NURS 2061 Pharmacology: Start Here

This guide is designed to help you find evidence-based sources for your Nursing 2061 Herb/CAM preparation assignment.

Evidence-based sources primarily come in three different forms:

1. Scholarly articles, which are available via GSU Library or InterLibrary Loan
2. Reputable websites like health organizations (like the Mayo Clinic), government sites (like the CDC), or university sites (like the University of Maryland).
3. Scholarly books which have been purchased by GSU Library.

The Find Resources tab on this guide will walk you through locating and identifying evidence-based sources that are appropriate for the assignment. If you find yourself in doubt about whether a source is evidence-based, you can contact Brenna for assistance.

The Cite Resources tab will help you to navigate the particulars of APA style, which you will have to use to format your citations.

Knowing how to find and identify evidence-based medical advice is a vital skill for medical professionals, because invalid, superstitious, and sales-driven medical information is pervasive on the Internet. Nursing professionals must know how to locate and identify evidence-based information in order to make the right decisions for patient care.  But what does "evidence-based" really mean?

An evidence-based source is based on the findings of sound research, rather than opinion, misinformation, or tradition.

So, look for articles in the library's collections (many of which you can search online) or on the web for information that is verifiable and based on fact. If you have to guess about where the information on a page came from, it may not be appropriate for this assignment.

Look for sources that have:

• Citations--take a few minutes to click through to the source articles cited, if they are linked.
• Highly reputable research organization hosts (like medical groups or universities).
• A policy of including only evidence-based information.

Avoid sources that have:

• Cited no research.
• Provide no basis for their conclusions.
• Are not hosted by a reliable source.

This guide on evaluating health websites will also be useful in determining the reliability of the websites you find for your assignment.