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Nursing Subject Guide

Clinical Practice Guidelines & Professional Standards

Clinical Practice Guidelines

 

The purpose of clinical practice guidelines is to provide evidence-based recommendations / guidance for patient-care.  Some guidelines are provided by organizations after an extensive systematic review; others are based on other factors, including an organization's internal/local research project,  best practices co-developed with community etc. 

Many research organizations have their own discipline-specific guidelines which you can find on their various websites, e.g., The Canadian Pediatric Society.

 

The following is not an exhaustive list and is meant to provide an example of the range of guidelines that exist for healthcare practitioners - as well as the range of organizations that create them:

 

  • BC Clinical Guidelines and Protocols: "are clinical practice guidelines and protocols that provide recommendations to B.C. practitioners on delivering high quality, appropriate care to patients with specific clinical conditions or diseases."
  • Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH): Canada's official drug agency is a "pan-Canadian health organization" providing healthcare practitioners "with independent evidence and advice ... (regarding) drug, health technology, and health system decisions."
     
  • Canadian Immunization Guide: Taken from recommendations by the Public Health Agency of Canada: and expert advisory committees, this is the most comprehensive guide on immunization for healthcare practitioners in Canada.

     
  • CMA: The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) publishes a wide range of policies and guidelines for its members - and which may be of interest to other healthcare professionals. 
     
    • Browse or search its PolicyBase database to find its extensive array of policy papers dating back to 1970
       
    • Or use the site search to find its equally large array of "clinical practice guidelines"

 

  • Nurse & Nurse Practitioners of BC: Policy & Professional Practice: "NNPBC's focus is on ensuring that the nurses are well supported in delivering high-quality, ethical and compassionate care in alignment with the professional standards and ethics as defined by the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM)."

     
  • TRIP database:  is "a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care."  International content, including Canadian guidance.  Registration or "Go Pro" membership required for some content - however, the free version of this tool is excellent as is.

 

 

Professional Standards

 

Professional standards are typically established by the regulatory/licencing body for a particular profession.  For example:

 

BC College of Nurses & Midwives (BCCNM):  Responsible for the practice standards, professional standards and scope of practice for

 

College of Registered Nurses of Alberta: Responsible for the  practice & professional standards for registered nurses and nurse practitioners in Alberta, include decision making standards, drug prescription competencies and documentation standards.

Drug Guides

 

UptoDate: This is a point-of-care clinical medicine database, providing coverage of over 8500 topics in 17 medical specialties. UpToDate integrates drug information (Lexi-Drug) and clinical images (Visual Dx). 

 

CPS: Comprehensive drug information resource produced by the Canadian Pharmacists Association. Includes e-CPS, e-Therapeutics, and the Lexi-Interact drug interactions module.

 

OneSearch:  You can also find an extensive collection of Nursing Drug Handbooks both in print and as eBooks on the library website.  Pro tips:
 

  • Start by searching: nursing drug handbook
     
  • Then use the date limiter in the left-hand menu to set the oldest publication date acceptable to you.

Care Plans

 

Library Resources

 

CINAHL: set the publication type limiter on the CINAHL landing page to "Care Plans" to search its over 2700 articles and continuing education units (CEUs) on the topic.

 

OneSearch:  You can also find over 300 Nursing Care Plan guides-  both in print and as eBooks on the library website.  Pro tips:
 

  • Start by searching: nursing care plans
     
  • Click Books & eBooks in the left-hand Limit To menu
     
  • Then scroll down and use the date limiter to set the oldest publication date acceptable to you.

 

 

Web Resources

 

Nova Scotia College of Nursing: Nursing Care Plan Guidelines

 

Nurses Association of New Brunswick (NANB): Practice Guideline: The Nursing Care Plan [PDF download]

 

University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences: How to Write a Care Plan: A Guide for Nurses

 

 

 

Mosby Nursing Skills Videos

 

Mosby's Nursing Video Skills: Basic Interactive videos demonstrate how to perform key nursing procedures and cover basic, intermediate and advanced levels.

 

Mosby's Nursing Video Skills: Intermediate Interactive videos demonstrate how to perform key nursing procedures and cover basic, intermediate and advanced levels.

 

Mosby's Nursing Video Skills: AdvancedInteractive videos demonstrate how to perform key nursing procedures and cover basic, intermediate and advanced levels.

 

Subjects: Nursing