Selected Free Online Resources from University of Alberta
DailyMed Advanced Search Medicines Micromedex UpToDate
Databases/Search Engines Pubmed: Medline database from 1950-present.
Cochrane Library: High quality systematic reviews and citations for reappraised trials.
TRIP – Turning Research into Practice: One-stop shopping for the highest quality material available on the web to support evidence-based practice.
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.
Google Scholar: Google’s search engine for finding scholarly information.
Drug Information Resources A Guide for Pharmacists: Dalhousie University’s pathfinder to reference resources useful to pharmacists.
Journals and Books American Medical Association Journals: Free access from 6-12 months after publication to a variety of medical journals (including JAMA).
BioMed Central: Open access to a collection of peer-reviewed biomedical research journals.
PubMed Central: US National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.
PubMed Central Canada: CIHR and NRC CISTI’s free digital archive of health and life sciences journal literature.
PLOS – Public Library of Science: Collection of open access journals.
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).
DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Health Sciences Journals: 550+ journals in Dentistry, Medicine, Public Health and Nursing.
Canadian Medical Association Journal: Leading health sciences journal in Canada. Free access 1911-present.
Emedicine: Open access comprehensive medical textbook for all clinical fields.
The Merck Manual Online: The online version of one of the most widely used medical reference books.
Free Books for Doctors: More than 630 medical textbooks.
Bookshelf: Biomedical books. National Center for Biotechnology Information.
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.
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.
Health Canada – drugs and health products: Evidence-based information on current developments and issues pertaining to drugs and health products in Canada.
Rx files: Objective comparisons for optimal drug therapy (Saskatoon Health Region).
Therapeutic Initiatives – evidence-based drug therapy (University of British Columbia): up-to-date evidence-based practical information on rational drug therapy.
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.
CAMLINE (CAN): Canadian evidence-based website on complementary and alternative medicine for healthcare professionals and the public.
Dietary Supplements Labels Database (US): Information on 4000+ brands of dietary supplements sold in the United States.
IBIDS – International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (US): Bibliographic citations and abstracts from published international and Scientific literature on dietary supplements.
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.
Electronic Orange Book (US): FDA database of approved drug products with therapeutic equivalence evaluations.
Identification of Foreign Medicines: Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s list of internet sites for identifying foreign medications from various countries.
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.
DrugBank: database of detailed drug data and drug target information
Drug Information Portal (US): Description of more than 19,000 generic and brand-name drugs and links to information from authoritative sources.
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.
LactMed (US): Drugs and lactation database from the National Library of Medicine.
Trial Registers Clinical Trials: Registry of federally and privately-supported clinical trials conducted in the U.S. and around the world.
Current Controlled Trials: Search and share information about randomized control trials. Free registration require.
IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal: International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations database on clinical trials.
World Health Organization: Search portal website that allows searching a central database of trial registries.
FDA Information on Clinical Trials (US): Good clinical practice in FDAregulated clinical trials.
Practice Guidelines
CMA Infobase: Searchable database of Canadian clinical practice guidelines, produced by the Canadian Medical Association.
Toward Optimal Practice (TOP): Alberta clinical practice guidelines.
National Guideline Clearinghouse: Searchable database of evidence-based guidelines from research organizations and professional associations.
Compounding
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Compounding Resource Center (US): Information and resources on compounding standards and practices.
Toronto Sick Kids Manufacturing (CAN): Compounding recipes index for dosage of drugs for pediatric patients.
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.
Public Health Agency of Canada (CAN): International and national health advisories, consumer health information, background information on a wide variety of diseases and conditions.
CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Infection (US): Vast amount of authoritative information on diseases and their prevention.
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
EBM Toolkit:
Therapeutic Decision Making: build skills related to pharmacotherapeutic decision-making
John W. Scott Health Sciences Library
University of Alberta
April 2010
DailyMed Advanced Search Medicines Micromedex UpToDate
Databases/Search Engines Pubmed: Medline database from 1950-present.
Cochrane Library: High quality systematic reviews and citations for reappraised trials.
TRIP – Turning Research into Practice: One-stop shopping for the highest quality material available on the web to support evidence-based practice.
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.
Google Scholar: Google’s search engine for finding scholarly information.
Drug Information Resources A Guide for Pharmacists: Dalhousie University’s pathfinder to reference resources useful to pharmacists.
Journals and Books American Medical Association Journals: Free access from 6-12 months after publication to a variety of medical journals (including JAMA).
BioMed Central: Open access to a collection of peer-reviewed biomedical research journals.
PubMed Central: US National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.
PubMed Central Canada: CIHR and NRC CISTI’s free digital archive of health and life sciences journal literature.
PLOS – Public Library of Science: Collection of open access journals.
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).
DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Health Sciences Journals: 550+ journals in Dentistry, Medicine, Public Health and Nursing.
Canadian Medical Association Journal: Leading health sciences journal in Canada. Free access 1911-present.
Emedicine: Open access comprehensive medical textbook for all clinical fields.
The Merck Manual Online: The online version of one of the most widely used medical reference books.
Free Books for Doctors: More than 630 medical textbooks.
Bookshelf: Biomedical books. National Center for Biotechnology Information.
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.
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.
Health Canada – drugs and health products: Evidence-based information on current developments and issues pertaining to drugs and health products in Canada.
Rx files: Objective comparisons for optimal drug therapy (Saskatoon Health Region).
Therapeutic Initiatives – evidence-based drug therapy (University of British Columbia): up-to-date evidence-based practical information on rational drug therapy.
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.
CAMLINE (CAN): Canadian evidence-based website on complementary and alternative medicine for healthcare professionals and the public.
Dietary Supplements Labels Database (US): Information on 4000+ brands of dietary supplements sold in the United States.
IBIDS – International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements (US): Bibliographic citations and abstracts from published international and Scientific literature on dietary supplements.
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.
Electronic Orange Book (US): FDA database of approved drug products with therapeutic equivalence evaluations.
Identification of Foreign Medicines: Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s list of internet sites for identifying foreign medications from various countries.
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.
DrugBank: database of detailed drug data and drug target information
Drug Information Portal (US): Description of more than 19,000 generic and brand-name drugs and links to information from authoritative sources.
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.
LactMed (US): Drugs and lactation database from the National Library of Medicine.
Trial Registers Clinical Trials: Registry of federally and privately-supported clinical trials conducted in the U.S. and around the world.
Current Controlled Trials: Search and share information about randomized control trials. Free registration require.
IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal: International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations database on clinical trials.
World Health Organization: Search portal website that allows searching a central database of trial registries.
FDA Information on Clinical Trials (US): Good clinical practice in FDAregulated clinical trials.
Practice Guidelines
CMA Infobase: Searchable database of Canadian clinical practice guidelines, produced by the Canadian Medical Association.
Toward Optimal Practice (TOP): Alberta clinical practice guidelines.
National Guideline Clearinghouse: Searchable database of evidence-based guidelines from research organizations and professional associations.
Compounding
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Compounding Resource Center (US): Information and resources on compounding standards and practices.
Toronto Sick Kids Manufacturing (CAN): Compounding recipes index for dosage of drugs for pediatric patients.
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.
Public Health Agency of Canada (CAN): International and national health advisories, consumer health information, background information on a wide variety of diseases and conditions.
CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Infection (US): Vast amount of authoritative information on diseases and their prevention.
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
EBM Toolkit:
Therapeutic Decision Making: build skills related to pharmacotherapeutic decision-making
John W. Scott Health Sciences Library
University of Alberta
April 2010