Finding and Using Background Sources of Information
What makes a good background source?
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Examples of good sources for background information
Medical Society or Government Agency Guidelines or Short Publications | Flagship Journals | Cornerstone Textbooks | Explicitly titled "Reference Material" | Monographs/ Mongraph Series (special subjects) |
"2015 EPR and EEC Guidelines" (by the American Heart Association). First published in Circulation 132(18) Suppl2. Since updated in the Annual Guidelines Update via the Web-Based Integrated Guidelines. |
Circulation (the official journal of the American Heart Association) 1950-ongoing ISSN: 1524-4539 (web) |
via AccessMedicine ex. Harrison's principles of internal medicine (now on its 20th edition). |
Stedman's Medical Dictionary (we get it via Stat!Ref) | Huntington's Disease (Oxford Mongraphs on Medical Genetics) |
"Clinical Guidelines fot the Use of Chronic Opioid Therapy in Chronic Noncancer Pain" (by the American Pain Society). First Published in the Journal of Pain 10(2). |
The Journal of Pain (the official journal of the American Pain Society) 1992-ongoing |
via ClinicalKey ex. Cellular and Mocleular Biology (by Abbas et al, now on its 9th edition) |
MedlinePlus (maintained online by the National Library of Medicine) | Making Sense of Organization Change in Healthcare (Routledge Studies in Health Managemenr) |
"2012 ACCF/AATS/SCAI/STS expert consensus document on transcatheter aortic valve replacement" (by a collaboration of multiple societies). First published in the the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 144(3). |
Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (the product of several related societies and foundations) 1959-ongoing
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via LWW Health Library ex. Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy (now on it's 8th edition) |
A Manual of Orthopaedic Terminology (8th edition) | Translational Control in Biology an Medicine (Cold Spring Harbor Monograph Series 48) |
"Guidelines for Inclusion of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Clinical Trial Protocols: The SPIRIT-PRO Extension" by the equator network and published in JAMA 319(5). |
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) 1883-present |
via R2 Digital Library ex. Practical Radiology, 1st edition (Weber et al, 2013) |
Dictionary of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (Hancock & Zvelebil, 2004). | |
CDC Health Information for International Travel 2018 (aka the Yellow Book 2018) (published by The Centers for Disease Control) |
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via Thieme MedOne Education Books ex. Clinical Tests for the Musculoskeletal System, 3rd edition (Buckup & Buckup, 2016) |
The MD Anderson Manual of Medical Oncology (3rd edition) | |
Roadmap to Residency: Understanding the Process of Getting into Residency (published by American Association of Medical Colleges, 2017) |
via ProQuest Ebook Central ex. Realizing the promise of precision medicine: the role of patient data, mobile technology, and consumer engagement (Cerrato & Malamka, 2018). |
Harriet Lane Handbook of Pediatric Antimicrobial Therapy (2nd edition). | ||
via ScienceDirect ex. Abernathy's Surgical Secrets (now on its 7th edition) |
A Dictionary of Public Health (Last JM, 2006, Oxford University Press). | |||
via Books@Ovid ex. Abrams' Angiography: Interventional Radiology (now on its 3rd edition) |
Encylopedia of Survey Research Methods (2 volumes, 2008, Lavrakas PJ) | |||
via Wiley Online Library ex. Holland Frei Cancer Medicine (now on its 9th edition) |
* Monograph: A relatively short book or on a single subject, complete in one physical piece, usually written by a specialist in the field (ODLIS)
Portions of this page have been mapped from our Authoritative Sources of Background Information Library Guide. Visit the guide for more details.