The BNF and BNFC are key resources for all medical and pharmacology students.
This is particularly important for Clinical Pharmacology students and those of you in your final year studying medicine, as you will have your PSA (Prescribing Safety Assessment) coming up soon and we know you need BNF and BNFC to do well.
Recently, we have made some changes to how you access these resources, so we wanted to keep you updated.
Access to BNF and BNFC
You no longer have to go via BMJ Best Practice to access BNF and BNFC. Instead you can go straight via MedicinesComplete. We hope this will make things a little more straight-forward for you. If you go to our website, you find the Databases A-Z link on the right-hand side. From there, all you need to do is search for BNF or find it under ‘B’.
Do you find literature searching laborious? Does Harvard Referencing ruin your day? The library can help.
In response to recent student feedback, the library is offering a new series of workshops to support you with your academic work. These sessions are over lunchtime so you can fit them into your busy schedule and they will give you a head start for your assignments.
My Learning Essentials: Hunter & Harvard Drop-In
Tuesday 25 February 1-2pm
Monday 23 March 1-2pm
Do you have a burning question about referencing or finding academic sources through Hunter? These drop-ins give you the opportunity to speak to a librarian and find a solution. There’s no need to book, just turn up on the day!
Literature searching
We know databases, like Medline (aka PubMed) and CINAHL, can be daunting, but we’ll let you into a little secret: Librarians LOVE them! So, not only will you learn how to effectively run a literature search on a relevant database, you’ll also make a librarian’s day!
There are two versions of these Lunchtime Learning sessions. One specifically for medical students and one for other St George’s University (SGUL) and Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education (FHSCE) students…
Literature searching for your Audit, QI project or Research (medical students)
Wednesday 1 April 11am-12:30pm
Suitable for Medical students, T Year and above, who are undertaking a literature review as part of an audit, QI project or research for publication.
Students BEWARE! Free, online Citation Tools can be inaccurate and unreliable. Learn how to manage and store your references using RefWorks – the only Citation Tool supported by the library.
RefWorks is available with your SGUL username and password. Come along to find out how to import references to RefWorks from various databases. You’ll also get a chance to use Write N Cite to create in-text citations and generate bibliographies in Word.
Suitable for any students undertaking extensive pieces of academic writing such as dissertations, theses etc.
Wherever you’re going to be over the next few weeks, our online resources and other services can help you keep studying. Here are three quick steps to consider before you leave SGUL to make this as straightforward as possible.
We recommend you reset your password before you leave as this ensures you won’t need to change it again for 3 months.
If your password expires or you’ve forgotten it, you can usually reset it from offsite. Note: you must have already set up an external email address and if you don’t receive the reset link, check your junk mail folder.
Return and reissue your books to extend your renewal limit
Books and other items you have borrowed from us will now be automatically renewed 10 times, unless another library user has requested them.
To make sure you don’t reach your 10 renewal limit while you’re away from SGUL, we recommend bringing items into the Library so you can return and reissue them on our self-service machines before you leave.
3. Register to study in a library near you
SGUL Library is a member of the SCONUL scheme, which allows our users reference access to around 170 other university libraries across the UK and Ireland. Postgraduates may also get limited borrowing rights in some cases.
To use the scheme, follow the steps on the SCONUL Access page. Within a few days, and provided there are no fines on your Library account, you’ll receive an email from us which you can take to your chosen library along with your SGUL ID card to apply for access.
Like SGUL, many academic institutions in the UK and worldwide use Eduroam for WiFi. If you are near a university and have WiFi enabled on phone or laptop, you should immediately pick up the network. If you are using Eduroam for the first time, remember to enter your full SGUL username (including @sgul.ac.uk) and password.
Our website library.sgul.ac.uk is a great jumping off point for accessing the services and resources mentioned in this post.
Type of information: This app is designed to support clinicians with all of their professional needs, including decision-making support at the point-of-care, medical news and perspectives from thought leaders across medicine.
For: doctors, medical students, nurses and other healthcare professionals for clinical information.
Main pros –Authored and reviewed by a team of 7,700 doctors and pharmacists from leading medical centres to ensure that all content is current, evidence-based, and written in a format designed to support physicians in practice.
Main cons – Some information will be more applicable to American users than British users, so use with caution.
The Medscape app can be used to look up the most current drug prescribing and safety information. It allows access to 129 medical calculators covering formulas, scales and classifications, and provides reviews of the latest information about 4400 diseases and conditions. It also provides detailed written and video instructions for over 1000 clinical procedures.
The app allows you to search the Medline database for journal articles, and provides updates for the latest news impacting your speciality.
In addition, the app offers accredited Continuing Medical Education courses for professional development.
