Contact Details
Phone: Library Desk: 021-493 5487 / Librarian : 021-493 5145
Fax: 021-427 9502
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Role
The Library's role is to support evidenced based clinical practice and the learning, research and teaching needs of the staff of the Mercy University Hospital as well as students on placement. It attempts to do this by providing access to:
- an area and facilities conducive to study and research
- access to print and electronic information resources both locally and remotely
- instruction in library and information seeking skills
Catalogue
Click here to access the Library Catalogue. This will only work if you are logged into a PC connected to the MUH network.
Library Resources
Online Resources
These are various quality online information resources which are useful for those working in the health sector. Some are openly accessible resources and some are paid for resources which can be accessed from a PC within the Mercy University Hospital or remotely via an OpenAthens account.
Point-of-Care Tools
BMJ Best Practice
BMJ Best Practice is a point of care tool that draws on the latest evidence-based research to offer step-by-step guidance on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention.
You can access BMJ Best Practice from anywhere in Ireland and you can set up the app on your mobile phone once you set up an account.
UpToDate
UpToDate is a clinical decision support resource which helps clinicians to make the right point-of-care decisions. A rigorous editorial process is used to synthesize the most recent medical information into trusted, evidence-based recommendations.
To use UpToDate outside of the Mercy University Hospital or on the mobile app, you need to register for an account on a MUH PC. Then you can download the app from Apple or Google Play stores and log in using the same registration details. You will need to reconfirm your affiliation with MUH every 89 days to maintain your access outside of MUH. To do this, you simply need to log in to UpToDate through a MUH PC.
BMJ Learning
BMJ Learning offers high-quality continuing medical education for doctors and other healthcare professionals. It features hundreds of accredited, peer-reviewed learning modules in text, video, and audio formats.
BMJ Case Reports
Provides access to the largest single collection of case reports. As part of the subscription, MUH staff and students will have case report submission costs covered. Contact the library for the subscription number.
CINAHL Complete
CINAHL Complete is the world's premier nursing and allied health database. It contains more than six million records and full-text articles for more than 1,200 clinical journals. It is designed to meet the information needs of nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, allowing them to stay current with research, evidence and therapeutic advances.
Cochrane Library
The Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. It includes reliable evidence from Cochrane and other systematic reviews, clinical trials, and more. Cochrane reviews bring you the combined results of the world’s best medical research studies, and are recognised as the gold standard in evidence-based health care.
JAMA Network
JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal and has been published continuously since 1883. JAMA is part of the JAMA Network family of journals, which includes 11 specialty journals and JN Learning.
Lenus: The Irish Health Repository
LENUS is the Irish Health Repository for the Health Service Executive (HSE) Ireland. It is Ireland's most comprehensive online repository of health-related reports, research and official publications.
Medicines Complete
MedicinesComplete, from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, is the definitive online resource for drug and healthcare information. It brings together the latest and most relevant medicines information to provide healthcare professionals with expert and unbiased knowledge on the use and administration of drugs and medicines.
Medscape
Medscape offers health professionals one of the most robust and integrated medical information and educational tools available on the web. Free registration.
NHS Evidence
Excellent service whose aim is to provide easy access to a comprehensive evidence base for everyone in health and social care who takes decisions about treatments or the use of resources – including clinicians, public health professionals, and service managers – thus improving health and patient care.
OTseeker(Occupational Therapy)
OTseeker is a database that contains abstracts of systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials relevant to occupational therapy. Trials have been critically appraised and rated to assist you to evaluate their validity and interpretability. These ratings will help you to judge the quality and usefulness of trials for informing clinical interventions. In one database, OTseeker provides you with fast and easy access to trials from a wide range of sources.
PEDro(Physiotherapy)
PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. It has been developed to give rapid access to bibliographic details and abstracts of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. Most trials on the database have been rated for quality to help you quickly discriminate between trials which are likely to be valid and interpretable and those which are not.
PubMed
PubMed is the most popular and comprehensive database for searching the biomedical literature. It provides access to over 25 million citations from medical, nursing, and life science journals. Full-text is available for some of the references.
Sage Health Journals
Click here to access remotely via OpenAthens
The SAGE Journals medicine and health portfolio includes over 350 journals spanning cardiology, health management, medical law and ethics, mental health, neurology, nursing, public health, oncology, sports medicine, palliative medicine, pediatrics, pharmacology, psychology, and research methods.
Trip Database
TRIP Database (Turning Research Into Practice) is an excellent resource for Evidence-Based Medicine. It allows users to rapidly identify the highest quality clinical evidence for clinical practice.
Wiley Health & Medical Journals
The Medical and Nursing collection of journals includes over 400 journals published by Wiley.
Clinical Guidlines:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidelines
NICE is an independent organization responsible for providing national guidance for the UK on promoting good health and preventing and treating illness.
National Guideline Clearinghouse (US)
The National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) is a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Print Resources
Books: The Library has a growing collection of books, covering most medical, surgical, nursing and allied health subject areas. Particular emphasis is placed on the clinical areas in which the Mercy University Hospital specialises. Other subject areas covered include Philosophy, Ethics, Sociology, Economics, Law, History, Business and Management. Search the Library Catalogue to look for a book
Journals: The Library has a large collection of print journals. There are long runs of some of the core medical journals, such as the BMJ, the Lancet and the NEJM, going back to the seventies. The journals are shelved in alphabetical order according to title.
OpenAthens Access to Resources
OpenAthens allows you to access library online resources from outside of the MUH. It is an authentication system used for accessing online paid for information resources with a single username and password.
- To access online resources external to MUH you should register with OpenAthens here A step by step guide for registration is available here and a video demonstration can be seen here
- You will receive an activation e-mail and will need to follow the steps outlined within to activate your OpenAthens account.
- Log onto your OpenAthens account here to access online resources outside of MUH network. Alternatively when you are asked to sign in on any of the library resources, you can choose OpenAthens and sign in from there.
If you have any questions or issues with OpenAthens, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Services and Facilities
Book Borrowing Facilities
A maximum of six books may be borrowed for a maximum period of two weeks. Journals may not be borrowed.
ICT (Information Communication Technology) Facilities
PCs At present there are 13 PCs with all the requisite software, full Internet access, memory stick compatible, and networked printing.
Scanner A scanner is available for those wishing to scan documents.
Photocopying Facilities A Photocopier is available in the Library.
Study Facilities
A quiet atmosphere, conducive to reading and study, is promoted in the Library. A small group study room with PCs is also available.
Inter Library Loan Service (ILL)
Because of the huge number of health sciences journals published worldwide (over 5000) and because of the ever increasing costs involved, even the biggest libraries cannot hope to be able to subscribe to all of those published. At MUH a high priority is placed on acquiring requested items as speedily as possible. The hospital is part of a cooperative of almost eighty Irish health sciences libraries, which has a long established ILL service in operation. British and German document supply services are also used. Most items are now acquired within 24 hours.
Library and Information Skills Instruction (Information Literacy)
The Library provides courses of instruction in library and information seeking skills to small groups and individuals. This is an important part of the library's role within the hospital. It is particularly suited to those undertaking, or about to undertake, undergraduate or postgraduate courses or research projects. The library recommends refresher courses for those who have completed courses or carried out research in the past, as tools and resources are constantly evolving. The Library staff are always at hand to help those who are having library-related difficulties of any kind.
Health Sciences Libraries - General Information
Libraries, and in particular health sciences libraries, have experienced a period of quite fundamental change over the last ten years. These changes have come about primarily because of developments in information technology and telecommunications. Libraries are no longer seen as merely repositories for print-based books and journals but rather as means of access to information, regardless of where that information is held or in what format. Along with their more traditional role, today's healthcare libraries are expected to provide quick and efficient access to a range of online bibliographic databases, databases of systematic reviews, online journals and textbooks, and a vast array of other web-based resources. The adoption of evidence-based practice in medicine and nursing has also had a major influence on the way medical libraries operate today. More and more the Medical Library is playing a central role in acquiring the evidence on which clinicians make their decisions.
Coinciding with these developments has been the phenomenal growth in the amount of material being published in both print and electronic format worldwide. It has been the responsibility of librarians and information specialists to attempt to put some form of bibliographic order and control on all of this publishing activity. The professional librarian will have acquired the skills and expertise to retrieve the information the users' need, when they need it. Because the MUH is a teaching hospital, the Library is also required to support the learning and research needs of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. For all of these reasons, it is now widely accepted that a well-resourced Library is a fundamental requirement for any modern hospital service.