In clinical care settings, clinic resources are the digital libraries, apps, websites, and other information sources that nursing staff (and other healthcare providers) access to support patient care. These resources offer high-quality, accurate clinical information to foster safe care practices and patient wellbeing.
Despite how helpful clinical resources can be, research shows that in practice, nurses frequently turn to their peers for information. While exchanges between colleagues can be productive in some cases, they may also spread misinformation and create barriers to evidence-based practice (EBP). That's why it's a great idea to encourage staff to reference current, research-based clinical information and make these essential resources readily available.
Here are five top health information websites, apps, and databases that every clinical care facility can benefit from.
What Types of Clinic Resources Are Available?
Here are the types of clinical information resources commonly used by healthcare professionals.
- Drug databases offer clinicians up-to-date guidance for medication administration, such as safe dosage parameters, routes, contraindications, interactions, and potential side effects.
- Clinical decision support resources help clinicians make and confirm diagnosis, check protocols, and access aggregated recommendations.
- Point-of-care tools help clinicians make informed, evidence-based decisions at the bedside.
- Patient education resources help clinicians effectively engage with patients to promote understanding about a disease, condition, or treatments.
- Evidence-based practice libraries help clinicians integrate EBP into clinical practice.
How to Get Clinical Resources for Your Healthcare Team
While some of the best resources available to healthcare workers are free, others require a one-time purchase or ongoing subscription. Paid clinical tools and resources are often worth the cost when improved care quality, increased clinician productivity, and reduced error rates are considered.
The Top 5 Resources for Your Clinical Care Team
High-quality clinic resources offer providers vetted, trustworthy information that's routinely reviewed and updated. The best resources are also user-friendly, allowing providers to quickly and easily get the answers they need. Here are five resources that will help your team provide safe and effective care.
1. The Lippincott Nursing Drug Handbook App
There are thousands of prescription drugs, and though nurses get familiar with the common ones, they can't memorize every quality of every medication. While Electronic Health Record (EHR) platforms integrate medication information into workflows, nurses are responsible for taking additional steps to verify safe administration.
Whether a nurse needs to double check that a pill can safely get crushed into applesauce or that it won't create particulates if piggybacked with a particular type of IV fluid, quick access to trustworthy and current drug information is crucial. The Lippincott Nursing Drug Handbook App is highly regarded in the industry as a comprehensive, accurate source. In addition to providing users with critical information about medications, it also offers real-time FDA updates to keep clinicians on the leading edge.
Tips:
- Consider negotiating the purchase of a group license that allows the appropriate staff members to download and access the app for free.
- Some healthcare systems invest in an entire suite of Lippincott healthcare resources, including Lippincott Procedures and Lippincott Advisor, and integrate the content into their EHR systems.
2. DynaMed
This resource, owned by EBSCO, offers physician-written, evidence-based guidance for clinicians. The information is presented in a streamlined format, allowing clinicians to quickly access the information they need, even if they're in the middle of a discussion with a patient.
It functions as a clinical decision support resource and a point-of-care tool. The clear, streamlined presentation of clinical information also supports patient education efforts, because clinicians can quickly answer their own questions about conditions and relay the information to their patients. It's purchased through a subscription model.
Tips:
- Healthcare organizations can opt for a group subscription rate.
- DynaMed can be particularly useful in community-based, primary-care settings, where providers need access to foundational information about a wide range of conditions.
3. UpToDate
This is the other big-hitting clinical decision support resource. It offers in-depth, evidence-based content on thousands of clinical topics in a range of specialties. Because of the textbook-like quality of the content, some providers prefer this resource for complex clinical cases. It can serve as a point-of-care resource used during patient interactions, or to deepen understanding of conditions between cases.
Nurses can use UpToDate as a source for clear, concise explanations of thousands of diseases and conditions to aid in patient education. Similar to other clinical resources, it can be purchased as a group subscription to cut costs.
Tips:
- This resource can be used on the web or via mobile app. Encourage clinicians to bookmark the UpToDate website at their workstation desktops and download the app on the phone they use at work.
- It can also be integrated into leading EHR systems.
4. MedlinePlus
This resource, developed by the National Library of Medicine, is widely considered one of the best medical websites for patients seeking health information. It functions as an online encyclopedia of diagnosis and medical terms, allowing patients to conveniently search and learn on their own schedule. Due to its popularity, clinicians often use MedlinePlus alongside their patients as they discuss diagnosis, develop treatment plans, and set health goals. This website is free to use.
Tips:
- This is an excellent resource for patient education material because the content is written with minimal medical jargon.
- The National Library of Medicine also offers MedlinePlus Connect, a free resource that can be integrated into patient portals and EHR systems for increased efficiency.
5. PubMed
This resource, also offered by the National Library of Medicine, connects clinicians to health research (either as abstracts or full-text articles). It's one of the best medical information websites for accessing scholarly articles. When used with discernment, it can help nurses find informative, peer-reviewed research.
Encouraging your team to use PubMed may promote EBP, especially within a shared governance model. Nurses may not have time during a typical shift to sit down and sift through research articles. Rather, familiarity with this resource is beneficial when targeted needs arise. For example, nursing committees often rely on research to justify changes to traditional workflows.
Tips:
- Studies show that many nurses lack the web searching skills needed for productive use of resources like MedlinePlus and PubMed. It's important to provide training to help nursing staff know when, why, and how to use this resource.
- Encourage nursing staff to use this resource to back up quality improvement initiatives.
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