LibGuides: Physician Assistant Studies Program: Internet Resources

Online Guides/Tutorials for Conducting Research

AMSTAR
A Measurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews can be used to assess the methodological quality of a systematic review and as a guide to performing a systematic review.
Catalogue of Bias
From the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, information on the different types of biases and their potential impact on interpretation and use of evidence in healthcare decision making.
CINAHL Headings
Tutorial demonstrates how to improve search results by using CINAHL Headings.
Finding What Works in Health Care
From the Institute of Medicine (IOM) downloadable ebook with 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews.
PRISMA
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses; evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses; can be useful for critical appraisal of published systematic reviews.
PubMed Tutorials
PubMed has a complete tutorial course on searching its database as well as brief tutorials on specific topics.

Credible Internet Resources

Below are lists of helpful credible internet resources relevant to Physician Assistant studies. To access the websites, click on the name of a tab, e.g., "Evidence Based Medicine Resources" to view the site links within that category. If you encounter broken links, please report them to Zaria White at zaria.white@lr.edu.

* Please scroll down to view all resources

Internet Resources

Cochrane Reviews
Cochrane is a non-profit organization that summarizes the best evidence from research. Database contains abstracts and summaries of Cochrane systematic reviews.
ECRI Guidelines Trust
Replaces the National Guideline Clearinghouse, provides a web-based repository of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. Requires setting up a free ECRI account.
TRIP
Clinical search engine that searches across multiple Internet sites for evidence-based content. It covers key medical journals, Cochrane Systematic reviews, clinical guidelines, and other highly relevant websites.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Provides evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, and preventive medications.

CenterWatch
Clinical trials information including news, analysis, study grants, career opportunities, and trial listings to professionals and patients.
Clinical Trials.gov
National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine Information on clinical trials for a wide range of diseases and conditions.
European Union Clinical Trials Register
Contains information on interventional clinical trials on medicines dating from 1 May 2004 when national medicine regulatory authorities began populating the EudraCT database. Includes protocol and results information on interventional clinical trials that are conducted in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) and clinical trials conducted outside the EU / EEA that are linked to European paediatric-medicine development.
International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP)
From WHO, a central database containing the trial registration data sets provided by a number of international organizations.
National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials
Registry of clinical trials sponsored or otherwise financially supported by NCI.
NIH Clinical Center Trials
Registry of publicly supported clinical studies conducted mostly at NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD.

CDC: National Center for Health Statistics
Web portal to a vast array of health statistic websites.
NC State Center for Health Statistics
"The North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics is responsible for data collection, health-related research, production of reports and maintenance of a comprehensive collection of health statistics."
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Weekly digest published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that contains data and reports on specific health and safety topics as reported by state and territorial health departments. Includes reports on infectious and chronic diseases, environmental hazards, natural or human-generated disasters, occupational diseases and injuries.

CDC
Resources about diseases, conditions and other special topics, with health immunizations and recommendations for travelers worldwide
Drug Information from NIH
NIH portal to drug information from key US government agencies.
Medscape
Free selected articles from a number of medical journals. Requires free registration.
National Cancer Institute
Comprehensive information on cancer topics, research programs and clinical trials.
National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine
NIH division for scientific research on complementary and alternative medicine.
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Provides information on drug abuse and addiction, ranging from its causes and consequences to its treatment and prevention.
NORD
Advocacy organization for patients and family with rare diseases; advocates for supportive policies, advancing medical research, and providing patient and family services. Site includes information for both patients and clinicians.

American Academy of Physician Assistants
National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants
Physician Assistant Education Association
Physician Assistant History Society
Provides historical resources including an illustrated timeline of PA history (both national and international), oral histories and biographies from pioneers in the field, and historic photos.

Testing

PANCE
Practice resources for the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants' (NCCPA) certification exam from the LearningExpress Library.