider audience.

Simply paste your text into the tool, review the highlighted areas, make improvements, and see how the reading age changes in real time.


Top Tips for Improving Readability

The tool works best when combined with good health literacy principles:

✅ Use plain English wherever possible

✅ Keep sentences short

✅ Use active rather than passive language

✅ Break information into manageable chunks

✅ Avoid jargon, acronyms and technical terminology where possible

✅ Check understanding using techniques such as Chunk and Check or Teach-Back


Give it a Try

As part of Health Literacy Awareness Month, why not test one of your existing patient-facing documents in the NHS Document Readability Tool?

Small changes to the way we write can make a big difference to how well people understand their health information, helping patients make informed decisions and take a more active role in their care.

Further Resources



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Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Chunk and Check: A Simple Way to Improve Understanding

 Have you ever explained something to a patient, only to wonder afterwards whether it really made sense to them?

Chunk and Check is a simple health literacy technique that can make a big difference. Instead of providing lots of information at once, break it into smaller "chunks" and pause regularly to check understanding before moving on. This helps patients absorb information, ask questions, and feel more confident about managing their care.

A useful follow-on technique is Teach Back, where you ask patients to explain information in their own words. This helps confirm that your explanation was clear and highlights any misunderstandings that may need further discussion.

Try asking:

  • “Just so I know I've explained that clearly, can you tell me in your own words what you'll do when you get home?”
  • “What are the key things you'll remember from our discussion today?”

Watch and Learn

These short videos demonstrate both techniques in practice:

Using Chunk and Check and Teach Back can help improve communication, support shared decision-making, and ensure patients leave with a clearer understanding of their health and care.

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Monday, October 12, 2026

Making Every Conversation Count: Five Simple Health Literacy Techniques for Better Patient Care



Every day across our Trust, staff have hundreds of conversations that matter.

Whether you're explaining a new diagnosis, discussing treatment options, supporting a discharge, helping someone complete a form, or answering a worried relative's questions, clear communication is at the heart of safe, person-centred care.

Yet many patients leave healthcare encounters without fully understanding what has been discussed. Often, they won't tell us they're confused. They may feel embarrassed to ask questions, they may be anxious, or they may simply be overwhelmed by the amount of information they've been given. The good news is that small changes in how we communicate can make a big difference.

The The Health Literacy Place toolkit highlights five simple techniques that can help every member of staff communicate more effectively and support better understanding for patients, carers and families. These techniques can be used in any setting, from wards and clinics to reception desks and telephone calls.

Five techniques every member of staff can use


1. Teach Back 

One of the most effective ways to check understanding is to ask patients to explain information back in their own words.

Instead of asking:

"Do you understand?"

Try saying:

"Just so I know I've explained that clearly, can you tell me what you'll do when you get home?"

This shifts the responsibility away from the patient and onto us as communicators. If something hasn't been understood, we can explain it again in a different way. 

2. Chunk and Check

When people are stressed or unwell, processing lots of information can be difficult.

Chunk and Check means:

  • Giving information in small sections
  • Pausing regularly
  • Checking understanding before moving on

Rather than explaining an entire treatment plan in one conversation, break it down into manageable pieces. This helps patients absorb information and gives them opportunities to ask questions. 

3. Use Simple Language

Healthcare is full of words we use every day but patients may never have heard before.

Where possible:

  • Use plain English
  • Avoid jargon and acronyms
  • Keep sentences short
  • Explain medical terms when they are needed

For example:

❌ "You have hypertension."

✅ "Your blood pressure is higher than it should be."

Simple language does not mean oversimplifying care. It means making information accessible. 

4. Use Pictures

Many people understand and remember information better when it is supported by visual aids.

This could include:

  • Diagrams
  • Photographs
  • Demonstrations
  • Models
  • Visual care plans

A simple sketch or diagram can sometimes explain more effectively than a lengthy verbal explanation. 

5. Routinely Offer Help with Paperwork

Forms and written information can be challenging for many people.

Rather than waiting for patients to ask for help, offer it routinely.

For example:

"Lots of people find these forms difficult. Would you like me to go through them with you?"

Normalising support helps remove any stigma and makes it easier for people to ask for assistance.

A small change that can have a big impact

These techniques don't require new systems, additional appointments or specialist training. They are small adjustments that can be built into everyday practice.

Imagine the difference if every patient left feeling confident that they understood:

  • Why they're taking a medication
  • What symptoms to look out for
  • When their next appointment is
  • What happens next in their treatment journey

Better communication leads to better experiences for patients and often makes our own jobs easier too.

Quick staff checklist

Before ending a conversation, ask yourself:

☐ Have I used plain language and avoided unnecessary jargon?

☐ Have I broken complex information into manageable chunks?

☐ Have I checked understanding rather than simply asking "Do you understand?"

☐ Could a picture, diagram or demonstration help explain this more clearly?

☐ Have I offered help with any forms, leaflets or written information?

☐ Have I given the patient enough opportunity to ask questions?

☐ If they explained things back to me, would they know exactly what to do next?

If you can tick most of these boxes, you're already supporting good health literacy practice.

Find out more

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Monday, October 05, 2026

Understanding health literacy in your area

NHS England have worked with the University of Southampton to develop an online health literacy geodata tool. By allowing health economists, commissioners and planners to see the levels of health literacy in their area means they are better equipped to tackle health inequalities aligned to other local challenges. By simply putting in your local authority you can see place based data:


Tunbridge Wells: 49.1% (HLN) 30.64% (HL)
Maidstone: 56.91% (HLN) 37.34% (HL)
Dartford: 61.64% (HLN) 38.18% (HL)
Medway: 64.28% (HLN) 42.06% (HL)


The Health Literacy Geo Data Tool, estimates that 39% of adults aged 16 to 65 in England struggle with health literacy (HL), rising to 58% when numeracy is included (HLN).

Functional health literacy is crucial for reading and using health information, but challenges arise from factors beyond low skills, such as:
- Unemployment
- Homeownership status
- Non-native English speakers
- Age (over 45)
- Low income
- Living in deprived areas

Try it out to find out what that looks like where you live. - Health literacy geodata tool

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Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Health Literacy Month: what is health literacy?

 

October marks Health Literacy month, so throughout October the library and knowledge service will be sharing key information and resources to support understanding and skills around this important topic.


Definitions

But first, what is health literacy? The World Health Organisation describes health literacy as knowledge and competencies that enable people “to access, understand, appraise, and use information and services in ways that promote and maintain good health and well-being for themselves and those around them”.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also refined the definition of health literacy by dividing it into personal health literacy and organisational health literacy:

  • Personal health literacy: “the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.”
  • Organisational health literacy: “the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.”

These definitions emphasise that healthcare organisations have a role to play in supporting individuals to access and interpret health information.

Examples

In 2015, Rowlands et al. sampled nationally available health materials in England, such as education leaflets, medicine labels and reports related to public health. They used data from a survey assessing literacy and numeracy skills to evaluate whether these materials matched the competencies of the UK population. They estimated that the literacy skills of 43% of adults aged 16-65 fell below the threshold needed to understand and interpret the textual information of the health materials. For materials containing numbers, they calculated that 61% of adults would not have the combined literacy and numeracy skills needed to understand the materials.

What could low health literacy look like in the real world? Some examples of the impacts of low health literacy include:

  • Someone not attending a cancer test because they couldn’t find the right department – not knowing that radiology and X-ray indicated the same thing.
  • Someone spraying their inhaler on their neck because they had been told to spray it on their throat.
  • Someone who stopped taking their diabetes medication because they couldn’t understand the instructions.


Why is health literacy important?

As you can imagine, when people struggle to understand health information it can have a range of negative impacts:

  • It limits people’s ability to make well-informed decisions about their own health and can mean they suffer worse health outcomes.
  • It may lead to missed appointments, inappropriate use of A&E, wasted medications or avoidable hospital stays, which also impacts the NHS financially.
  • It widens existing socioeconomic inequalities, especially where people face barriers to education, internet access, digital devices or information in accessible formats.
  • People may feel embarrassed, frustrated or helpless when they struggle to understand the information given to them.


What can be done?

There are many tools and techniques that can be used to improve health literacy. These topics are covered by guides from organisations such as the Patient Information Forum and the NHS Alliance. Look for further blog posts over the coming days where we will highlight tips for staff to support patients' health literacy.

To find out more, you can also register for our upcoming training session about health literacy awareness, on 7th October on Teams, by finding the course on MTW Learning.


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Wednesday, September 02, 2026

Share Your Publications, Research and Conference Outputs Through HERALD

 


The Library Service is currently trialling HERALD, a new institutional repository designed to showcase, preserve and promote the valuable work produced by staff across Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

Initially set up by the Library & Knowledge Service teams at NELFT, Barts Health and King's College, the trial consortium now includes 24 trusts from across London and the South East.

HERALD provides a central platform for sharing research, publications, conference presentations and other professional outputs, helping to increase the visibility and impact of staff achievements.

Explore HERALD

Have you recently?

  • Published a journal article
  • Presented a conference poster or oral presentation
  • Published research findings
  • Had an audit or quality improvement project featured in a conference abstract, poster, presentation or publication*
  • Produced another scholarly or professional output that has been shared publicly
If so, we'd like to include your work in HERALD

Simply send the details to the Library Team and we will upload information about your publication, conference abstract, poster or presentation to the repository, helping to showcase the excellent work taking place across our organisations.


We would value your feedback

As HERALD is currently being trialled, we would welcome feedback from staff who use the platform. Your comments will help us evaluate its usefulness and inform future support for sharing publications, research and other outputs.

Help us build a comprehensive record of our organisations' knowledge, innovation, research and quality improvement achievements.

*HERALD does not collect internal audits or quality improvement projects directly. Instead, it showcases the outputs generated from this work, such as journal publications, conference abstracts, posters and presentations..


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Thursday, August 20, 2026

Finding papers for journal clubs

 

Are you interested in getting involved in a journal club? The library’s Knowledge and Evidence Specialists are happy to provide advice and support for journal club set-up or participation and growth. Here we’ve compiled some handy tips for finding and selecting papers to discuss in a journal club.

 

Aims of a journal club

There are many purposes to running a journal club, including:

  • To learn how to critically appraise literature
  • To improve participants’ understanding of research methodology and evidence-based practice
  • To keep up to date with current literature
  • To maintain constant involvement in research
  • To enhance communication and debating skills through presentations and discussions
  • To network with other staff

Initial thoughts for selecting a paper

  • Look for original research (e.g. RCTs, cohort studies etc.) or systematic reviews and meta-analyses, avoiding opinion pieces or general literature reviews (without robust search methodology). It’s also good to vary study designs from session to session.
  • Think about how recently the article has been published and how important it is for the article to be up-to-date for the topic/field.
  • Select articles from reputable journals (use the Think.Check.Submit. website’s advice to avoid predatory/fake/deceptive journals).
  • Think about what the current issues are for your group’s area(s) of practice or learning. What might be of interest and relevance to them?
  • Be aware of the length of the article and how much time participants need for pre-reading before the session.

Browsing

If you don’t have a specific idea of a topic or question, you could browse certain journals or platforms to find an article of interest. Potential resources could be:

  • BrowZine: a website and mobile app that allows you to browse e-journals from different publishers in one simple interface on any device. You can browse by specialty and find links to the full articles.
  • BMJ Best Practice or DynaMed: to find further reading on topics of interest, you could search for a particular condition/treatment on these point-of-care tools. Look in the references section for hyperlinks to original research  – these may be potential papers for appraisal.
  • The NHS Knowledge & Library Hub is suitable for quick keyword searches.

You will need an Open Athens account to access BMJ Best Practice, DynaMed and the full text of articles that we subscribe to. You can register for an account at https://openathens.nice.org.uk/

If you find an article which you would like to use but can’t access through Open Athens, please email the library.

Structured searching

If you are aware of a gap in your team’s knowledge or have a clinical question in mind, you can structure a search strategy to retrieve results in databases.

One way of framing a clinical question in order to search for a paper is PICO: Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome(s). Not all of these elements have to be present, for example, you might not want to specify a comparison.

Once you have identified the key concepts in your question, you can pull out the key terms, as well as the synonyms and variant forms of these words – think spelling (US and UK English), plural v. singular, abbreviations, etc.

E.g. for the term ‘training’ you could include education, learning, instruction, CPD, workshop etc.

The asterisk * can be used in many databases to search for the root of the word you have typed in and retrieve any alternate endings, e.g. train* for either train, training, trained, trainer, trainee etc.

(However, be aware that truncation can sometimes make your search too broad.)

Once you have your terms, combine them together with OR or AND. E.g. (anxiety OR generali#ed anxiety disorder OR GAD) AND (Cognitive Behavio?ral Therapy OR CBT) AND (older adult* OR older person* OR older people OR elderly)

Structured searches can be carried out in databases such as Medline, Embase, Emcare and PsycInfo on the Ovid platform. You will need an Open Athens account to access the Ovid databases.


If you would like training on how to search for articles, use databases or critically appraise the articles you find, please email the Knowledge and Evidence Specialists: mtw-tr.evidence.specialists @nhs.net.



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Wednesday, July 08, 2026

Refresh your knowledge and learn new skills: upcoming training courses

 

Knowledge & Evidence Specialists are here to help you get the most out of the information resources that the library services offer. Supporting evidence-based practice for both clinical and non-clinical staff, they offer training in several areas:

  • evidence searching: tips for searching databases and finding published research
  • searching beyond databases: guidance for finding and using grey literature (e.g. reports from public bodies, online documents produced by other NSH trusts etc.)
  • critical appraisal: an overview of how to evaluate quantitative research papers
  • using AI safely in the NHS: awareness of the benefits and risks of using AI in information-related tasks
  • health literacy: guidance on how to support patients to understand clinical information when communicating with them either in written or verbal form
  • preparing for study: covering study skills such as note-taking, time management, referencing and academic writing
  • getting your research published: tips for the publication process, including selecting a journal to publish in, Open Access and funding, writing a journal article and disseminating your research


How to Book

MTW staff: Book via MTW Learning at https://mtwlearning.org/login/

KMMH staff: Book via iLearn at https://ilearn.kmpt.org

If you would like to arrange alternative sessions for tailored support, please email mtw-tr.evidence.specialists@nhs.net

You can find out about the other ways that Knowledge & Evidence Specialists support trust staff, such as evidence searching and current awareness, by visiting the library webpages at tinyurl.com/2freb4yb

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