BMJ Best Practice and Comorbidities Manager: Trusted Tools for Complex Care

Tuesday, 27 January, 2026

BMJ Best Practice is a reliable, easy to use resource that supports safe, confident decision making across health and social care settings. Whether you’re working in a hospital, general practice, care home, or social care environment, it gives you quick access to clear information to help you understand conditions and support service users to make informed decisions about their care.

Recent comparisons have demonstrated just how important this reliability is. For example, a recent BMJ Best Practice blog post highlights the significant gaps in accuracy and safety when relying on generative AI tools for clinical decision support tasks. You can read it here:

🔗 The AI check up: we pitted BMJ Best Practice against Gen AI. The results weren’t even close

Unlike AI-generated summaries - which cannot access evidence from these services, rely on predicting the next likely word rather than reasoning, and risk producing out-of-date or biased information - BMJ Best Practice provides rigorously reviewed, continuously updated content grounded in the latest research, guidelines, and expert opinion.

Key Benefits

• Evidence you can trust: Content is built from the latest research, guidelines, and insights from experts - updated every day
• Designed for quick answers: Clear explanations, step by step guidance and practical considerations that support fast, accurate and safe decision making in real-life care
• Accessible anywhere: Available 24/7 on desktop or app, online or offline, so staff can get the answers they need during shifts, in the community, or while studying
• Supports learning and development: Staff earn CPD credits simply by searching for answers to their questions
• Helps teams work together: Because everyone can access the same trustworthy information, it supports multidisciplinary communication and reduces the risk of conflicting advice or outdated guidance being used.

Comorbidities Manager: Supporting the whole person

Many people receiving care have multiple long term conditions. Standard guidelines often focus on a single condition, which doesn’t reflect the reality that people live with several interacting health needs.

The Comorbidities Manager - included in Scotland’s national subscription - helps staff understand how different conditions interact, and how treatment or care for one condition may need to be adjusted because of another.

It enables staff to:

• Understand how multiple conditions affect a person’s overall health and care needs
• Make safer decisions more quickly, especially when situations are complex
• Support person centred care by considering the whole individual
• Reduce risks associated with conflicting or unsuitable treatments
• Help prevent avoidable deterioration, hospital admissions, or delays

Simple Access for Scotland’s Workforce

BMJ Best Practice and the Comorbidities Manager are available free to health and social care staff and students in Scotland via The Knowledge Network with an NHS Scotland OpenAthens account:

🔗 Evidence summaries | The Knowledge Network 

Training and guidance

• Support for NHS Scotland | BMJ
• Training opportunities | The Knowledge Network
• Keep up with news and training with our monthly newsletter: Subscribe to knowledge Nuggets

Further AI guidance

For staff who want to use AI tools safely and ethically in their own work, The Knowledge Network also provides practical guidance tailored for Library and Information Professionals. This resource offers advice on responsible use, limitations, and best practice when working with AI in evidence and knowledge environments:

🔗 Artificial intelligence | The Knowledge Network

For further assistance, please contact: Knowledge Services Help Desk