The newest class of Physician Assistant (PA) students has been hard at work since the end of May. Himmelfarb Library has enjoyed seeing so many PA students in the library this summer! We proudly support the SMHS PA program by providing resources and services to help PA students, faculty, and staff achieve their learning, teaching, clinical care, and research goals.
Himmelfarb’s Physician Assistants Guide is a great starting point when looking for resources as it provides a comprehensive collection of PA-related resources curated on a single site! Physical examination and diagnosis are separated into individual tabs of the guide. When it’s time to start preparing for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE), the PANCE tab of the guide has study materials and resources to help you get ready to ace the exam! You’ll also find links to professional organizations and resources for writing and citation support.
Here are some of our favorite PA resources:
Research Databases:
- PubMed: Find health sciences articles on clinical, basic sciences, and public health information in one easy location. Himmelfarb’s PubMed search filters allow you to easily filter results by systematic reviews, practice guidelines, randomized controlled trials, cohort and case controls, and background and review articles.
- Scopus: This interdisciplinary database provides citations and abstracts to more than 25,000 journals, and includes full-text access to Himmelfarb-subscribed journals.
- CINAHL Complete: With coverage of nursing, biomedicine, alternative and complementary medicine, consumer health, and allied health disciplines, CINAHL Complete is a great place to find full-text access to scholarly articles.
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: If you’re looking for a systematic review, this database is a must-search resource! Cochrane systematic reviews use Cochrane’s methodology and seek to identify, appraise and synthesize all of the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific topic.
Point-of-Care Resources:
- DynaMed: This evidence-based resource includes drug and disease information. DynaMed is updated daily, so you can be sure you are getting the most current information. Disease information is presented in an easy-to-read bulleted format and includes epidemiology, etiology and pathogenesis, history and physical, diagnosis, management, complications and prognosis, prevention and screening, guidelines, and patient information.
- Epocrates+: This evidence-based resource also provides disease and drug information. Disease information is presented in a step-by-step approach that covers prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.
Journals:
- JAAPA: Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants: JAAPA publishes information and research on clinical care, education, healthy policy, and professional issues for PAs.
- Journal of Physician Assistant Education: This journal publishes articles related to PA educators and provides a forum for sharing ideas and innovation that enhances PA education.
- JAMA: Read the latest from the most widely circulated general medical journal in the world!
- New England Journal of Medicine: Stay updated with high-quality, peer-reviewed research at the intersection of biomedical science and clinical practice.
PANCE Prep Resources:
- PA Exam Prep: Practice questions with answers will help you prepare for PANCE and PANRE. PA Exam Prep has customizable features that allow you to select topic coverage, choose the number of questions, and annotate exam questions and answers.
- Exam Master: This resource has question banks to support studying for PANCE and PANRE. Create a free personal account to access the content.
Books:
- Ballweg’s Physician Assistant: A Guide to Clinical Practice: Co-authored by GW faculty member Tamara Ritsema, this e-book is designed to help you master the core competencies needed for PA certification, recertification, and clinical practice.
- Clinical Medicine for Physician Assistants: This book covers the essentials of evaluation, diagnosis, and management of clinical problems across clinical settings.
- Essential Clinical Procedures: Written by experts in the field, this book shows how to perform more than 70 common diagnostic and treatment-related procedures in an easy, step-by-step fashion.
- The APRN and PA’s Complete Guide to Prescribing Drug Therapy: This prescribing reference is a great resource for healthcare providers in all clinical practice settings and provides clinically useful information such as laboratory values to monitor, patient teaching points, and safety information.
- Search Health Information at Himmelfarb, AccessMedicine, or ClinicalKey for more PA-related books!
