Times Higher Education: full online access for SGUL staff and students

Update 04/06/19:

The THE app mentioned below is being withdrawn from Thursday 6th June 2019.

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Following an upgrade to our subscription, SGUL staff and students now have unlimited online access to content from Times Higher Education.

THE is a weekly online and print publication carrying news, features and opinion on higher education in the UK and around the world.

To activate your access, you will need to register on the THE homepage using your SGUL email address. Please note that by doing this, you agree to the Times Higher Education cookie policy and terms and conditions.

Setting up your access

1) Visit THE’s homepage at https://www.timeshighereducation.com.

THE website can also be accessed via Hunter, the library’s search tool, via this link.

2) Select the person icon at top right and choose Register.

3) Remember to register with your @sgul.ac.uk email address for full access. You’ll also be asked to choose a password and username.

Accessing content

You should now have full access to all the latest content on the homepage, or you can browse past issues by opening the Professional menu and selecting Digital Editions.

For reading on mobile devices, a free app is available from Google Play or the iTunes App Store. Log in to the app using the username and password you chose when you created your account. You’ll now be able to download current and past issues to your device, read and share articles and save favourites to an in-app scrapbook.  (Update 04/06/19: the THE app is being withdrawn from Thursday 6th June 2019)

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Quick Look: NICE Guidance

*Update – 8th November 2018*

The NICE guidance app is now in the process of being phased out, with a view to it being withdrawn by the 31st December 2018. More information from NICE can be found here.

Name: NICE Guidance

Publisher: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Devices:
Android: requires Android 4.0 and up.
iPhone/iPad: iOS 6.0 or later. App size: 5.8MB
*We tested this on an iPad*

Available from:      Google Play , iTunes and Windows

Price: Free

Type of information:  The app provides mobile access to NICE guidelines for healthcare professionals and students. The evidence-based guidelines offer current pathways for the diagnoses, prognosis and treatment of many health problems. There are hundreds of conditions and diseases covered, as well as different public health topics.

Main pros: 

• Easy to use
• Clean interface
• Official guidelines from NICE
• Handy mobile tool

Main cons:  

• Text heavy
• Limited personalisation features

The updated NICE Guidance app from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence offers on-the-move guidance for healthcare professionals and students. With over 760 topics and guidelines, as well as thousands of individual chapters, the app is text heavy. However, the in-app search box makes it easy to extract information quickly. The app also allows users to browse by topic and by guideline type.

The app is available through NICE and provides access to official NICE evidence-based guidelines which are used to keep health and social care professionals up-to-date on pathways in diagnosing and treating health problems. The information within the app is of a high-quality. Sections include clinical guidelines, cancer service guidelines and public health guidelines. One of the most beneficial features is the new and updated guidance section. New guidelines will automatically update on your device to keep you informed of any developments within healthcare guidelines.

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The app’s interface is uncluttered and easily navigable. You can also personalise the app, although these features are limited. Individual chapters can be bookmarked for use offline, which is useful for keeping track of specialist areas of interest. However, the text cannot be highlighted or annotated.

This app is a good aid for speedy and accurate guidance for the busy healthcare worker, but don’t expect more than what it says on the tin. Overall, the app is intuitive and easy to use and could be a handy mobile tool to have in your pocket!

All posts on this blog are subject to the St George’s Library Disclaimer, please take the time to read it carefully.

Updated: Aug 2017

 

Quick Look: Forest: Stay Focused

We’re very happy to have a guest review by MBBS student and Learning Advocate, Ele Clancey. If you are interested in reviewing an app for the blog, please email liaison@sgul.ac.uk.

Name: Forest: Stay Focused

Publisher: Forestapp.cc

Devices: Available to download on smartphones, android, windows phone and IOS. Can also be downloaded via Chrome and Firefox as apps/add-ons.  The Android app version was tested on a Nexus tablet.

Available from: Play Store, Apple Store, Chrome, Firefox.

Price: Android version – free, there are in app purchases. IOS version – £1.99

Type of information: Forest helps you to put down your phone and focus on your work.

For: Anyone who wants help staying focused on a task.

• Main pros – you get to choose how long your break is following a 25 minute study session
• Main cons – on the free version, there are ads each time you have grown a tree

Ever find yourself taking a quick phone break, only to look up 20 minutes later still scrolling through Facebook? Then Forest could be the app for you.

Forest is an app for those of us that need a bit of help staying focused during a study session. You simply plant a seed when you’re ready to start working and in the next 25 minutes it grows from a sapling to a mature tree. There’s one catch – if you click away from the app, the tree dies.

This app is a simple way of getting an uninterrupted 25 minutes of work done at a time. You can choose in the settings whether the tree dies if you click away from the screen. This is useful if you download it on a tablet, and need to use your device for studying. However, I would suggest that downloading it on your phone and selecting the option where you can’t click away from the screen yields best results.

Of course, the aim is to grow not just a tree, but a forest each day. You are able to track your progress and earn points for the number of trees you grow. Once you reach enough points, different kinds of trees become available to you. While you’re studying, motivational sentences scroll across the top of the tree encouraging you to keep going – it may surprise you how many lapses of concentration you have!

 

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Unlike other time management apps this one doesn’t give you a prescribed break, which means you get to choose how much time you take off and just plant another seed when you’re ready to get back to work. Some people may prefer the structure of a timed break, but I enjoyed being flexible with my time off.

This app was very easy to download and use, and I didn’t find any glitches with it. As I downloaded the free version on my Nexus tablet, there are adverts that appear each time you grow a tree. I found this a bit distracting, but it means that the app comes at no cost to the user.

Overall, I would say this app could be a useful tool for those of us who struggle to concentrate sometimes. I especially liked that the number of study sessions you do are related to the size of forest you grow, which motivated me to stay focused and accumulate trees.

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If you are an SGUL student interested in getting more information and advice about time management, visit the Study+ time and task management page on Moodle (SGUL log in required)

All posts on this blog are subject to the our mobile resources disclaimer, please take the time to read it carefully.

SGUL App Swap #03: Tues 15 Dec 1-2pm

We will be running our 3rd App Swap event in December. This is a chance for staff and students to come together in an informal setting to share useful apps.

When and where will it take place?

Time: Tuesday 15 Dec 1 – 2pm

Location: Library Training Room, 1st Floor Hunter

Who can join in?

All staff and students at St George’s and St George’s Trust staff  who want to share or learn about apps.

What kind of apps will be shared?

This depends on what attendees bring on the day. Previous apps that have been shared include: AIM, Anatomy 4D, RevisePsych, MedEdEthics, Forest: Stay Focused, The Genetics Counselling App, ManchEWS.  Read our App Swap round up blog posts for more details.

Do I need to prepare a presentation?

No, the App Swap event is quite informal; just let us know what you think about the app you’ve chosen, and be prepared to show us it on your device.

How do I sign up?

To sign up for the event please send an e-mail to kpang@sgul.ac.uk with the subject heading App Swap event. If you already have an app in mind, please mention the app.  We have a limit of 14 places.

Will there be refreshments?

Yes! Tea, coffee and water will be provided, as well as some snacks.

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Tablet Competition for Students

As well as the App Swap event, St George’s is also running a competition to get you thinking about the best way to use technology to support your learning. Tell us the best apps for lectures, small groups, practicals and revision and you could win some great prizes, including Red Letter Day experiences and Pebble Time watches.

For more information visit the Tablet Competition webpage, or email experience@sgul.ac.uk

 

 

 

SGUL App Swap staff and students event Wednesday 13 May 12.30 – 1.30pm

In February, St George’s Library and the eLearning Unit (eLU) ran the first ever App Swap event for St George’s members of staff. Colleagues got together around a table with various tablet devices provided by the eLU, to share useful apps, including eLU co-created apps such as MedEDEthics and RevisePsych. Read our round up of the event on our Mobile Resources Blog

Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive so we’re now running our second event on Wednesday 13 May.

Who can join in?

All staff and students at St George’s who want to share an app that they use.

What kind of apps will be shared?

Our first event included a lot of medical related apps, but your app does not have to be. If you think it’s a useful app to share with staff and students, bring it along!

Do I need to prepare a presentation?

No, the App Swap event is quite informal; just let us know what you think about the app you’ve chosen, and be prepared to show us it on your device.

How do I sign up?

To sign up for the event please send an e-mail to kpang@sgul.ac.uk with the subject heading App Swap event.   If you already have an app in mind mention the app, we aim to pre-install apps on onto our mobile devices for sharing. We have a limit of 15 places.

Will there be refreshments?

Yes! Tea, coffee and water will be provided, and there will be snacks and sandwiches for after the event.

When and where will it take place?

Time: Wednesday 13 May 12.30 – 1.30pm

Location: Jenner Basement 20 Teaching

BMJ Best Practice App – now available for Android

BMJ have released the Best Practice App on Android

To download as an Android app, click here.

If you want to download iOS (Apple) app, click here.

*Please note full content via the Best Practice app is only available to SGUL staff and students.

The BMJ Best Practice app provides access to:

• Over 1,000 diagnoses and diagnostic tests
• Clinical guidelines and research evidence, even when offline
• Expert opinion to back up your decisions
• Topics structured around the patient consultation, including prevention, diagnosis and treatment, with clear references and images
• Personalisation features including options to add notes and bookmarks

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The BMJ have changed the login page for the Best Practice App where it now asks for an ‘Institutional No’. This is an alternative way to log in which St George’s, University of London does not use. Please ignore this and log in to the app using your username and password as usual.

 

Best Practice App update now available

Message from BMJ:

A new release of the Best Practice app is now available on iTunes. The technical issues with the display of some treatment options in the previous version, which caused BMJ to temporarily withdraw the app, have been resolved and all iPhone and iPad users should update to the new release at the earliest opportunity. –  BMJ 17/01/2013

Best Practice is free to download and contains 20 free sample topics.

SGUL Staff and Students have access to the full contents of the Best Practice App via their institutional  login.  If you have not used it before follow these instructions to get started.

1. In order to access full content you must first create a “My Best Practice” account.   You must create this account while connected to the University network. This connects your account to the University’s subscription and allows you access to full content.

2. Download the app from the app store http://itunes.apple.com

3. From ‘Settings’ (iPhone, iPod Touch) or ‘Subscriptions’ (iPad) go to the ‘Account’ page and login with your My Best Practice account

4. ‘All topics’ will automatically begin to download. It is recommended to download over a good wifi connection.

*Please note full content via the Best Practice app is only available to SGUL staff and students.

New mobile resources page

Our new page on mobile resources is designed to give a brief introduction to using mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, e-readers etc) to access health information.

You can find our mobile resources page listed under Databases on the Library website or click on the link below to be taken straight there.

http://www.sgul.ac.uk/about-st-georges/services/library/databases/resources-on-your-mobile-phone

This is a page in progress if you have any comments or feedback on the content of this page please email Lynsey Hawker at  lhawker@sgul.ac.uk

New NHS Direct mobile app for symptom checking

NHS Direct has launched a mobile app that lets you access trusted and reliable healthcare advice from your smartphone.  The app uses the same logic and questions as the health and symptom checkers on the NHS Direct website

You can access instant on-screen self-care advice or instructions on the most appropriate course of action, and save any self-care advice you are given back to the app or email it to yourself to access at a later date.

The apps are available for free download.

 iPhone® app from iTunes®

Android™ app from Android marketplace

New clinical prediction rules medical app from BMJ and CEBM

The Doctor’s Toolbag iPhone app developed by the BMJ Group and CEBMi Ltd. provides a fast and simple way to use the most effective rules in a busy clinical setting.