Thérèse Brady Library News - Feburary 2010

Thérèse Brady Library News

Vol 1 Is2 – Februa ry 2010

Library news & updates .................................................1 Short Title of Article Three.......2 L ibrary training sessions

Short itle of Article Four 3

In this issue; •

Library news

February saw the launch of monthly library training sessions for staff with a class on

•

Resource update

February 22nd on locating library resources including searching the library catalogue and

•

Conference dates

using social bookmarking sites. Thanks to all who attended for what turned out to be an

•

Article reviews

unexpectedly lively discussion session!

•

Book review

Library training sessions will be scheduled on the last (or second last) Monday of the month for the forseeable future but may become a more frequent fixture depending on demand.

The next session will take place on Monday March 22nd covering ‘Information alerting

New titles list

and information management tools’

Click to view new titles for February

March 9th; Launch of new bereavement bibliotherapy booklet The library will launch a new bereavement bibliotherapy booklet with an open evening on March 9th from 6pm to 8pm. Bibliotherapy is the practice of reading selected books as part of the therepeutic process. The booklet is an indicative reading list around each of the

fifteen IHF bereavement leaflets and will be distributed to hospital and public libraries and bereavement groups. The launch coincides with Library Ireland Week which runs from March 8th to 13th showcasing the work of libraries and librarians with events around the country. We hope to see as many of you as possible on the 9th. Bibliophiles among you can find more details of Library Ireland Week events on the Library Ireland Week website.

Want to perform a customised web search?

Use the new customised library Google search portal by clicking the link on the library home page or blog ‘resources & useful links’ page. The portal allows you to perform a targeted web search across selected sites including Bereavement care, PubMed, NCPC, BioMed Central, Growth House and other relevant palliative care, hospice, bereavement and medical research sites and portals. It also includes the IHF webpage so can be used to search for documents on the IHF site.

Thérèse Brady Library News –Vol. 1 Is. 2 February 2010

Resource Update Trial access to CINAHL full text and EBSCO’S Psychology & Behavioural Science Collection has been extended until March 7th.

Please make sure to get the most out of the extended access to these resources while they are available and do pass on any feedback on their relevance and scope.

Following hot on the heels of the CINAHL & PBSC trial we will have trial access to two more EBSCO databases from March 7th.

SocIndex Is a comprehensive database of research publications covering sociology, psychology,

Electronic resource trials for March

medical ethics, anthropology, gender and political studies.

Some key titles covered include; • Aging & society • American journal of hospice & palliative medicine • Behavioural healthcare • Bioethics • British Medical Journal • Death gender & ethnicity • Dying process • Dying right SocIndex also has good coverage of gerontology, research methodology, economics and communications.

Not to be accused of catering exclusively to the life sciences, we will also have access to Health Business Full text which houses an indepth range of health and social care management and economics publications as well as titles on fundraising, biotechnology, healthcare staffing, quality issues and technology.

Key titles include; • Journal of medical ethics • Modern Healthcare • Harvard business Review • Health care marketing • People management Again access on site will be automatic via IP recognition and a username and password for global access will be distributed when the trial is activated.

Conferences and dates for March

March 3 & 4th – Moving Points, Crossing Boundaries This collaborative conference of Our Lady’s Hospice and the Irish Hospice Foundation explores the issues around the integration of non­malignant diseases into palliative care practice.

March 23rd – ‘Applying quality measurement to improve healthcare management’ Kings Fund, London. A one day course on how to utilise quality measurement tools in healthcare management.

March 25th – ‘Clinical decision makng at end of life in older person care’ Our Lady’s

Bereavememt

Article Reviews

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Thérèse Brady Library News ­ Vol. 1 Is. 2 February 2010

Older people facing grief;

This New York Times article addresses the deeper dimensions of continued loss for older

Hospice & palliative care

people. The downside of a long life is often

The current issue of Progress in Palliative care,

the expectation that grief becomes easier.

guest edited by Sara Booth provides an overview

Paula Span’s article acknowledges that the

of home palliative care services internationally.

impact of grief in the elderly is often

Services in the UK, India, Australia, Romania

overlooked and offers a reminder that the

and Uganda are explored. The issue features

bereavement experience does not neccessarily

input from Anne Merriman on the Hospice

become easier with time.

Uganda movement and Dr Mary Baines presents

an historical overview of the development of St

Grief at work;

Christophers Hospice.

In a move which has been praised as both

Sara Booth’s editorial is available on open access

practical and compassionate the French

HERE

Government has introduced an initiative to to

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pay workers taking time off to be with a dying relative. The initiative recognises the importance of affording employees the piece of mind to take the neccessary time to spend with a dying loved one. The step is also seen as a socially responsible approach to the

End­of­Life Issues

Reviews An overview of

Nursing Times this month asked whether

selected articles and

patients have a choice about their place of

publications in

death.

Despite increasing emphasis on patient

bereavement experience, one which may

autonomy and choice and more funding for

facilitate a less traumatic grief experience.

end­of­life care initiatives their findings indicate inconsistencies in UK practice and illustrate the continued need for emphasis on a patient centred approach to end­of­life care.

bereavement, palliative care, hospice and end of life care research

Thérèse Brady Library News ­Vol. 1 Is. 2 February 2010

Book review Palliative care for all ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Feeding tube use at end of life particularly for dementia patients continues to prompt

‘Bright Sided; how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has

debate. Research by Mitchell, Teno et al

undermined America’

th published in the February 12 edition of

By; Barbara Ehrenreich (2009)

JAMA illustrated the need for patient wishes to be included in the decision making process. Their findings also indicated feeding tube insertion for patients with advanced dementia was more likely to occur in larger for profit hospitals with a more aggressive treatment approach even at end of life.

The February edition of The

Journal of

Nutrition, Health and Aging published guidelines for the end­of­life care of patients with advanced dementia. These guidelines were drawn up with input from Alzheimer’s societies across Europe.

Barbara Ehrenreich addresses ‘Bright sided’ to ‘complainers everywhere, turn up the volume!’ but it is important to clarify, her latest investigation into the American way of life is not a mere call to arms for the misanthropic. She plots the rise of ‘relentless positive thinking’ from the founding fathers, through the protestant immigrant work ethic and the manifest destiny approach of 19th century US expansionists to its current place as the cornerstone of self help publishing and the life coach industry.

Unrealistic positive thinking, Ehrenreich espouses has given rise to self delusion, shamanism and pseudoscience. She also argues, in a slightly tenuous hypothesis, that US national self delusion is a contributing factor to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the failure to acknowledge the futility of fighting a ‘war on terror’.

Ehrenreich addresses the danger of a culture of enforced positive thinking recounting her personal experience of breast cancer and the dismissal of her feelings of anger as ‘negativity’.

Where such relentless ‘magical thinking’ becomes dangerous is in its

Compiled by; Laura Rooney Ferris

negation of legitimate feelings of anger or sadness in response to

Information & Library Manager

catastrophic events, terminal illness or bereavement. What Ehrenreich is

Thérèse Brady Library

questioning is the effect of a national quest to purge all negative thought

Irish Hospice Foundation

through self help manuals and positive mantras. Far from being harmless,

Follow us on;

a society equating poverty, illness or depression with a failure to generate enough ‘positive thoughts’ results in suppression, medication and a guilt response to the complications of natural human emotion.

­ Bright Sided; how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America’ is available from the library

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