Purpose: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ culture is integral to health and wellbeing; this includes access to traditional Country, maintenance of kinship relationships, to speak traditional language and participate in cultural practices. Most clients commencing dialysis in remote Australia, including the Northern Australia region, identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. Aboriginal people who need kidney replacement therapy and are physically fit to access home dialysis report additional health and cultural benefits beyond achieved dialysis adequacy. This study aimed, within the setting of local COVID-19 pandemic preparations and response phases, to design and pilot a physical frailty assessment tool to inform the support needs of physically frail adults in the Northern Territory of Australia after starting haemodialysis

Introduction: Accurate and timely medication information is crucial for health professionals working in a hospital environment. This article focuses on the findings of a medication information resources survey undertaken in a northern Australian health service. Objectives: To examine health professionals’ usage and satisfaction of medication information resources available to them. Methods: An online survey of staff was undertaken in May 2021. Results: There were 206 responses to the survey. Eighty-eight percent of respondents were either nurses, pharmacists or doctors. The four most popular resources were: Australian Medicines Handbook, Therapeutic Guidelines, MIMS Online and Australian Injectable Drugs Handbook. Fifty-three percent of respondents use the resources daily or more than once per day. Doctors are more likely to use the app version and the Health Library’s website is where the majority access the resource from. Eighty-one percent felt that it was extremely or moderately easy to access resources. Discussion: Responses from the open-ended question indicate that there is a lack of awareness of a number of resources which supports the need for strategic promotion and education. Conclusion: The results of this study have shown that health libraries subscribing to key medication information resources supports patient care and best practice.

The aim this study was to determine if implementation of a regular journal club improves critical appraisal confidence and facilitates integrating research literature into nursing practice

Undertaking a training needs analysis (TNA) in a health library context can be a useful tool for gathering evidence that supports service redesign. This article focuses on the findings of a TNA survey undertaken at a health library in northern Australia. The aim of this study was to discover the information and training needs of health department staff who work across six hospitals and numerous rural and remote clinics, with a focus on research project support. An online survey was undertaken in August 2018 to gather data from departmental staff. There were 131 responses to the survey. Results indicated that a number of staff are either currently involved with or are intending to undertake a research project in the next year. The majority felt their searching skills were average or above average, but there are still those who struggle. Advanced Search Strategies was the most requested workshop to add to the current training programme and both in-person and virtual delivery are desirable. The results of this survey have been used to implement a number of changes to the library's educational services and the library's website has been updated.

Globalisation has a direct impact on the collection development budgets of Australian research libraries. Electronic journal subscriptions make up a significant proportion of these budgets and are influenced by factors such as: the value of the Australian dollar, the domination of multinational publishing companies and available library funding. Open access publishing has developed in response to the escalating costs and restricted access of subscription journals. This paper focuses on these issues from the perspective of the Northern Territory Department of Health Library. Research libraries require sustained financial support from federal, state and territory governments to maintain the electronic resources their clients need.

This paper discusses NT Health Library Services’ initiative to provide resources and services to health professionals who work for non-government organisations across the Territory. In 2009, Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) were established. Since then a website has been created specifically for these MOU members and a recent renewal and upgrade project ensured the agreements were updated and the website security standards were being met. With vendor permission the library currently offers access to the following: eight research databases, two clinical decision support tools, one medication database and five electronic book and journal collections. Marketing has begun to increase awareness among these external clients.

This article was a collaborative project, written by Health and Academic Librarians in Northern Territory who provide support for undergraduate nursing students to develop essential literacy skills and knowledge through library instruction, delivery and support.