What sources do nurses use to stay informed of new medical research?

Nurses General Nursing

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To stay at the top of our careers, nurses must stay informed on new techniques, drugs, research, etc. Hospitals subscribe to uptodate and it's a nice reference tool, but I have to know to check it myself just to see if there's anything new - and the info isn't that new by today's standards. Medinfonow.com sends me an email each Friday with info related to my specialty, and that works great since it comes right to me and I just click links to get right into the newest research. But their info is only pulled from Medline Plus and Doody's book reviews. So while it's very valuable and worth keeping, I want more. Can you all share with me what else is out there so I can add to my knowledge base - preferably by having it delivered to me? Thanks.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Delivered to you......would you like it uploaded too??? Really.....that sounds a little....entitled. I'm sure that's not how you meant it....

Sites like this....google, your specialties publications, CEU's......anything good requires effort...

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Specializes in School Nurse.

google scholar.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Medical Research, Periop.

Other than CEUs, you can subscribe to a nursing journal like AJN and have it mailed to your home with a subscription.

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Come on, life is busy :) I'd like everything delivered to me! Medinfonow does give me nice little summaries so I can decide whether to click it for more info, so I have to do something. But really, if there's new research about, for instance, a hypertension drug that is causing problems similar to what a patient is experiencing, then I want to know about it. If I wait four months for the info to appear in Uptodate, it's too late. Uptodate is good for researching past knowledge. Medinfonow is good for staying informed on the newest research as it comes out.

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Specializes in med-surg, psych.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is an excellent site for keeping up with the latest research. There is a nursing research section that discusses the best evidence based practices. (http://www.ahrq.gov). The National Guideline Clearinghouse (http://www.guideline.gov) is a great site to search for anything from the latest management of otitis media to alternative treatments for back pain. The Joanna Briggs Institue has a nursing research website that is great, but you need to pay a membership fee. I had a membership for several years and it helped me with my advanced classes. Medscape for nurses and nursing net.com are also good sites for evidence based research. I hope you find some of these to be of help.:)

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Thanks everyone. I'm familiar with those from Doreen and appreciate the information. I'm really interested in having new information sent to me as it comes out, as Medinfonow does in their emails each week. Basically I'm looking for a company that sends info to me, versus my having to go to them to research. Magazines are good, but they're at least a month old by the time I get them -- and I have to sift through all the articles to see what is relevant to me. Not that doing so is totally bad. I get a lot of info that way. I just want specific info about my field sent to me like Medinfonow. Anyone know of companies like that?

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Not entitled at all - it is hard to make time for this stuff!

My favorite is Medscape. You can pick your subscriptions to different specialties and daily or weekly bulletins with the latest and they have tons of free CE's.

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Thanks Crunch. From where does Medscape pull their information? I know Medinfonow gets it from Medline Plus (PubMed).

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As a member of Sigma Theta Tau, I get access to a service that sounds a lot like MedInfoNow. It's called My Info Search and it's a benefit of membership. I love it because it sends me new articles added to Medline every week in just the topical areas I'm interested in (geriatric nursing and women's health). It's such a quick and easy way to stay up to date.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
Thanks Crunch. From where does Medscape pull their information? I know Medinfonow gets it from Medline Plus (PubMed).

All the big peer reviewed journals.

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Okay, after 5 months of trying Medscape, I have to say it's way too broad for my needs. There's tons of info, but I want only info about my chosen field, not a site that has everything so I have to search for what is important to me. Medinfonow.com is still my favorite, but I'm open to other ideas. If STTI partners with Medinfonow, it must be the best from their perspective. Anyone else?

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