LibGuides: Medical Professionals NHS Library Guide: Guidelines, summaries and patient information

Evidence-based medicine

Resources

The following resources feature UK guidance information

NICE Guidance
Evidence-based recommendations developed by independent committees, including professionals and lay members, and consulted on by stakeholders
SIGN guidelines
Current guidelines, guidelines under development and archived guidelines from the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network

Professional bodies also produce guidelines and other resources to support best clinical practice. A selection of these can be found below

The Association of Anaesthetists
The Association of Anaesthetists represents a membership of over 10,000 anaesthetists in the UK, Ireland and worldwide.
Royal College of Anaesthetists
The Royal College of Anaesthetists is the professional body responsible for the specialty throughout the UK, including the recruitment, training and examination of anaesthetists.
British Association of Dermatologists
The British Association of Dermatologists works with many other organisations to achieve its aims of supporting patients and improving standards. These include Patient Support Groups, Special Interest Groups, International Dermatology Groups and the Medical Royal Colleges
Royal College of Emergency Medicine
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine works to ensure high quality care for patients by setting and monitoring standards of care in emergency departments, as well as providing expert guidance and advice on policy to relevant bodies on matters relating to Emergency Medicine.
British Society of Gastroenterology
The British Society of Gastroenterology is an organisation focused on the promotion of gastroenterology and hepatology within the United Kingdom.
General Medical Council
GMC guidance for doctors sets out the professional values, knowledge, skills and behaviours expected of all doctors working in the UK.
British Geriatrics Society
The British Geriatrics Society is the membership association for professionals specialising in the healthcare of older people across the UK. Founded in 1947, it is the only Society in the UK offering specialist expertise in the wide range of healthcare needs of older people.
British Society for Haematology
BSH Guidelines provide up-to-date evidence-based guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of haematological diseases.
Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine
Standards, guidelines & resources from the FICM.
Intensive Care Society
Guidelines from the ICS.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
The RCOG produces guidelines as an aid to good clinical practice.
Royal College of Ophthalmologists
The aim of College Clinical Guidelines is to identify the best medical evidence, set standards of patient care and ensure patient safety, providing a benchmark for outcomes within which high quality Ophthalmology can be practiced in the UK health service.
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Clinical guidelines and evidence reviews from the RCPCH
British Association of Perinatal Medicine
Frameworks, polcies and resources from the BAPM
Royal College of Physicians
Guidelines and policy from the RCP
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Guidelines developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health
British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society is a registered charity which acts as the representative body for psychology and psychologists in the UK, and is responsible for the promotion of excellence and ethical practice in the science, education, and application of the discipline.
The Renal Association
Guidelines and commentaries from the Renal Association, accredited by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
British Society for Rheumatology
BSR's 'gold standard' clinical guidelines support evidence-based clinical practice in rheumatology.
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Standards and guidance to support good practice in surgery and service provision, from the RCSEng
British Thoracic Society
BTS respiratory medicine guidelines, accredited by NICE

BMJ Best Practice
BMJ Best Practice is an online point of care tool that gives healthcare professionals fast and easy access to the latest information when making diagnosis and treatment decisions. Access via an OpenAthens account.
Clinical Knowledge Summaries - NICE
NICE CKS service provides primary care practitioners with a readily accessible summary of the current evidence base and practical guidance on best practice in respect of over 330 common and/or significant primary care presentations.
Cochrane Clinical Answers
Cochrane Clinical Answers (CCAs) provide a readable, digestible, clinically focused entry point to rigorous research from Cochrane Reviews. They are designed to be actionable and to inform point-of-care decision-making. Each CCA contains a clinical question, a short answer, and data for the outcomes from the Cochrane Review deemed most relevant.
Cochrane Library
Cochrane produce high-quality, relevant and up to date systematic reviews and other synthesized research evidence. Each review addresses a clearly formulated question using all of the best available primary research evidence and published in the Cochrane Library. The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. Access to the database is free for UK based users.
Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin
Provides rigorous and independent evaluations of and practical advice on the treatment and management of disease for healthcare professionals.
UpToDate
UpToDate is an online evidence-based medicine resource providing point-of-care clinical information.
Access via your OpenAthens account.

BMJ Case Reports
Largest international, peer-reviewed collection of cases in all disciplines so that healthcare professionals can easily find clinical information on common and rare conditions.

To submit cases to BMJ Case Reports please contact us at liaison@sgul.ac.uk for the St George's University Institutional Fellowship code.

For patients

BMJ Best Practice
Best Practice offers a range of concise easy to read summaries for patients and carers. (OpenAthens account required for access)
Healthtalk
healthtalk.org provides free, reliable information about health issues, by sharing people's real-life experiences.
MedlinePlus
MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health's Web site for patients and their families and friends. Produced by the U.S National Library of Medicine
NHS UK
The NHS website provides comprehensive information on health, wellbeing, treatments and healthcare services, and signposts specialist support and services.
Patient Info
Patient Info inlcudes health information leaflets on conditions and medicines, a symptom checker and community forums.
UpToDate
UpToDate offers information for patients from within individual topics. (Access via Trust intranet, or OpenAthens)
Young Minds
Mental health information, resources and support for young people and parents.

For health professionals

St George's Patient Information team
A wide variety of patient information leaflets in pdf format, also available in large print.
TRIP database
Trip is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care. Use the 'Patient information leaflets' filter when searching.

The following resources can be used to source general and medical images and multimedia.

When using images from the internet it is important to check copyright permissions, licensing and terms of use associated with the work. The following sources feature copyright cleared or Creative Commons licensed images, please ensure that acknowledgment or credit to the content creator is given and/or attribution of the source where required. If in doubt always assume that all images online are protected by copyright unless there is evidence to the contrary.

More information can be found at Best practices for attribution and The BIPP Guide to Using Images

Creative commons search
A portal with links to websites for good quality images with CC license for unrestricted use. You should always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link.
Images from the History of Medicine
IHM includes image files of a wide variety of visual media including fine art, photographs, engravings, and posters that illustrate the social and historical aspects of medicine dating from the 15th to 21st century.
PikWizard
Stunning library of over 1 million stock images and videos.
Royalty free and safe for commercial use, with no attribution required
Pixabay
Free images, released under the Pixabay License, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist - even for commercial purposes.
TRIP database
You can search for medical images using Trip Pro. To find images: run a search, then select Images. A useful filter is the "Only show images that are free to share, modify or use" tickbox.
Unsplash
Access to over a million photos under the Unsplash license—which makes them free to do-whatever-you-want with.
Wellcome Collection
Find thousands of Creative Commons licensed images from historical library materials and museum objects to contemporary digital photographs.
Wikimedia Commons
An online repository of free-use images, sounds, and other media files. A project of the Wikimedia Foundation.