How to find guidelines

Information about where and how to search for clinical guidelines, SOPs and protocols

Contents:

• NHSGGC guidelines
• Clinical guidelines
• Prescribing guidance
• National guidelines
• How to search for guidelines

NHSGGC guidelines

Clinical guidelines:

Staffnet > Clinical Info > Clinical Guidelines Directory

The Clinical Guideline Directory was developed to support the implementation of the NHSGGC Clinical Guideline Framework, providing a central location for staff to access clinical guidelines developed and approved for use within NHSGGC. Accessible from NHS networked devices only.

GGC Paediatric Guidelines

Clinical guidelines, SOPs, protocols and other information to support staff working with children and young people within NHSGGC. Also available as an app.

West of Scotland Cancer Network Guidelines & Protocols

This intranet site is available to all NHS Staff across the West of Scotland and provides a single point of access to regional prescribing documentation, including Systemic Anti Cancer Therapy (SACT) Protocols and approved Clinical Management Guidelines (CMGs). Accessible from NHS networked devices only.

Palliative Care Guidelines, Policies, Protocols

Two Staffnet pages contain information, resources and links relevant to palliative care within NHSGGC. Accessible from NHS networked devices only:

• Palliative Care Resource Folder (Adult Services)
• Palliative Care Resource Folder (Neonatal & Children's Services)

Prescribing guidance:

GGC Medicines

GGC Medicines has been designed as a tool to assist in promoting high quality, safe and cost-effective prescribing within the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board. The website has useful resources for prescribers and patients including:

• The GGC Adult Medicines Formulary as a searchable or navigational database
• The Adult Therapeutics Handbook: an essential resource for junior medical staff working in NHSGGC
• Current prescribing and clinical information via the Medicines Update suite of publications
• Shared Care Protocols
• Information for patients on access to medicines
• Policies relating to medicines in NHSGGC
• Other formularies

This information is also available as an app. You will need a password to install the app which is available on the Intranet here.

Adult Intravenous Medicines Monographs

This site contains 83 monographs that are intended to provide a simple and straightforward source of information to assist with the preparation and administration of intravenous medicines by practitioners who hold a recognised certificate for IV medicine administration within NHS GGC. Accessible from NHS networked devices only.

Paediatric Intravenous Medicines Monographs

This site contains core monographs that are intended to provide a simple and straightforward source of information to assist with the preparation and administration of intravenous medicines by practitioners who hold a recognised certificate for IV medicine administration within NHS GGC. The information applies to the routine use of intravenous drugs in paediatric patients only. Accessible from NHS networked devices only.

National Guidelines:

NICE Guidelines

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care.

The website includes:

• Clinical guidelines, reviewing the evidence across broad health & social care topics
• Technology appraisal guidance, reviewing the clinical and cost effectiveness of new treatments
• Diagnostic guidance, reviewing new diagnostic technologies for adoption in the NHS
• Highly specialisted technologies guidance, reviewing clinical and cost effectiveness of specialised treatments
• Interventional procedures guidance, reviewing the efficacy and safety of procedures
• Medical technologies guidance, reviewing new medical devices for adoption in the NHS

SIGN Guidelines

Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) guidelines are based on a systematic review of the scientific literature and are aimed at aiding the translation of new knowledge into action. The guidelines are intended to:

• help health and social care professionals and patients understand medical evidence and use it to make decisions about healthcare
• reduce unwarranted variations in practice and make sure patients get the best care available, no matter where they live
• improve healthcare across Scotland by focusing on patient-important outcomes.

Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines

The Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines reflect a consensus of opinion about good practice in the management of adult patients with life limiting illness. They are designed for healthcare professionals from any care setting who are involved in supporting people with a palliative life-limiting condition.

How to search for guidelines:

The go-to site for clinical guidelines used to be the National Guidelines Clearinghouse (www.guidelines.gov) which was maintained by the US Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality.

Unfortunately funding for this site ceased in July 2018 so we now have to use alternative sources.

NICE Evidence Search

Enter your search topic into the search box and then use the filter options on the left hand side of the screen to limit your results to “Guidance & Policy”.

You can further filter your results to:

• a particular category of guidance (e.g. Policy & Strategy or Safety Alerts)
• or to a particular source (e.g. Royal College of Anaesthetists or Royal College of Nursing)
• or to guidance published within a specific period (e.g. within the last year or 5 years)

TRIP

Enter your search topic into the search box. You can also choose to carry out a more complex search by using the PICO or Advanced search options.

Use the filter options on the right hand side of the screen to limit your results to “Guidelines”.

You can further filter your results to:

• a specific country by selecting from the list
• or to “Regulatory Guidance”
• or to guidance published within a specific period (e.g. within the last year or 5 years)

International Guidelines Library

Make sure the “Guidelines” button is selected underneath the search box and then enter your search topic.

You can sort your results by:

• Title
• Organisation
• Document type
• Publication date
• Country

BMJ Best Practice or Dynamed

Both of these Point of Care resources list relevant clinical guidelines within their Evidence Summaries.

Search for your topic and then:

• BMJ Best Practice: Select “Guidelines” from under the “Resources” tab at the top of the page
• Dynamed: Select “Guidelines and Resources” from the contents list on the left hand side of the screen

Local guidelines from other NHS organisations

If you are looking for examples of local guidance/protocols from other NHS Boards or Trusts, you can try carrying out a Google search for your topic including the word “guideline” or “protocol” and then specify to Google that you want to only look at sites that end with .nhs.uk

For example:

“palliative care” AND (guideline OR protocol) site:.nhs.uk

This tells Google that you want to search for:

• The phrase palliative care (putting the words in inverted commas tells Google to treat this as a phrase)
• But only if the word guideline OR the word protocol is also present
• Only to look in websites with .nhs.uk in their address

Remember: this will not pick up any documents that are held on intranets or other places where access is restricted (e.g. password protected).

More information about searching for guidelines:

• Jennifer Hinkel: Where else to go for clinical guidelines now that guidelines.gov won’t be maintained?
• AHRQ. Information about the National Guideline Clearinghouse
• Michigan State University: Finding practice guidelines