Clinical Resources
Free Online Resources
The ECRI Guidelines Trust established in 2018 is a "publicly available online repository of objective, evidence-based clinical practice guideline content". This is currently the best resource for guidelines across healthcare domains. Create a free account to access, search for guidelines, and view original documentation.
Professional Organizations such as the American Heart Association, the National Cancer Institute, the American Psychiatric Association or the American Academy of Pediatrics may post relevant evidence-based medicine reviews or practice guidelines based on evidence-based-practice reviews on their Web sites. Consult individual society websites for specific guidelines. See an abbreviated list of society guideline pages below.
Practice Guidelines from Specific Organizations
Practice Guidelines in Library Databases
In many of the OHSU Library databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, ClinicalKey for Nursing, Nursing Reference Center), you can limit your search to just guidelines.
Look for a filter called "guidelines", "practice guidelines", or "consensus development conference". These filters can be found under
- Publication Types in MEDLINE (PubMed or Ovid)
- Edit Results in CINAHL and Nursing Reference Center
- As a search type in the drop-down menu to the left of the Search Box in ClinicalKey and ClinicalKey for Nursing
UpToDate and Dynamed clinical topics include links to pertinent guidelines in the left column on the topic pages.
- PubMed (MEDLINE) This link opens in a new windowProvides access to the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on medicine, nursing, dentistry and pre-clinical sciences. Links to full-text articles when available.
- CINAHL This link opens in a new windowCitations, abstracts and some full text for nursing & allied health journals. Coverage dates back to 1981.
- ClinicalKey This link opens in a new window
ClinicalKey is a clinical decision-making support tool, which includes clinical overviews, drug monographs, clinical calculators, procedure videos, as well as access to full text journals and over 1,000 ebooks.
For mobile access:
- Set up a Personal Account
- Request Remote Access
- Download the free ClinicalKey app from the Apple App Store or Google Play
- At the Choose Role screen, select ClinicalKey
- Launch the app and log in with your Personal Account credentials
- Nursing Reference Center Plus This link opens in a new window
This evidence-based point-of-care resource includes continuously updated information, based on the best available evidence in nursing, allied health, and biomedical literature, written specifically for nurses to help answer clinical questions. Includes multimedia (e.g. videos and images), nursing management topics, care plans, leadership and management continuing education modules, additional skills, and more. It also contains cultural competencies, patient education, drug information, and reference books, guidelines, core measures, legal cases, and research instruments.
For mobile access:
NOTE: If you have the Nursing Reference Center app installed on your device, you must uninstall it before installing the Nursing Reference Center Plus app.
- Download the free Nursing Reference Center Plus App from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
- Access Nursing Reference Center Plus via the OHSU Library.
- Click on the NRC Plus Mobile App Access link from Nursing Reference Center Plus at the bottom of the page and enter your email address. An authentication key will be emailed to you.
- Open the Nursing Reference Center Plus email from your device.
Within 24 hours, tap on the link in the email to authenticate the app.
Note: If the app is not authenticated after 24 hours, you will need to request a new authentication key.
