Realistic medicine is a cornerstone of the support that health and social care staff in Scotland provide, aiming to put the patient at the centre of decisions made about their care.
The Knowledge Network provides resources to support staff in their work around the core pillars of realistic medicine:
- Building a personalised approach to care
- Shared decision making
- Reduce harm and waste
- Managing risk better
- Tackle unwarranted variation
- Become improvers and innovators
Health Literacy
Using health literacy techniques can help staff communicate more effectively with the people they care for.
Improve your health literacy awareness by completing the Health Literacy eLearning.
Patient Information:
Some of our resources offer patient information resources and downloadable leaflets.
- Leaflets are available from BMJ Best Practice, Dynamed and ClinicalKey
- Public information links are available in Find more evidence sources
- The Social care subject specialism has information and links to websites which provide reliable information in the trusted organisations section
Access a range of resources that support staff to meet these pillars:
Local library services
NHS Scotland libraries provide print resources and a study space along with professional librarians who can provide literature searches and expert advice.
Library staff in NHS Boards have produced a realistic medicine current awareness bulletin which includes recently published evidence relevant to the core principles of realistic medicine.
Find your local library service
Access the realistic medicine current awareness bulletins
Medicines information
Access a range of key high quality medicines and drug resources. Full details are in our Medicines information pages.
British standards, legislation and health and safety information
We offer access to health management databases, including access to British standards, covering standards relating to health and safety, fire safety, medical labs, medical devices and more through our subscription to Barbour.
Evidence summaries
Evidence summaries offer summarised, quality-assured evidence to support decision making at the point of care.
Guidelines
Information on guidelines, legislation and policy, and statistical data can be found on our Find more evidence sources page
Materials supporting professional development and leadership.
MindTools
We subscribe to MindTools which contains videos, articles and self assessments around leadership, management, personal skill development and project management. You will need to register for an account.
A range of materials on leadership and professional development can be found through our Library Search.
Library search
Use our Library Search to discover books, journals and articles in health and social care.