Databases/Search Engines Pubmed:
Medline database from 1950-present. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
Cochrane Library: High quality systematic reviews and citations for reappraised trials. http://www.thecochranelibrary.com
TRIP – Turning Research into Practice: One-stop shopping for the highest quality material available on the web to support evidence-based practice. http://www.tripdatabase.com/index.html
Evidence Updates: A searchable database of best evidence from medical literature and an email alerting system. Abstracts only, with links to freely accessible full-text articles when available. Registration is required. Produced by the BMJ Evidence Centre. http://plus.mcmaster.ca/EvidenceUpdates/
Google Scholar: Google’s search engine for finding scholarly information http://scholar.google.ca/
Drug Information Resources A Guide for Pharmacists: Dalhousie University’s pathfinder to reference resources useful to pharmacists. http://dir.pharmacy.dal.ca/
Journals and Books American Medical Association Journals: Free access from 6-12 months after publication to a variety of medical journals (including JAMA). http://pubs.amaassn.org/
BioMed Central: Open access to a collection of peer-reviewed biomedical research journals. http://www.biomedcentral.com/
PubMed Central: US National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
PubMed Central Canada: CIHR and NRC CISTI’s free digital archive of health and life sciences journal literature. http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/
PLOS – Public Library of Science: Collection of open access journals. http://www.plos.org/
Free Medical Journals: Collection of links to 1500+ free, full-text medical journals, including many non-North American journals. Also tells when articles from high impact journals become free (including the New England Journal of Medicine, BMJ, and Lancet): http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/
DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Health Sciences Journals: 550+ journals in Dentistry, Medicine, Public Health and Nursing. http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=home
Canadian Medical Association Journal: Leading health sciences journal in Canada. Free access 1911-present. http://www.cmaj.ca/
Emedicine: Open access comprehensive medical textbook for all clinical fields.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/
The Merck Manual Online: The online version of one of the most widely used
medical reference books. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/index.html
Free Books for Doctors: More than 630 medical textbooks.
http://www.freebooks4doctors.com/
Bookshelf: Biomedical books. National Center for Biotechnology Information.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=books
Drug Use Evaluation (Canada)
British Columbia Community Drug Utilization Program (CDUP):
Internationally-recognized academic detailing program aimed at assisting
physicians in selecting the most appropriate and cost-effective drug therapy for
their patients. http://www.cdup.org/
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (CADTH): Provides
Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial health care decision-makers with
credible, impartial advice and evidence-based information about the
effectiveness and efficiency of drugs and other health technologies.
http://www.cadth.ca/index.php/en/home/
Health Canada – drugs and health products: Evidence-based information on
current developments and issues pertaining to drugs and health products in
Canada. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/index_e.html/
Rx files: Objective comparisons for optimal drug therapy (Saskatoon Health
Region). http://www.rxfiles.ca/
Therapeutic Initiatives – evidence-based drug therapy (University of British
Columbia): up-to-date evidence-based practical information on rational drug
therapy. http://www.ti.ubc.ca/
Herbals & Alternative Medicine
NCCAM – National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(US): American Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on
complementary and alternative medicine. http://nccam.nih.gov/
CAMLINE (CAN): Canadian evidence-based website on complementary and
alternative medicine for healthcare professionals and the public.
http://www.camline.ca/
Dietary Supplements Labels Database (US): Information on 4000+ brands of
dietary supplements sold in the United States.
http://dietarysupplements.nlm.nih.gov/dietary/
IBIDS – International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements
(US): Bibliographic citations and abstracts from published international and
Scientific literature on dietary supplements.
http://ods.od.nih.gov/Health_Information/IBIDS.aspx/
Drug Identification
Asksam – OVRDIS (CAN): Database contains a listing of newly-marketed
drugs, medical devices and test kits in Canada; use in conjunction with the CPS.
http://www.asksam.com/ovrdis/product.htm
Electronic Orange Book (US): FDA database of approved drug products with
therapeutic equivalence evaluations. http://www.fda.gov/cder/ob/
Identification of Foreign Medicines: Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s list of
internet sites for identifying foreign medications from various countries.
http://www.rpsgb.org/pdfs/foreignmedicines.pdf
FDA – Food and Drug Administration (US): Information on FDA-regulated
products including food, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, medical
devices, biologics, cosmetics and radiation-emitting products.
http://www.fda.gov/
DrugBank: database of detailed drug data and drug target information
http://www.drugbank.ca/index.html
Drug Information Portal (US): Description of more than 19,000 generic and
brand-name drugs and links to information from authoritative sources.
http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov/drugportal/drugportal.jsp
Pregnancy/Lactation
Motherisk (CAN): From the Hospital for Sick Children, this site is designed for
health professionals on the safety and risk of medications and other exposures
during pregnancy and lactation. http://www.motherisk.org/prof/index.jsp/
LactMed (US): Drugs and lactation database from the National Library of
Medicine. http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT/
Trial Registers
Clinical Trials: Registry of federally and privately-supported clinical trials
conducted in the U.S. and around the world. http://clinicaltrials.gov.
Current Controlled Trials: Search and share information about randomized
control trials. Free registration required. http://www.controlled-trials.com/
IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal: International Federation of Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers and Associations database on clinical trials.
http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org/no_cache/en/myportal/index.htm
World Health Organization: Search portal website that allows searching a
central database of trial registries. http://www.who.int/trialsearch/
FDA Information on Clinical Trials (US): Good clinical practice in FDAregulated
clinical trials. http://www.fda.gov/oc/gcp/
Practice Guidelines
CMA Infobase: Searchable database of Canadian clinical practice guidelines,
produced by the Canadian Medical Association.
http://www.cma.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/54316/la_id/1.htm
Toward Optimal Practice (TOP): Alberta clinical practice guidelines.
http://www.topalbertadoctors.org/cpg.html
National Guideline Clearinghouse: Searchable database of evidence-based
guidelines from research organizations and professional associations.
http://www.guideline.gov/
Compounding
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Compounding Resource
Center (US): Information and resources on compounding standards and
practices.
http://www.ashp.org/Import/PRACTICEANDPOLICY/PracticeResourceCenters/C
ompoundingResourceCenter.aspx
Toronto Sick Kids Manufacturing (CAN): Compounding recipes index for
dosage of drugs for pediatric patients.
http://www.sickkids.ca/Pharmacy/Compounding-Service/index.html
Patient Information
MedlinePlus (US): Consumer health information from the National Library of
Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and other US Government agencies
and health-related organizations. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
Public Health Agency of Canada (CAN): International and national health
advisories, consumer health information, background information on a wide
variety of diseases and conditions. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/index-eng.php
CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Infection (US): Vast amount of
authoritative information on diseases and their prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/
Evidence-Based Practice
The following are resources to help you practice in an evidence-based manner.
Bandolier: The glossary is particularly useful for providing easy to understand
definitions of evidence-based concepts http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/
EBM Toolkit: http://www.ebm.med.ualberta.ca/
Therapeutic Decision Making: build skills related to pharmacotherapeutic
decision-making
http://www.vhpharmsci.com/decisionmaking/Therapeutic_Decision_Making/Fund
amentals.html
John W. Scott Health Sciences Library
University of Alberta
April 2010
Medline database from 1950-present. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
Cochrane Library: High quality systematic reviews and citations for reappraised trials. http://www.thecochranelibrary.com
TRIP – Turning Research into Practice: One-stop shopping for the highest quality material available on the web to support evidence-based practice. http://www.tripdatabase.com/index.html
Evidence Updates: A searchable database of best evidence from medical literature and an email alerting system. Abstracts only, with links to freely accessible full-text articles when available. Registration is required. Produced by the BMJ Evidence Centre. http://plus.mcmaster.ca/EvidenceUpdates/
Google Scholar: Google’s search engine for finding scholarly information http://scholar.google.ca/
Drug Information Resources A Guide for Pharmacists: Dalhousie University’s pathfinder to reference resources useful to pharmacists. http://dir.pharmacy.dal.ca/
Journals and Books American Medical Association Journals: Free access from 6-12 months after publication to a variety of medical journals (including JAMA). http://pubs.amaassn.org/
BioMed Central: Open access to a collection of peer-reviewed biomedical research journals. http://www.biomedcentral.com/
PubMed Central: US National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
PubMed Central Canada: CIHR and NRC CISTI’s free digital archive of health and life sciences journal literature. http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/
PLOS – Public Library of Science: Collection of open access journals. http://www.plos.org/
Free Medical Journals: Collection of links to 1500+ free, full-text medical journals, including many non-North American journals. Also tells when articles from high impact journals become free (including the New England Journal of Medicine, BMJ, and Lancet): http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/
DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Health Sciences Journals: 550+ journals in Dentistry, Medicine, Public Health and Nursing. http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=home
Canadian Medical Association Journal: Leading health sciences journal in Canada. Free access 1911-present. http://www.cmaj.ca/
Emedicine: Open access comprehensive medical textbook for all clinical fields.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/
The Merck Manual Online: The online version of one of the most widely used
medical reference books. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/index.html
Free Books for Doctors: More than 630 medical textbooks.
http://www.freebooks4doctors.com/
Bookshelf: Biomedical books. National Center for Biotechnology Information.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=books
Drug Use Evaluation (Canada)
British Columbia Community Drug Utilization Program (CDUP):
Internationally-recognized academic detailing program aimed at assisting
physicians in selecting the most appropriate and cost-effective drug therapy for
their patients. http://www.cdup.org/
Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (CADTH): Provides
Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial health care decision-makers with
credible, impartial advice and evidence-based information about the
effectiveness and efficiency of drugs and other health technologies.
http://www.cadth.ca/index.php/en/home/
Health Canada – drugs and health products: Evidence-based information on
current developments and issues pertaining to drugs and health products in
Canada. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/index_e.html/
Rx files: Objective comparisons for optimal drug therapy (Saskatoon Health
Region). http://www.rxfiles.ca/
Therapeutic Initiatives – evidence-based drug therapy (University of British
Columbia): up-to-date evidence-based practical information on rational drug
therapy. http://www.ti.ubc.ca/
Herbals & Alternative Medicine
NCCAM – National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(US): American Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on
complementary and alternative medicine. http://nccam.nih.gov/
CAMLINE (CAN): Canadian evidence-based website on complementary and
alternative medicine for healthcare professionals and the public.
http://www.camline.ca/
Dietary Supplements Labels Database (US): Information on 4000+ brands of
dietary supplements sold in the United States.
http://dietarysupplements.nlm.nih.gov/dietary/
IBIDS – International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements
(US): Bibliographic citations and abstracts from published international and
Scientific literature on dietary supplements.
http://ods.od.nih.gov/Health_Information/IBIDS.aspx/
Drug Identification
Asksam – OVRDIS (CAN): Database contains a listing of newly-marketed
drugs, medical devices and test kits in Canada; use in conjunction with the CPS.
http://www.asksam.com/ovrdis/product.htm
Electronic Orange Book (US): FDA database of approved drug products with
therapeutic equivalence evaluations. http://www.fda.gov/cder/ob/
Identification of Foreign Medicines: Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s list of
internet sites for identifying foreign medications from various countries.
http://www.rpsgb.org/pdfs/foreignmedicines.pdf
FDA – Food and Drug Administration (US): Information on FDA-regulated
products including food, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, medical
devices, biologics, cosmetics and radiation-emitting products.
http://www.fda.gov/
DrugBank: database of detailed drug data and drug target information
http://www.drugbank.ca/index.html
Drug Information Portal (US): Description of more than 19,000 generic and
brand-name drugs and links to information from authoritative sources.
http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov/drugportal/drugportal.jsp
Pregnancy/Lactation
Motherisk (CAN): From the Hospital for Sick Children, this site is designed for
health professionals on the safety and risk of medications and other exposures
during pregnancy and lactation. http://www.motherisk.org/prof/index.jsp/
LactMed (US): Drugs and lactation database from the National Library of
Medicine. http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT/
Trial Registers
Clinical Trials: Registry of federally and privately-supported clinical trials
conducted in the U.S. and around the world. http://clinicaltrials.gov.
Current Controlled Trials: Search and share information about randomized
control trials. Free registration required. http://www.controlled-trials.com/
IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal: International Federation of Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers and Associations database on clinical trials.
http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org/no_cache/en/myportal/index.htm
World Health Organization: Search portal website that allows searching a
central database of trial registries. http://www.who.int/trialsearch/
FDA Information on Clinical Trials (US): Good clinical practice in FDAregulated
clinical trials. http://www.fda.gov/oc/gcp/
Practice Guidelines
CMA Infobase: Searchable database of Canadian clinical practice guidelines,
produced by the Canadian Medical Association.
http://www.cma.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/54316/la_id/1.htm
Toward Optimal Practice (TOP): Alberta clinical practice guidelines.
http://www.topalbertadoctors.org/cpg.html
National Guideline Clearinghouse: Searchable database of evidence-based
guidelines from research organizations and professional associations.
http://www.guideline.gov/
Compounding
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Compounding Resource
Center (US): Information and resources on compounding standards and
practices.
http://www.ashp.org/Import/PRACTICEANDPOLICY/PracticeResourceCenters/C
ompoundingResourceCenter.aspx
Toronto Sick Kids Manufacturing (CAN): Compounding recipes index for
dosage of drugs for pediatric patients.
http://www.sickkids.ca/Pharmacy/Compounding-Service/index.html
Patient Information
MedlinePlus (US): Consumer health information from the National Library of
Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and other US Government agencies
and health-related organizations. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
Public Health Agency of Canada (CAN): International and national health
advisories, consumer health information, background information on a wide
variety of diseases and conditions. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/index-eng.php
CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Infection (US): Vast amount of
authoritative information on diseases and their prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/
Evidence-Based Practice
The following are resources to help you practice in an evidence-based manner.
Bandolier: The glossary is particularly useful for providing easy to understand
definitions of evidence-based concepts http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/
EBM Toolkit: http://www.ebm.med.ualberta.ca/
Therapeutic Decision Making: build skills related to pharmacotherapeutic
decision-making
http://www.vhpharmsci.com/decisionmaking/Therapeutic_Decision_Making/Fund
amentals.html
John W. Scott Health Sciences Library
University of Alberta
April 2010
