Clerkship Resources: Resources for Answering Clinical Questions

Keys to success in the clerkships and beyond.

Answering Clinical Questions during Clerkship

There will be many occasions throughout your clerkships when you will need to answer clinical questions, either because you're specifically asked to by an attending or another member of the care team or because you feel you need information in order to better understand and/or participate in the care of a patient.

Different type of information needs call for different resources. Below please find suggestions for which resources are most useful for various occasions and information needs.

Resource	When to Use	When Not to Use
Quick Medical Diagnosis and Treatment	You need a quick intro or refresher on a condition	You need detailed information You're asked to cite primary literature
AccessMedicine	Your attending asks you to put together a 5 min presentation on a medical condition You need a thorough intro or refresher on a condition	On the wards You're asked to cite primary literature
UpToDate	Quick look-ups on the wards You need a general introduction to a subject or a specific aspect of care You need specific information to make plans for patients (medications, dosing, etc.)	You're asked to cite primary literature As your only source of evidence
Cochrane Library	First place to search when an attending asks, "What's the evidence/strength of evidence for...?"	You need an intro or refresher on a condition Quick look-ups on the wards
DynaMed	Second place to search when an attending asks, "What's the evidence/strength of evidence for...?" (i.e. you searched the Cochrane Library and didn't find a relevant Cochrane review) You want to take a deep dive into the evidence on a given topic/practice	You need an intro or refresher on a condition Quick look-ups on the wards Specific dosing
ACP Journal Club	You want to get an in-depth understanding of one study plus a general sense of where it fits in with existing literature You want to discuss a specific paper on rounds but don't have time to fully appraise it yourself	You need an intro or refresher on a condition Quick look-ups on the wards