Toolbox essentials
| Type of sources | Examples | Comments | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary sources | PubMed | Article searches are needed to find answers to questions May be difficult to use at the point of care in a busy practice Workflow reminders to look up this information at the end of each day promote lifelong learning | Federal government |
| Pharmaco-therapy | Lexicomp, ePocrates | Practical information about medications such as indications, dosage, adverse reactions, and drug interactions | Advertising, subscription, data sharing |
| Medical calculators | MDCalc | Tools to calculate cardiovascular risk, medication dosage adjustment in renal insufficiency, sodium replacement in hyponatremia, more | Unclear |
| Guidelines databases | National Guideline Clearing House, USPSTF | A searchable collection of guidelines developed by various government-funded or professional societies which allow side-by-side comparisons and ratings for strength of evidence for individual recommendations | Federal government |
| Systematic reviews of medical evidence | Cochrane Collaboration, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination | Provide high-quality up-to-date syntheses of research evidence Robust and unbiased information to help clinicians make decisions | Subscription, university |
| Evidence search tools | PubMed | Clinical queries provide busy clinicians fast access to reliable clinical studies using preset research methodology filters Designed to find those few “good” articles that can help us make decisions at the point of care | Federal government |
| Online textbooks | Access Medicine, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine | Easily accessible and updated more frequently than their print versions Additional features such as multimedia materials, search capabilities, and ability to share notes turn these into excellent resources, especially for questions that often come up when working with residents or students | Subscription |
| Online texts and summary sources | Dynamed, UpToDate, Clinical Evidence | Fast clinical answers at the point of care Can be accessed from desktop or mobile devices | Subscription |
| Internet search | Wikipedia, Google | An Internet search not directly in a medical reference can provide more information including that from patients and industry, but reliability and validity can limit use without discrimination of results Google searches can replicate findings from summary sources in speed and accuracy9 | Donations (Wikipedia), advertising (Google) |