Nursing / Physician Assistant Resources

• PubMed
  Citations and abstracts for articles published in approximately 8,400 journals in medicine, life sciences, health administration, veterinary medicine, nursing, molecular biology and genetics. PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Coverage: 1946-present
  Tutorial on Using PubMed for Nurses

• Ovid MEDLINE 
  This is Ovid’s search interface to the MEDLINE database. See the information on PubMed above. MEDLINE is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Coverage: 1946-present

• CINAHL Complete  (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature)
  References and abstracts on nursing, biomedical, allied health and consumer health literature. Also includes health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of practice, educational software, audiovisuals and book chapters, as well as Evidence-Based care sheets.Coverage: 1982-

• Embase
  Elsevier Embase is a biomedical and pharmacological database containing bibliographic records with citations, abstracts and indexing derived from biomedical articles in peer reviewed journals, and is especially strong in its coverage of drug and pharmaceutical research and conference abstracts. Embase contains over 22 million records spanning 1974-present, with over 1 million records added annually. The Embase journal collection is international with over 7,500 active peer-reviewed journals more than 90 countries. All MEDLINE records produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) are included, as well as over 5 million records not covered in MEDLINE.Coverage: 1974-current (for EMBASE records); 1966-current (for MEDLINE records)

• Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Database of Evidence Based Practice 
  The Joanna Briggs Institute’s Evidence Based Practice database of systematic reviews complements those found in the Cochrane Library. The Joanna Briggs Institute, an international not-for-profit research and development organization, “develops evidence in various formats for nursing, allied health and medical professionals as well as support information for consumers.” It was established in Adelaide, South Australia in 1996, and collaborates internationally with over 70 entities world-wide.  Included in the Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database is a comprehensive range of resources including over 3,000 records across seven publication types: *Evidence Summaries — Literature reviews that summarize existing international literature on common healthcare interventions and activities *Evidence-Based Recommended Practices — Database of procedures that describe and/or recommend practice on various clinical topics *Best Practice Information Sheets

• Scopus
  Scopus, a large interdisciplinary resource, indexes, selectively abstracts and provides citation analysis for approximately 20,000 peer-reviewed journals from more than 5,000 international publishers, as well as 2,600 open access journals, published sets of conference proceedings, trade publications and millions of selected web pages. Scopus’ 50 million records consist of: 29 million records, including references, going back to 1995 (84% include abstracts)and 21 million pre-1996 records going back as far as 1823. Scopus also cross-searches 25.2 million patents from five patent offices (US Patent & Trademark Office, European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Organization and the UK Intellectual Property Office) Coverage extends across disciplines in the life and health sciences, the physical sciences, the social sciences and the arts and humanities. Scopus also provides tools designed to support research collaboration and assess journal quality.

• SportDiscus [via EBSCO]
  PLEASE NOTE: only 4 simultaneous user access — please EXIT when finished.SPORTDiscus is the world’s leading database in sport, health, fitness and sports medicine. SportDiscus has over 1.5 million qualified references from thousands of international periodicals, books, e-journals, conference proceedings, theses, dissertations, and websites that focus on different areas involving sport, including: sport sciences, engineering, psychology, administration, sociology, history, coaching, training, physical education, physical fitness, health and recreation.Coverage: 1830-Present

• Web of Science [via Web of Knowledge]
  Provides access to the content from three Thomson Reuters ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) Citation Databases: Science Citation Index Expanded; Social Sciences Citation Index; Arts & Humanities Citation Index.Coverage: 1900-present [Science 1899-, Social Sciences 1900-, Arts & Humanities 1975-]

• Google Scholar
  Google Scholar searches for scholarly literature on the web, including “peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports..from a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities.” Often articles cited in Google Scholar results are available to UC Davis users through electronic journal and database subscriptions that the Library has licensed and paid for.

• Cochrane Library
  A collection of databases containing the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, the Cochrane Review Methodology Database and information about the Cochrane Collaboration

• Health and Psychosocial Instruments [via Ovid] (HAPI)
  HAPI is an index to journal articles and other sources about measurement tools used in in the health fields, psychosocial sciences, organizational behavior, and library and information science. HAPI includes citations to questionnaires, interview schedules, checklists, index measures, coding schemes/ manuals, rating scales, projective techniques, vignettes/scenarios, tests.Coverage: 1985 to date, with many earlier measures

• PsycINFO [via Proquest]
  PsycINFO is a department of the American Psychological Association (APA). It provides citations to articles in professional journals, conference proceedings, books, reports, dissertations and even important internet sites in psychology and related disciplines, most with abstracts and some citations.Coverage: 1840-present

• PAIS International Database [via Proquest]
  Indexes all types of materials in the area of public affairs and public policy – journal articles, books and book chapters, reports, government documents. Topics include agriculture, banking, demographics, education, environment, finance, government, health, law, legislation, political science, social sciences, and statistics.Coverage: 1972-present

• Dissertation Abstracts International / Dissertations & Theses [via ProQuest]
  Online access to citations and abstracts for every title in the UMI Dissertation Abstracts database; since 1997, provides full-text access to dissertations (for non-UC dissertations provides free access to 20% of the document, and allows purchase of remaining content). Access is free to UC Campus dissertations.

• Dissertations & Theses at University of California
  This is a subset of ProQuest Dissertations & Theses International. It is comprised only of those dissertations and theses completed in the UC System. Access to the full text of the dissertations and theses is available through this database.

• Open Access Theses and Dissertations
  OATD currently indexes over 1.5 million open access international graduate theses and dissertations.  Metadata from over 600 colleges, universities, and research institutions.
• Nursing Commons
  Open Access repository containing theses, dissertations, DNP capstone projects, and other content from selected institutions
• Sigma Repository  The Sigma Repository (formerly the Virginia Henderson Global Nursing e-Repository) is the only repository solely dedicated to sharing works created by nurses around the world. It is an open digital academic and clinical focused service that freely collects, preserves, and disseminates full-text nursing research, educational, and evidence-based practice materials in a variety of formats and item types. The repository is a resource of Sigma Theta Tau International (Sigma).
• Sigma Repository External Resource Center  Resource links in this list are compiled from well-established professional nursing and health organizations, or governmental agencies, and must be related to the field of nursing, nurse education, and/or nursing research to be accepted for inclusion.
• Global Health
  “Global Health brings together the resources of two internationally renowned databases – the Public Health and Tropical Medicine (PHTM) database, previously produced by the Bureau of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases (BHTD), and the human health and diseases information extracted from CAB Abstracts. Global Health provides an alternative, complementary point of reference with a broad analysis of foreign language journals, books, research reports, patents and standards, dissertations, conference proceedings, annual reports, public health, developing country information, and other difficult to obtain material.”

• UpToDate
  UpToDate is a point of care clinical medicine database, providing coverage of over 8500 topics in 17 medical specialties and includes over 97,000 pages of text. From the “About UpToDate” webpage: “Our physician editors and authors review and update our content continuously. An updated version of UpToDate is released every four months.”

• ProQuest Statistical Insight
  ProQuest Statistical Insight combines Index and abstract records previously available from print indexes: American Statistics Index (ASI) from 1973, and Index to International Statistics (IIS)from 1980. ProQuest Statistical Insight enables searching indexes and tables for statistics produced by the U.S. government and major international organizations. The database includes some statistical tables as well as abstracts, or summaries, of statistical publications. The Library has many of the publications indexed in print or electronic format.

• Compendex [via Engineering Village 2]
  Relevant to nursing for informatics-related issues such as the technical aspects of the EMR, decision support applications, etc.  Most comprehensive bibliographic database of engineering research literature (including computer science and informatics), containing references to over 5000 engineering journals and conferences. Coverage: 1884-present

• ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) [via Proquest]
  The ERIC Database indexes and abstracts education and education related journals, studies and reports, with links to full-text studies and reports from 1993 forward. Coverage: 1966-present

• LexisNexis Academic 
  One of the largest web-based full-text databases for current news, business and legal information, supporting a broad range of interdisciplinary research, LexisNexis Academic provides full-text access to nearly 6,000 individual titles. Includes a wide range of U.S. and foreign newspapers, plus transcripts of television and radio news programs. Business resources include business articles, accounting literature, company financial information. Legal resources include state and federal laws and regulations, a full range of case law, and law review articles

Clinical Medicine Book Collections

 Library catalogs

Sample Searches

Nursing Theory Websites

• Cardinal Stritch University Library’s Nursing Theory Website
  Provides a bibliographical approach to individual nursing theorists.
• Jones and Bartlett Nursing Theory Art Gallery
• Nurseslabs A Guide to Nursing Theories
• Nursology.net      Nursology.net is a web site for nurse scholars, developed and maintained by nurse scholars. Specifically, the web site is a repository for resources about nursing conceptual models, grand theories, middle-range theories, and situation-specific theories, and associated methodologies

• USD: Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science
  USD provides an excellent place to begin research on nursing theory.

Nursing Related Legislation on the Web

• ANA: Advocacy: State
• ANA: Advocacy: Federal
  US and state legistation information of interest to nurses.
• California Nurses Association: Legislative Advocacy
  California legistation information of interest to nurses.

EndNote with UCD-eLinks

EndNote with Google Scholar

Nursing Clinical Practice Guidelines.

The EVIDENCE PYRAMID is often used to illustrate the development of evidence. At the base of the pyramid is animal research and laboratory studies – this is where ideas are first developed. As you progress up the pyramid the amount of information available decreases in volume, but increases in relevance to the clinical setting.

Meta Analysis – systematic review that uses quantitative methods to synthesize and summarize the results.

Systematic Review – summary of the medical literature that uses explicit methods to perform a comprehensive literature search and critical appraisal of individual studies and that uses appropriate statistical techniques to combine these valid studies.

Randomised Controlled Trial – Participants are randomly allocated into an experimental group or a control group and followed over time for the variables/outcomes of interest.

Cohort Study – Involves identification of two groups (cohorts) of patients, one which received the exposure of interest, and one which did not, and following these cohorts forward for the outcome of interest.

Case Control Study – study which involves identifying patients who have the outcome of interest (cases) and patients without the same outcome (controls), and looking back to see if they had the exposure of interest.

Case Series – report on a series of patients with an outcome of interest. No control group is involved.  (Definitions from CEBM)

• AAPA American Academy of PAs                                                                                                Founded in 1968, the American Academy of PAs is the national professional society for PAs. It represents a profession of more than 131,000 PAs across all medical and surgical specialties in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and the uniformed services.
• ARC-PA (Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc.  The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) is the accrediting agency that protects the interests of the public and PA profession by defining the standards for PA education and evaluating PA educational programs within the territorial United States to ensure their compliance with those standards.
• National Commission for the Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA)                   The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants is the only certifying organization for physician assistants in the United States. Established as a not-for-profit organization in 1974, NCCPA is dedicated to assuring the public that certified PAs meet established standards of clinical knowledge and cognitive skills upon entry into practice and throughout their careers. All U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories have decided to rely on NCCPA certification as one of the criteria for licensure or regulation of PAs. As of Dec. 31, 2018, there were approximately 131,000 certified PAs.
• Physician Assistant History Society

• The Physician Assistant History Society, Inc., is dedicated to the history and legacy of the physician assistant profession through the identification and collection of appropriate papers, manuscripts, magazine and newspaper clippings, newsletters, reports, dissertations, oral histories, and visual artifacts, such as films, slides, videos, photographs, and digital images.

• Physicianassistantedu.org                                                                                                                 This website is comprised of licensing guides, details on pursuing a specialty area of practice, earning a certificate of added qualification (CAQ), preparing for the PANCE exam and salary data that will help individuals get in to and advance in their career.
• PAEA Physician Assistant Education Association                                                                PAEA is the only national organization representing physician assistant educational programs in the United States. Currently, all of the accredited programs in the country are members of the Association. PAEA provides services for faculty at its member programs, as well as to applicants, students, and other stakeholders.  The Association was founded in 1972 as the Association of Physician Assistant Programs. Member programs voted to adopt the current name in 2005.