Guidance for clinical leads submitting content for publishing to Right Decisions

• Right Decisions is available as a website and app.
• It is approved for use by the Scottish Government and NHS Ayrshire & Arran.
• The app can be used offline, and it is recommended that the Right Decisions app and relevant toolkit(s) (e.g. NHS Ayrshire & Arran guidelines) are downloaded for offline use and backup in case of internet outages.
• Right Decisions content can be viewed by the general public unless password protection is requested for content or partial content submitted. If password protection is requested, consider how this would work for your service.
• Governance processes, version control and review principles apply to content submitted for inclusion.

• Check that content does not already exist to prevent duplication.
  • Check Adult Therapeutics Handbook at NHSAAA Medicines - Adult Therapeutics Handbook
  • National pathways, SIGN guidelines etc at Right Decisions
• If using medicines/prescribing information, prefer linking to local formularies, BNF, BNFc rather than setting out prescribing information within the content.
• Link to approved patient information where appropriate. Contact the Patient Information Team for advice (link available on Athena intranet only).
• Complete an Equality & Diversity form as appropriate. Contact the Equality and Diversity team for advice (link available on Athena intranet only)
• To request a search for the latest evidence or to request copyright permissions to add content created by external organisations to Right Decisions, contact Library and Knowledge Services (Note: all copyright costs to be attributed to requesting service)
• If a link to a national pathway is required, submit using the RefHelp submission process (currently under development - please contact aa.RightDecisions@aapct.scot.nhs.uk)

Clinical Guidelines are non-mandatory documents, based around a condition; disease or topic that blends evidence-based practice; best practice and expert subject group advice, designed to assist clinicians in the decision-making process about appropriate treatment and care in specific circumstances.

If you wish to submit a Clinical Guideline for publication on the RDS platform and AthenA, please complete the Guideline submission form

If you require further information around the development and/or publication of Clinical Guidelines, please email donna.hanlon@aapct.scot.nhs.uk or aa.clinicalguidelines@aapct.scot.nhs.uk.

A referral pathway provides guidance to a clinician to aid decision making on when to refer a patient to another service for treatment and management of their condition

Refer to the Development of referral pathway standard operating procedure (currently under development - please contact aa.RightDecisions@aapct.scot.nhs.uk for advice)

• Nominate clinical lead to develop content
  • Formatting should follow NHSA&A guidance (see section below) and must include on completion:
    • Clinical lead
    • Reviewer (if different to clinical lead)
    • Version number
    • Approving governance group
    • Date effective
    • Review date.
  • Link with Library & Knowledge Services (LKS) at library@aapct.scot.nhs.uk for assistance with evidence and/or obtaining copyright permissions for included content.
• If medications included at all, clinical lead to refer to Pharmacy for approval.
• Clinical lead consults with other services/staff as appropriate.
• Clinical lead submits to appropriate clinical governance group for approval.
• Once approved, clinical lead completes other clinical decision support submission form

Standard font must be sans-serif, minimum 12pt, suggest Arial. Lines should be at least 1.1 spaced, with a minimum 6pt space between paragraphs. Text should be left-aligned.

Document titles should be larger, bold and dark blue (#092869)

Headings between sections should be bold white on dark blue

• Use bullet points rather than numbered lists
• Hyperlinks should be shown as page titles rather than the URL e.g The Knowledge Network rather than http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk
• Images should include ALT text (text which describes what the image contains, for users of screen readers)

Content considerations

• Use Human Factors Guidance
• Break the document down into sections
• Include a heading for each section
• Present the sections in a logical order.

Language and grammar

• Use simple, short, and concise sentences
• Ideally use a maximum of 12 words per sentence
• Use active phrasing
• Present words in the correct order
• Avoid vague statements and use precise units (where relevant)
• Avoid negatives and nested statements.

Terminology

• Use well-known terms and use them consistently
• Define abbreviations
• Check for ambiguity
• Check the reading complexity (reading ease score)
• Be frugal with highlighting: use bold or italics rather than underlining.

Tables

Essential information to include

• Clinical lead
• Reviewer (if different to clinical lead)
• Version number
• Approving governance group
• Date effective
• Review date.