Research Guides: Point of Care Tools: Featured Tools

What are Point of Care Tools?

Syntheses of current evidence for diagnosis, tests and interventions (e.g. treatments, drugs)

May include drug information, ICD coding, information for patients, and provision for links to electronic health records

BMJ Best Practice
Best Practice combines the latest research evidence, guidelines and expert opinion – presented in a step-by-step approach, covering prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. Best Practice provides a second opinion in an instant, without the need for checking multiple resources. Its unique patient-focused approach represents a major new advancement in information delivery at the point of care. Mobile access available.

DynaMed
DynaMed is a clinical reference resource useful for getting answers to clinical questions quickly and easily. Content is written and reviewed by a team of physicians who synthesize the evidence and provide objective analysis. Dynamed Plus includes: Overviews and Recommendations for the most common conditions as well as evidence-based recommendations for action, Micromedex® Clinical Knowledge Suite drug content, and over 2,500 medical graphics and images. Also included is a wide array of specialty topics in areas such as infectious disease and immunology, cardiology, oncology and emergency medicine. Mobile access available.

VisualDx *NEW*
VisualDx is a diagnostic clinical decision support system designed to enhance diagnostic accuracy, aid therapeutic decisions, and improve patient safety. With a strong dermatology component, this application can help quickly build a differential to evaluate the possibilities, compare variations, and improve diagnostic accuracy. Mobile access available.

Trip Database - For Evidence Based Medicine (EBM)
TRIP was created in 1997 to bring together all the evidence-based healthcare resources available on the Internet. TRIP Plus was created in April 2003; this greatly enhanced version includes coverage of peer-reviewed journals, medical images and patient information leaflets, and is updated monthly. Tutorial

Charbonneau, D. H., & James, L. N. (2018). DynaMed Plus®: an evidence-based clinical reference resource. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 37(2), 168-176.

Feature	DynaMed Plus	UpToDate
Update Frequency	Daily	Daily
Number of Clinical Topics	2,500+	10,500+
Peer-Reviewed Content and Evidence Appraisal	3 Tiered System of Evidence Rating	2 Levels of Grading
Peer-Reviewed Content and Evidence Appraisal	(Level 1 = likely reliable; Level 2 = mid-level evidence; Level 3 = lacking evidence)	(Grade 1 = Strong; Grade 2 = Weak)
Journals Monitored	529+	440+
Section for Guidelines in Topics	Yes	No
Section for Guidelines in Topics	(“Guidelines and Resources” Section in each topic summary)	(Guidelines may be cited in “References;” but not consistently collected and presented)
Graphics/Images	Yes	Yes
Mobile Version	Yes	Yes
Off-Campus Access	Yes	Yes
Clinical Calculators	Yes	Yes
Patient Education Materials	Yes	Yes
CME/CE Credit Available	Yes	Yes

Andrews, R., Mehta, N., Maypole, J., & Martin, S. A. (2017). Staying afloat in a sea of information: point-of-care resources. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, 84(3), 225-235.

"Each of the resources [UpToDate, DynaMed, First Consult etc.] has strengths and weaknesses. For example, UpToDate offers the most topics, but its articles tend to be too long to be practical to read at the point of care."
"Physicians should familiarize themselves with these resources and use the ones that best suit their needs."

"Overall, there was no significant difference between the point-of-care tools [Medscape, UpToDate, DynaMedPlus, EvidencePlus, DynaMed and Epocrates] with regard to coverage on common topics used by internal medicine clinicians. Selection of point-of-care tools is highly dependent on individual preference based on ease of use and cost of the application."
Appendix 5: Calculation of General Linear Regression Model for the Breadth of Coverage, Ease of Use, and the Quality Measures for the comparison on the Mobile Point of Care Tools

Five products (ACP Smart Medicine, BMJ Best Practice, Dynamed, Essential Evidence Topics, and UpToDate) received the maximum score for editorial quality. Six (ACP Smart Medicine, BestBets, BMJ Best Practice, Dynamed, EBM Guidelines, and UpToDate) received the maximum score for evidence-based methodology.
The ranking of point-of-care information summaries based on their strength of volume, editorial quality, and evidence-based methodology is shown in Figure 3 (full data reported in Multimedia Appendices 4-6). Best Practice, Dynamed, and UpToDate scored in the highest quartile across all three dimensions.

Campbell JM, Umapathysivam K, Xue Y, Lockwood C. (2015). Evidence-based practice point-of-care resources: a quantitative evaluation of quality, rigor, and content. Worldviews Evidence-Based Nursing, 12(6):313–27.

	Type of output	Formal ontology	Flexibility of summary	Reference	Formal grade of recommendation	CME	Education other material	Patient handout	Clinical tools
BMJ Best Practice	Key point summaries	Yes	Yes	Yes, specific	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
DynaMed	Key point summaries	Yes	Yes	Yes, specific	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
UpToDate	Book chapter like summaries	Yes	Yes	Yes, specific	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

	Authorship stated	Peer review	Frequency of updates	Conflict of interest	Commercial support	Total
UpToDate	3	3	1	3	3	13
BMJ Best Practice	3	3	1	3	3	13
DynaMed	1	1	1	1	0	4

	Literature search/surveillance	Method of critical appraisal	Type of evidence	Grading of evidence	Expert opinion given	Total
UpToDate	3	1	3	3	3	13
BMJ Best Practice	3	3	3	1	1	11
DynaMed	3	3	3	1	0	10