Library Research Guides: Pharmacology: Find Web Resources

Find Websites

U.S. Food & Drug Administration/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
Guidance documents represent the Agency's current thinking on a particular subject. They do not create or confer any rights for or on any person and do not operate to bind FDA or the public.
NACDA Guidelines for Administration of Drugs to Human Subjects
The guidelines are not intended to supplant the functions of either the IRB or OHRP. Rather, the guidelines are intended to encourage a sensitive, ethical approach that is also consistent with the best current practices and experience in the field of drug abuse research.

*More specific guidelines can be found by searching for particular diseases, conditions, drugs, or health initiatives/organizations.

Drugs@FDA
Drugs@FDA contains information about the following FDA-approved products for human use: prescription brand-name drug products, generic drug products, many therapeutic biological products, and over-the-counter brand-name and generic drugs
Drug Safety Labeling Changes (SLC) Database
The Drug Safety Labeling Changes (SLC) database provides approved safety labeling changes from January 2016 forward. Data prior to January 2016 will continue to be available on the MedWatch website.
Medication Guides
Medication Guides are paper handouts that come with many prescription medicines. The guides address issues that are specific to particular drugs and drug classes, and they contain FDA-approved information that can help patients avoid serious adverse events. Medication Guides are updated as they appear in new drug labeling. Please note that we link directly into the drug label to the first page of the medication guide.

Health Literacy (CDC 2019)
CDC’s health literacy web site provides information, tools, and links on health literacy research, practice, and evaluation for public health topics and situations.
Health Literacy Online: A Guide for Simplifying the User Experience (ODPHP 2016)
This research-based guide will help you develop intuitive health websites and digital tools that can be easily accessed and understood by all users — including the millions of Americans who struggle to find, process, and use online health information.

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) is an organization committed to education and scholarship for improving drug therapy.
American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS)
The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) is an organization of all scientists dedicated to the discovery, development, and manufacture of pharmaceutical products and therapies through advances in science and technology.
American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP)
The American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) is a professional and scientific society that provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources enabling clinical pharmacists to achieve excellence in practice, research, and education.

Evaluate Your Sources

Before using any information you should critically evaluate source, especially if it is from a website. Consider:

WHO?
- Who created this resource? In what way(s) are they qualified to speak about this topic? In what way(s) are they potentially biased?
WHAT?
- What is the resource content actually addressing? Does it balance conflicting points of view?
WHEN?
- When was the resource created? Is there a more current resource that could be used? Was the resource ever updated or maintained?
WHERE?
- Where was this resource published? Is the publisher reputable?
- Where did the author(s) get their information from? Do they accurately cite their sources?
- Where does the resource fall under the evidence pyramid?
- Where does it fit into the current scholarly conversation about your topic?
WHY?
- Why did the author create the resource? What purpose does the resource have? Who is it intended for?
- Why did you choose this source? In what way(s) does it match your research question?

Trust and Credibility in Web-Based Health Information: A Review and Agenda for Future Research
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2017-06-19, Volume 19, Number 6, Pages e218
The article seeks to present a profile of the research conducted on trust and credibility in Web-based health information (WHI) seeking, to identify the factors that impact judgments of trustworthiness and credibility, and to explore the role of demographic factors affecting trust formation.

Ask yourself whether the resource you found applies to your clinical question. To evaluate it, you can use the PICO framework:

P	Patient/Problem	How would you describe a group of patients similar to yours? What are the most important characteristics of the patient?
I	Intervention/Exposure/Prognostic Factor	What main intervention are you considering? What do you want to do with this patient?
C	Comparison	What is the main alternative being considered, if any?
O	Outcome	What are you trying to accomplish, measure, improve or affect?

Once you've chosen a resource to use in your research, you need to delve into the details of the article in order to figure out whether it's an applicable and reputable source. The resources listed below can help you with the critical appraisal process.

CASP Checklists (Critical Appraisal Skills Program)
This set of eight critical appraisal tools are designed to be used when reading research.
CATmaker (Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine)
CATmaker is a computer-assisted critical appraisal tool, which helps you create Critically Appraised Topics (CATs), for the key articles you encounter about Therapy, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Aetiology/Harm and Systematic Reviews of Therapy.
Critical Appraisal Worksheets (Duke Medical Center Library & Archives)
Appraisal worksheets from the medical school at Duke University.