Royal College of Nursing opens up its information hub

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the world’s largest nursing union and professional body, has partnered with digital preservation specialist Preservica to ensure vital medical and clinical guidance is made available online and preserved for its 450,000 members during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The information is critical to supporting front-line NHS nurses, midwives, student and newly qualified nurses, support workers and retired nurses “returning to duty” at this unprecedented time. The initiative is helping reassure RCN staff and senior decision-makers that records documenting decisions and actions of the RCN, as well as advice given to members, are being actively collected. Actions include the RCN lobbying the UK government on the availability of testing and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for its members.

Led by the RCN’s archives team, the college has already made more than a thousand historical clinical guidance publications available online through a secure members portal. The very latest information on tackling infectious diseases and a full summary of all UK government advice and statements is available on the RCN website.

The team is also actively capturing and preserving RCN website bulletins related to COVID-19, and working with the RCN’s comms team to harvest testimonials of front-line nurses that have been shared on social media. The aim is to document the contribution of the college and its members for future generations and enable the RCN to supply evidence that demonstrate its role and actions during the pandemic.

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)