Meeting the information needs of managers

1
Meeting the information needs of managers

• First things first
• needs, networks and innovations in library
  services to primary care

2
Key issues

• Managers -Finding out about our audience
• Information needs of managers
• Their information preferences?
• Make it easy for managers
• Current Awareness
• Supporting e-b management

3
Questions to ask as we develop new services

• What do we mean by managers?
• What do managers mean by information?
• What do managers view as evidence?
• How can we help?
• Where can we best place our expertise?

4
Finding out about our audience

• All too often articles
• fail to define managers
• or
• to distinguish between information and data
• or
• between information and information sources

5
Working life as an NHS manager

• Required to respond to ever-changing national
  initiatives
• Works in an environment in which there is little
  room for reflection or learning

6
Attitude of managers towards evidence

• Q Asked if they use / are expected to use
  research evidence?
• 52.5 of managers said No
• 4 managers said Dont Know
• 43.5 of managers said Yes

7
An information revolution

• They call this the information age and the NHS
  is in the throes of an information revolution.
  But its no bloodless coup and the casualties are
  those health service managers buckling under the
  sheer volume of information now fired at them
  from all sides
• Snell Sinking in a sea of change

8
2. Information needs

• Managing in the NHS
• Finance
• Quality
• Activity
• Staffing

9
Managing in the NHS other areas

• Efficacy of clinical interventions
• Soft intelligence
• Market intelligence
• Public Health
• More selective dissemination of information from
  DoH
• Information to be summarised and packaged more
  appropriately and targeted to the relevant people

10
Information Needs of NHS Managers

• FINANCE Cost effective data
• GENERAL Political
• Data sensitive to aims objectives
• MONITORING Corporate data
• PLANNING National trends, demographic data
• RESULTS Clinical effectiveness/Outcome data
• MARKETING DATA
• PERFORMANCE DATA

11
The main types of information you need to do
your job?

• RBBH LIBRARY USERS said
• Trust information reports, policies,
  developments, finance, clinical info from Trust
• Info on the organisations around us
• Public health data - impact on our Trust
• National documents, directives, standards,
  targets in my area
• Best practice guidelines
• Clinical info from organisations in my field
• Patient information leaflets

12
The main types of information you need to do
your job?

• NON-USERS added..
• Information on modern management techniques
• General NHS news
• Accountancy within and outside NHS
• Clinical re specific projects

13
3. Information preferences

• NLH User survey
• TFPL found few previous studies of their
  information needs
• Information sent to managers and how it is sent
  is as significant as what they actively seek

14
Style and Access

• Some evidence that styles of information access
  and use are different for former health
  professionals (who have a better sense of what
  libraries can do for them than lay managers)
• Content will not matter without access..
  Physical means of access
• User friendly design

15
4. Make it easy for managers

• People are sending an e-mail and copying it to
  half a dozen other people who wouldnt have been
  copied in for a memo...
• I get less thinking time now than ever. But
  as a chief executive surely Im paid to think?
• Margaret Stockham, CE Beds PCG

• Managers prefer sources that are
• Concise and up to date
• Easy to digest
• Delivered to your door

16
5. Current awareness

• Bucks KNA found that managers are afraid of
  missing key information
• TFPL report that alerting services are highly
  valued by most managers

• PRIMARY CARE CAS
• Trent Information Network Infrastructure
• RSS feeds on to NLH
• CA Bulletins
• Distributed, collaborative authorship
• Customisable add local content
• Resource guides focussing on hard-to-reach
  groups, hot topics

17
6. Supporting e-b management

• High quality, safe services
• Health and reduce inequalities
• Roll-out of Practice Based Commissioning
• Commissioning effective use of resources
• Coordination with social services
• saving 15 on management admin

18
Proactive services

• Information management
• Personal service
• inc personalised alerting service
• Smaller library - to release librarian time
• Learning from experience elsewhere

19
Finding treasure amidst the dross

• I think senior staff need to think about whether
  they should be delegating tasks such as carrying
  out internet searches
• Cary Cooper
• Occupational Psychologist (Snell)

20
Mediated searching

• These results were spot-on and just what I was
  wanting - something quick and "dirty". The one of
  especial use is the Redditch and Bromsgrove
  guideline, which we could plagiarize completely
  if necessary!! You saved me at least ½ a day's
  work and got me more accurate results than I
  could have done by myself.

21
First things first

• Get to know our managers
• Focus on the business of the Trust
• Market information services to maximise their
  impact