Online Study Tool Kit

Spotlight On: Clinical Key Nursing 

The Library has recently subscribed to Clinical Key Nursing, a package of eBooks from major scientific and medical publisher Elsevier. This resource is much more than just books, however, as it comes with with a range of tools you can use to enhance your learning and teaching. Read on to find out more about what’s available. 

Starting with the books: Clinical Key Nursing gives you ready access to over 100 key titles in nursing and other health-related disciplines such as anatomy and physiology, public health and health promotion, and pharmacology. Content is frequently updated, and most books have been published within the last five years.  

The platform can be accessed via our A-Z List of Databases and relevant subject pages; follow the link and log in with your Roehampton credentials. The first time you use it you may have to fill in a couple of extra boxes, but only the first time; access from then on should be seamless, wherever you may be accessing it from.  

Once logged in, you can browse the list of books by title, or select any of the Specialities filters on the left hand menu to browse by subject. You can also just enter your subject in the search box to find relevant books, chapters or text on that subject. When you select a book, you can browse the contents or search within the text to find relevant sections or chapters, and you can use tools such as highlighting sections of text, or changing the font to your chosen size/colour/style, or even the Read Aloud function to listen to the audio book with a range of voices to choose from. You can create customised collections using the Add to My Bookshelf feature to save your favourite titles for quick and easy retrieval. Then you can link to any section of a book by clicking on the Share symbol that appears above the text on the right-hand side, so you can easily share links to specific content with others: 

It is also possible to do all this when you are offline. Clinical Key comes with a free mobile app (the Clinical Key Student Bookshelf) that you can download to your phone or other device, to use the content wherever you may be, with or without an internet connection.  

Another useful feature is the Language of Science glossary. As well as definitions, this provides handy hints on how to pronounce complex medical terms:

Each chapter also has a summary at the end, along with questions to help with revision and critical thinking. There is a Citation feature, but beware if you are using the Harvard style (as used by Nursing programmes at Roehampton), as the format may differ slightly from the Cite Them Right Harvard style we use, so always refer to the Library’s Referencing guidance. 

Beyond books: Images 

Clinical Key Nursing has a wealth of complementary content including images and videos, which you can use to create your own material for teaching or for your coursework and projects. The books are superbly illustrated, and each image is also available for use separately to the book. So you can search for images independently; just run your subject search the same way, but filter the results by Images: 

Once you have found an illustration that you’d like to use in a Powerpoint presentation, simply click on the image to select it, and then 'Add to Presentation' on the top menu to create a slide using the image. Copyright information is handily included, so you know you can use it legally (for educational purposes only).  

Beyond books: Videos 

Clinical Key Nursing also has a wealth of video content which you can use to support your learning and teaching. These vary from instructional videos on human anatomy, to inspirational talks by experts in their field, and tips from fellow students on how to overcome problems such as “imposter syndrome.” 

For academics, there are even more resources you can use to create teaching material. You may need a special login to do this - contact your Academic Engagement Librarian if you are interested in using this feature.  

For more information and guidance on using Clinical Key Nursing, see Elsevier's Getting Started guide and Help and Support Centre.