Dept of Health Library: Department of Health Library: Point-of-Care & Evidence-based resources

Point-of-Care Tools

BMJ Best Practice This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
The latest research evidence, guidelines and expert opinion is presented in a step-by-step approach and covering prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis
Essential Evidence Plus This link opens in a new window
Essential Evidence Plus is a powerful, comprehensive clinical decision support system that integrates information on 9,000 diagnoses into healthcare professionals' clinical workflows. This clinical tool, created by an international team of renowned medical experts, was developed for physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals on the front line of patient care.
EE+ features over 13,000 topics, guidelines, abstracts, tools, images, and summaries covering the most common conditions, diseases, and procedures clinicians come in contact with every day. Every recommendation carries a strength-of-evidence rating that accurately grades each recommendation's merit on the basis of all of the evidence available in the relevant literature.
In addition, EE+ links extensively to abstracts of Cochrane Systematic Reviews.

Clinical Guideline Portals

There are many sources of clinical guidelines and standards worldwide, these are a few to get started.

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care : Clinical Care Standards This link opens in a new window
Clinical care standards can play an important role in delivering appropriate care and reducing unwarranted variation, as they identify and define the care people should expect to be offered or receive, regardless of where they are treated in Australia.
The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards This link opens in a new window
The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards provide a nationally consistent statement of the level of care consumers can expect from health service organisations.
Clinician Assist WA This link opens in a new window
This secure website provides GPs and other health professionals with guidance for assessing, managing and referring patients across Western Australia. It has replaced HealthPathways WA.

Previous users must re-register and set up a unique login, as part of the improved security of this new site.
HealthPathways WA This link opens in a new window
The Western Australia HealthPathways site has been discontinued from 14 August 2024. For current guidance, see Clinician Assist WA.
https://clinicianassistwa.org.au.
Living Guidelines This link opens in a new window
Supporting Australia's healthcare professionals with continually updated, evidence-based clinical guidelines.
Our guidelines use the ‘living evidence’ approach, which combines rigorous, evidence-based methods and rapid updating as new research emerges. All guidelines use the GRADE methods and are designed to meet Australian NHMRC standards.

Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) : Clinical Guidelines The Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) is the peak professional body for infectious diseases and clinical microbiology in Australasia. ASID advances the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases, enhancing the lives of everyone, now and into the future.
Cancer Council Australia - Cancer Guidelines Wiki Wiki-based clinical practice guidelines will ultimately improve the standard and consistency of clinical practice according to the best and most recent scientific evidence available. It is a service provided by Cancer Council Australia to inform clinical practice. Unlike written guidelines wiki guidelines are constantly updated as new evidence becomes available and are linked to source abstracts and other evidence-based sites that add to the value of visiting the wiki site.

Guidelines on the management of co-occurring alcohol and other drug and mental health conditions in alcohol and other drug treatment settings (3rd edition) by Marel, Christina et al
ISBN: 9781742105352
Publication Date: 2022
The Guidelines were developed by researchers at the Matilda Centre in consultation with clients, loved ones, clinicians and researchers and offer up-to-date, evidence-based information to assist with the management of co-occurring mental and substance use disorders.

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) This link opens in a new window
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) develops and supports high quality guidelines for clinical practice, public health, environmental health and ethics.
CPG Infobase(Can) This link opens in a new window
The CPG Infobase is a database of evidence-based Canadian clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). Maintained by Joule™, a CMA company, it includes approximately 1,200 CPGs developed or endorsed by authoritative medical or health organizations in Canada
Guidelines International Network - International Guidelines Library This link opens in a new window
The GIN international guideline library and registry of guidelines in development, powered by EBSCO, contains guidelines from across the globe in many languages, both published and in development.
NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) Guidelines (Eng) This link opens in a new window
NICE guidelines are evidence-based recommendations for health and care in England
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) This link opens in a new window

Systematic Reviews

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making, both clinical and economic
PDQ-Evidence This link opens in a new window
PDQ (“pretty darn quick”)-Evidence facilitates rapid access to the best available evidence for decisions about health systems. It includes systematic reviews, broad syntheses of reviews (including evidence-based policy briefs), primary studies included in systematic reviews and structured summaries of that evidence.
The archive version of PDQ-Evidence will remain available until at least December 2024.
New systematic reviews records relevant to decisions about health systems continue to be added to the Epistemonikos Database
PubMed Clinical Queries This link opens in a new window
Allows you to conduct a scoped PubMed search limiting results to clinical study, systematic reviews or medical genetics
Health Evidence This link opens in a new window
Search our 10,008 quality-rated systematic reviews evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of public health interventions. Developed and maintained by the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT), and McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.
Community Guide to Preventive Services (US) This link opens in a new window
Community Preventive Services Task Force, CDC, US Govt. Systematic reviews are used to answer these questions. :
Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective?
Are there effective interventions that are right for my community?
What might effective interventions cost; what is the likely return on investment?
PEDro This link opens in a new window
Physiotherapy Evidence Database. PEDro has been informing physiotherapy practice for over 25 years. It is a free database of over 62,000 trials, reviews and guidelines evaluating physiotherapy interventions.
OTSeeker This link opens in a new window
OTseeker is a database that contains abstracts of systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials and other resources relevant to occupational therapy interventions. Most trials have been critically appraised for their validity and interpretability.

Evidence Databases and Web Portals

NICE (National Institute of Health and Care Excellence) Evidence Search (UK) This link opens in a new window
Evidence search provides access to selected and authoritative evidence in health, social care and public health
TRIP This link opens in a new window
Trip is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care . Searches across a wide range of evidence-based services such as PubMed, premier on-line journals such as BMJ & JAMA, Cochrane, Clinical Guideline portals, DynaMed & more

Consumer Health Websites

Healthdirect Australia This link opens in a new window
Funded by government, Healthdirect Australia is the national virtual public health information service. Our core business is providing 24/7 health information, advice and referral for all Australians no matter where they live or when they need help.

Medline Plus
MedlinePlus is an online health information resource for patients and their families and friends. It is a service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical library, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Department of Health Library: Point-of-Care & Evidence-based resources

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Point-of-Care Tools

Clinical Guideline Portals

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Evidence Databases and Web Portals

Consumer Health Websites

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