Training the trainer
How to plan a Finding the evidence workshop
Nordic Baltic EAHIL Workshop
June 26, Oslo
Irene Wiik & Lena Nordheim
Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social
Affairs
Aims and objectives
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Aim
– To help participants improve their ability to
organise and carry out a “finding the
evidence” workshop
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Objectives
– to be aware of important issues in planning
a successful workshop
– to be aware of different teaching methods
– to share and learn from the experience of
other participants
This is NOT
a workshop on how to
find the evidence, but
how to train others to
find the evidence
Workshop planning
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Practical issues
Programme issues
Evaluation issues
Equipment
Training materials
On the day...
Workshop planning - example
You have been asked to organise a
Pubmed course at your local hospital.
You have been told that there will be a
group of 15 participants. The course is set
for 3 and a half hours.
Questions - example

Who?
– Nurses and doctors

Level of knowledge
– Little or no experience in searching PubMed

Where?
– The hospital library’s PC-lab

When?
– In two weeks

Resources
– 10 computers with Internet access
– Video projector
Aims and objectives - example

Aims
– To help participants improve their skills in
searching PubMed

Objectives
– To know the basics about Pubmed coverage and
contents
– To know the difference between free text and
MeSH searching
– Know how and when to use the “Clinical Queries”function
– To be able to use MeSH
– Printing and saving references
Programme - example
09.00
09.10
09.30
10.30
11.00
12.15
Introduction
Question formulation
Basic search techniques
Coffee break
MeSh searching
Summary
Teaching methods

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”Classroom” approach
Interactive:
– Small groups
– Intermediary tasks
– Hands-on
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A mix of both approaches
Tips and tricks
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Ice-breakers
Power-point slides: cartoons,
animations etc.
Scenarios
“Play and playthings”
Intermediary tasks
Ice-breaker

Example:
– Think about a
situation where you
needed to search for
information in order
to do a proper job.
Describe this to your
neighbour and tell
him/her what
sources you used
Scenarios
Ole is a young public health physician who
has just started to practise medicine. He has
a lot of patients who smoke. He is not sure
whether there is any point in advising them to
stop smoking. He asks a colleague who says
that he does not want to talk about smoking
with his patients because he thinks it can ruin
the positive doctor-patient relationship he
feels he has with his patients. Ole is aware of
this discussion and that some practitioners
still choose not to raise smoking cessation as
an issue. He wants to know what is the
effectiveness of advice from physicians in
Play and playthings
Who wants to be a millionaire?
NOK 1000
What does MeSH mean?
A) Medical Stupid
Headings
B) Medical Subject
Headings?
C) Medical Surgery
Headings
D) Medical Search
Headings
NOK 20 000
Which database provides ”Clinical Queries”?
A) Pubmed
B) Best Evidence
C) Ovid Medline
D) Cochrane Library
Colourline is a database about colour therapy. It consists of 15
documents. You want to find documents about:
A) red AND blue
B) red OR blue
C) red NOT blue
REMEMBER:
The terms occur in
the same document
The terms occur in the
same document or in
separate documents
The one term occurs
alone in the document,
the other is absent
Document 1
red
black
blue
purple
green yellow
Document 6
pink
green
yellow
red
purple
Document 11
black green
yellow red
purple
Document 2
purple yellow
blue
green
purple black
Document 7
blue pink
green
yellow
black
Document 12
pink
Document 3
blue
yellow
green
black
green
pink
black
Document 8
purple
pink
Document 4
green
yellow
purple
yellow
Document 13
purple blue
black
yellow pink
yellow
blue
red
Document 9
green
green
pink
Document 5
blue
yellow
black
yellow
pink
red
green
black
green
Document 10
black
purple
pink
green
red
Document 14
red
Document 15
pink
purple
black
red
blue yellow
Intermediary tasks
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See hand-outs!!
Sharing training tips and
resources
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Examples from England:
– National Electronic Library for Health
http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/librarian/info_skills.asp
http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/dlnet/
– Cochrane Library
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/cochlib.htm
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How can you share your resources and tips
with others?
NeLH: Digital Libraries Net
NeLH: Information skills training
Cochrane Library: