The team at AHPScot recently attended the Chief Medical Officer’s annual conference which focused on Realistic Medicine. Although there were very few AHPs in the audience, there was a buzz in the room and the potential of this strategy was clear.
There were a number of presentations throughout the day and some lively debate on twitter.
Two things stood out to us. One was a leaflet/poster directed at patients and the public which is currently being used in two NHS Scotland Boards:
The other was a question posted on twitter:
We wondered what your thoughts are on both of these.
With regards to the leaflet, we at AHPScot felt that the prompts were applicable to all staff groups and should not be limited to nurses and doctors. We also questioned whether there should be variations of the leaflet or whether there should be a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to production and roll out. What do you think?
In terms of the question on twitter we were at first astounded and poised to defend the corner of AHPs. We felt the need to highlight the vital role and skills of AHPs. However when viewing the responses it seemed there was a view that AHPs do not have a lot of variation in practice, and that that should be the focus of medics involved in Realistic Medicine because that is where the real impact will come. Do you agree with this?
Are AHPs a source of variation?
And is Realistic Medicine applicable to AHPs (N.B: Realistic Medicine focuses on a number of areas of practice – see infographic below)?
Please share your thoughts by commenting on the blog using the ‘Leave a Reply’ function below, or tweet us at @AHPScot.
Additional Resources
The ‘Five questions to ask you doctor or nurse’ has been developed throughout the world. Canada and Australis have a wide selections of resources to empower patients… and they don’t focus on doctors and nurses alone. Click on the images below to find out more.
AHPs across health and social care. 
The principles in Realistic Medicine are underpinned by the six dimensions of quality and a desire to change the culture to offer more power and decision making to people. The transformation being delivered by AHPs through AiLP embodies the same principles and promotes that shift in power to people. Irrespective of the type of professional our transformations all count and importantly deliver a focus on personal outcomes and sustainable models of care.
Reblogged this on and commented:
Following the publication of the Chief Medical Officers annual report (http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00534374.pdf) we revisit this blog about Realistic Medicine and ask: What is your role in Realistic Medicine?