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APA (7th ed.) Citation Style Guide: Nursing Resources

APA & Health Sciences

APA style has been widely adopted outside of psychology - including by health sciences - which explains why you may not always find guidance within the published manual on source types that are unique to the health sciences, such as clinical practice guidelines, mobile apps, and articles from UptoDate.

 

Fortunately the APA style blog has a page devoted to typical health sciences "clinical references" - and the advice provided there is repeated within this guide. 

 

  • Occasionally, you may need to cite a unique source type that isn't included in the APA manual, its blog, nor the College guide to APA.
     
    • When this happens follow the spirit of APA, e.g., provide the types of information that generally appear in an APA citation - such as author/creator names; title; format information, if needed for clarity, e.g., [dataset]; URL/DOI etc 
       
    • Make sure to follow APA's usual formatting rules - e.g., italicizing elements that are normally italicized, using the hanging indent in your reference list. 

Canadian editions of textbooks

NOTE: APA style, as set out in its blog entries for books and book chapters does not require that Canadian editions include any citation details for the original edition (e.g., US/UK etc) from which it was adapted.  

 

See the Book sections (Chapters) tab on this guide for more information

Clinical Practice Guidelines

Most clinical practice guidelines are published as online reports or webpages and so you should follow the guidance on the Websites tab on this guide.  A few additional considerations include:
 

  • Use the committee or agency that developed the guideline in the author element of the reference when no individual authors are credited.
     
  • When the title page or cover credits both a committee and an agency, provide the committee name in the author element of the reference and the agency name in the source element of the reference.
     
  • When the author and website name are the same, omit the Website name element to prevent duplication with the Name of organization.
     
  • End the reference with the URL.

 

Name of Organization. (Date of posting). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL

 

British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives. (2020). Professional Standards for Psychiatric Nursing. https://www.bccnm.ca/Documents/standards_practice/rpn/RPN_Professional_Standards.pdf

 

In text:

 

Parenthetical citation: (British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives, 2020)

Narrative citation: British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (2020) 

PowerPoint on the web

If the presentation is part of a specific channel - and the channel name is different from the uploader - include the channel name in square brackets directly after the author/uploader name. 

 

Author, A. A. (Date of posting). Title of presentation [PowerPoint slides]. Publisher or Website name. URL

 

Schrepel, T. [OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs] (2024). GenAI: Competitive dynamics and challenges [PowerPoint slides]. slideshare. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/artificial-intelligence-data-and-competition-schrepel-june-2024-oecd-discussion/269644409

 

In Text

Parenthetical citation: (Schrepel, 2024)

Narrative citation: Schrepel (2024)

Patient Records

APA doesn't specifically tackle how to cite patient charts or medical records, but logic dictates that these should be treated like a non retrievable source that is confidential in nature. 

 

  • This means that such documents cannot be added to your reference list as the reader will not and should not be able to access a patient's chart or records.
     

As for the in-text citation - the need for patient confidentiality means that these should not be provided either, as your source's name (e.g., the patient) cannot be given for privacy reasons.  

 

  • In this scenario you could describe the patient in generic terms, e.g., "The patient's medical chart contained a note about the patient's anxiety about receiving treatment" (MSU Libraries. APA Guide 7th edn: Data).

Individual Article/Entry from a Mobile app

Adapted from the APA blog posts: Drug Information; DOIs and URLs; Entry in a mobile app reference work; and Database Information in References:

 

  • To cite an entry from a mobile app reference work, e.g., drug information / overview of a health condition, follow the format for an edited book chapter.
     
  • Provide the author of the app in the author element of the reference. In the example, the company that produces the app (e.g., F. A. Davis) is treated as a group author.
     
  • Provide the year of the app version that you used in the date element of the reference.
     
  • Provide the title of the entry in the reference work in the title element of the reference.
     
  • In the source element, provide the name of the app in italics (which in the example happens to be the same as the author), the version of the app used in parentheses, the description “[Mobile app]” and the publisher or app store from which the app was obtained.
     
  • Do not reference the platform that hosts the content, e.g., Texidium/Nursing Central but do use the URL the host provides in the URL element.
     
  • Provide a URL when possible.

 

Author name. (date). Title of entry. In Name of app (edition, if relevant) (version, if provided) [description]. Source/publisher of app. URL

 

F.A. Davis. (2021). Abdominal aortic aneurysm. In Venes, D. (Ed.), Taber's Medical Dictionary (24th ed.) [Mobile app]. Google Play Store. https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/759933/all/abdominal aortic aneurysm

 

In-Text:
 

Parenthetical citation: (F.A. Davis, 2021)

Narrative citation: F.A. Davis (2021)

 

F.A. Davis.  (n.d.). Allegra. In Davis' Drug Guide. [mobile app]. Nursing Central. 

 

Note: this entry does not include version information or a URL as neither are provided by the app. 

 

Parenthetical citation: (F.A. Davis, n.d.)

Narrative citation: F.A. Davis (n.d.)

 

Drug Interactions: UpToDate

The following is for UpToDate's drug interactions.  For drug information entries taken from a mobile app, see the mobile app box below. 

 

 
  • In the case of UpToDate drug interactions entries -  which have no named authors and relate to more than one drug - use UpToDate as the author element and then skip the publisher element to avoid duplication.
     
  • If a date is not available, substitute “(n.d.).”
     
  • Provide the title of the drug information (usually the name of the drug) in italic sentence case, followed by the description “[Drug information]” in square brackets (or other wording as appropriate).
     
  • Provide the name of the publisher or website from which the drug information was obtained in the source element of the reference. If this name is the same as the author, omit the publisher/site name to avoid repetition.
     
  • Provide a URL for the drug information - if the information is freely available without requiring a login and is clearly a permanent link.

 

Name of drug company. (date). Name of drug. [Description]. Name of publisher. URL. 

 

UpToDate. (n.d.). Fexofenadine CNS depressants / Nabilone. [Drug interactions].  https://www.uptodate.com/drug-interactions 

 

In text:

 

Parenthetical citation: (UpToDate, n.d.)

Narrative citation:  UpToDate (n.d.)

UptoDate Articles

The following pertains to the article content from UpToDate.  For information on formatting drug information see the Drug Information box above. 

 

From the APA blog post, UpToDate Article: 

 

  • Articles in the UpToDate database are available only in that database and have information that changes over time.
     
  • In the reference list, format UpToDate articles like periodical articles. Italicize the database name in the reference like a periodical title, but do not italicize the database name if it appears in the text.
     
  • Use the year of last update in the date element.
     
  • Include a retrieval date because the content is designed to change over time and versions of the page are not archived.  

 

Also note: In the event your article doesn't have an identified author, such as in the patient education section, use UpToDate as the group author. 

 

Author name. (date). Title of article. UpToDate. Retrieved date. URL
 

Owens, J. (2023). Behavioral sleep problems in children. UpToDate. Retrieved February 24, 2025, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/behavioral-sleep-problems-in-children

 

In text:

 

Parenthetical citation: (Owens, 2023)

Narrative citation: Owens (2023)

Diagnostic Manuals: Print or eBooks

 

Laboratory or diagnostic manuals follow the format for books. (APA Style Blog.  (2025). Nursing student references: Lab or diagnostic manual)

 

Author name. (date). Title (edition if relevant). Publisher.

 

Van Leeuwen, A. & Bladh, M.L. (2021). Davis's Comprehensive Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests With Nursing Implications (9th ed.). F.A. Davis.

 

In Text:
 

Parenthetical citation: (Van Leeuwen & Bladh, 2021)

Narrative citation: Van Leeuwen & Bladh (2021)

Handbook/Encyclopedia from a Mobile App

Notes adapted from the APA blog entry: Mobile Apps

 

  • For a mobile app reference work with individual authors (as shown in the example below), provide the author names in the author element of the reference.
     
  • Provide the year of the version used in the date element of the reference.
     
  • When the app includes an edition number (as with the example), place the edition information in parentheses without italics after the title and without a period between title and edition information.
     
  • If provided - include the version number of the app (which you can obtain from the app itself once it is downloaded) in a separate set of parentheses - without a period between it and the previous element.Skip this element if the app does not provide a version number.
     
  • Provide a description of the format: [Mobile app]
     
  • Provide the publisher of the app or the name of the app store (e.g., App Store, Google Play Store) - depending on where you acquired the app.
     
    • If the app was downloaded from Nursing Central OR the publisher’s website, provide the name of the  publisher e.g., F. A. Davis Company, in the source element of the reference. If you downloaded the app directly from the Apple App Store or Google Play instead, use “App Store” instead of “F. A. Davis."

       
  • Provide a URL when possible

 

Author name. (date). Title (edition if relevant) (version, if provided) [description]. Publisher. URL

 

Van Leeuwen, A. & Bladh, M.L. (2025). Davis's Comprehensive Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests With Nursing Implications (11th ed.)[Mobile app] F.A. Davis. https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Davis-Lab-and-Diagnostic-Tests/425000/all/Davis’s_Comprehensive_Manual_of_Laboratory_and_Diagnostic_Tests_with_Nursing_Implications

 

As outlined in the notes above, this citation does not include the version element as no version number was provided on the app or the Nursing Central mobile platform.
 

In Text:
 

Parenthetical citation: (Van Leeuwen & Bladh, 2025)

Narrative citation: Van Leeuwen & Bladh (2025)