Physician Assistant Toolkit
Bibliographic Databases
Bibliographic databases consist of collections of citations (many with abstracts) to journal articles. They allow the user to search by keyword, author name, journal name, or by subject heading.
Biological Abstracts Includes citations and some abstracts from over 6500 international life sciences journals. Fields covered include: biology, botany, zoology, biotechnology, and environmental studies. Coverage: 1990-present. Updated: Quarterly
Biomed Central BioMedCentral publishes peer-reviewed, primary research articles across all areas of biology and medicine, including access to over 60 specialist journals, news, editorials, and commentaries.
CINAHL (Ebsco) Provides access to journal citations for nursing and health care topics.
Cochrane Controlled Trials Register CCTR is a bibliographic database of definitive controlled trials. These controlled trials have been identified by the distinguished contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration. They and others, as part of an international effort to search the world's health care journals (and other sources of information) systematically, have combined results to create an unbiased source of data for systematic reviews.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Full text of regularly updated systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare, prepared by The Cochrane Collaboration.
DARE: Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness DARE is a Full Text database containing critical assessments of systematic reviews from a variety of medical journals.
EBM Reviews-Fulltext This multifile database allows you to search simultaneously the three Evidence Based Medicine Reviews databases: ACP Journal Club (ACP), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), and Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE).
EPI Info Download the software and develop a questionnaire or form, customize the data entry process, and enter and analyze data.
ERIC Citations and abstracts to articles in over 780 educational research and education-related journals and to ERIC (Educational Resource Information Center) Documents. Includes research findings, project and technical reports, speeches, unpublished manuscripts, curriculum guides, and books. Coverage: 1966-present. Updated: Monthly.
International Pharmaceutical Abstracts Provides worldwide coverage of pharmaceutical science and health related literature. Comprehensive information is included for drug therapy, toxicity, and pharmacy practice as well as legislation, regulation, technology, utilizations, biopharmaceutics, information processing, education, economics, and ethics as related to pharmaceutical science and practice. Coverage: 1970 to present. Updated: Monthly.
ISI Web of Science Contains three ISI Citation Databases (Sciences, Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences), which together index over 8,000 peer-reviewed journals. Provides bibliographic data, author abstracts, and cited references. Useful for searching databases for articles that cite a known author or work. Citation searching also allows you to use a given work as a subject term in order to identify more recent articles about the same topic. Coverage: 1974-present.
LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe Contains full text access to a wide range of news, country profiles, business and company information, legal research databases, and some general medical/health and reference sources.
Medline (PubMed) Produced by the National Library of Medicine's (NLM). Covers 3,800 international journals in the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, health care systems, and preclinical sciences. Primary source for technical medical information. Coverage: 1966-present. Updated: Monthly.
Mental Measurements Yearbook Contains descriptions of nearly 1900 commercially published standardized educational, personality, vocational aptitude, and psychological tests. It provides authors, publishers, time requirements, score descriptions, intended populations, validity/reliability data, and critical reviews.
PsycInfo Provides comprehensive coverage for the field of psychology from over 45 countries. Contains abstracts from articles, books, book chapters, journals, dissertations, and other sources. Coverage: 1887-present. Updated: Monthly.
Physician Assistant Journals
Advance for Physician Assistants: Online Edition This is a peer-reviewed journal.
Internet Journal of Academic Physician Assistants This is a peer-reviewed journal.
JAAPA Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants Published monthly.
Physician Assistant Organizations
Student Academy of the American Academy of Physician Assistants - provides "clinical pearls" organized by specialty; "survival skills" a forum where PA students trade helpful information on making it in school; and "hyperlinks" to other medical organizations' web sites.
Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants Scholarship information is available.
Association of Neurosurgical Physician Assistants The Association of Neurosurgical Physician Assistants (ANSPA) was formed in 1990 and currently has over 250 members nationwide.
Association of Physician Assistants in Cardiovascular Surgery promotes the educational and professional interests of cardiothoracic and vascular Physician Assistants. The Association's primary objectives are to promote clinical academic excellence for its members and to enhance quality medical care to patients.
North Carolina Medical Society Membership in the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) makes you a part of a dynamic network of 11,000 medical students, residents, practicing physicians, retired physicians and physician assistants who represent organized medicine at its best. NCMS members enjoy powerful representation on legislative issues, managed care resources and consultation, and discounts on personal and professional products and services.
Society of Dermatology Physician Assistants Site created to promote the field of dermatology to physician assistants.
Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants The Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants (SEMPA) is the national organization representing the 5,000 physician assistants (PA) currently practicing emergency medicine.
Style Guides
MP Letter of Advisor Support Format (.doc)
Writing a literature review (University of Toronto) http://www.hswriting.ca/handouts/lit-review.asp
How to write a literature review. (University of California, Santa Cruz) http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/literaturereview.html
Writing an Abstract in the Health Sciences and Social Work (U. of Toronto) http://www.hswriting.ca/handouts/abstract.asp
How to cite electronic resources (APA Style) http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
On-line guide to scientific Publication – producing the manuscript (CFA International) http://www.cfa-international.org/ONGSWmanu.html#top
Biomedical Modules Online Course (Select Option 2 [CITI program] - You will get a form at the end that says you have completed the program and will list of the modules. Print this and send a copy to the PA Program MP Director's attention.)
How to read a paper http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7102/243
"Instructions to Authors" Page Catalog http://mulford.mco.edu/instr/
How to Write Papers - George Lundberg http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/515525?src=top10 (will need MedScape username/pwd)
Print
(located in Carpenter Library)
AMA manual of style: A guide for authors and editors
2007
Carpenter Library Reference Room Collection
WZ 345 A512s 2007
Click to check catalog
Standards and conventions that most all medical publications follow.
National Library of Medicine recommended formats for bibliographic citations / Karen Patrias
1991
Carpenter Library Reference Room--Ready Reference Shelf
WZ 345 P314n 1991
Click to check catalog
Provides assistance to authors in compiling references for their publications.
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
2001
Carpenter Library Reference Room Collection
WZ 345 A514p 2001
Click to check catalog
Guidelines from the American Psychological Association.
Internet Style Guides
Columbia Guide to Online Style From Columbia University Press, this page includes the Elements of Citation, Documenting Sources in the Text, and Preparing the Bibliographic Material.
Instructions to Authors in the Health Sciences This list from the Ohio Medical College Health Sciences Library contains links to Web sites which provide instructions to authors for over 3,000 journals in the health sciences. All links are to "primary sources," that is, to sites of publishers or organizations having editorial responsibilities for particular titles.
List of Serials Indexed for Online Users Available from the National Library of Medicine, this is an electronic version of the publication that provides complete bibliographic information on serials cited in Medline (PubMed). This is the standard for all biomedical journal abbreviations.
National Library of Medicine Recommended Formats for Bibliographic Citations - Internet Formats The site, from the National Library of Medicine, provides the user with the recommended bibliographic formats for a variety of Internet resources.
Web Extension to American Psychological Association Style Web Extensions to American Psychological Association Style (WEAPAS) is the proposed standard for referencing online documents in scientific publications.
PA Job Opportunities Database
PA Jobs - updated as new listing are received