Where to look if you need to research a topic

The following sites are a few of the sites which you may find it useful to visit regularly during the registrar year and to look things up for tutorials etc:

Department of Health sites

• The Dept of Health Website www.dh.gov.uk
• Chief Medical Officers site which produces a regular bulletin. www.dh.gov.uk/cmo

Prescribing

• MeRec Bulletins http://www.npc.co.uk/merec.htm
• The British National Formulary (BNF) http://bnf.org/
• Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin http://www.dtb.org.uk back numbers
• Toxbase. Poisons information. Need to register http://www.spib.axl.co.uk/
• Bath Clinical Area Partnership (BCAP)Formulary http://nww.ruh-bath.swest.nhs.uk/departments/prescribing_and_therapeutics/home_menu.htm
• National Prescribing Centre (NPC) http://www.npc.co.uk/
• Prescriptions Pricing Authority (PPA) http://www.ppa.org.uk/index.htm
• UK Medicine Information http://www.ukmi.nhs.uk/

GP 3rd Party sites with links

• Doctors Net http://www.doctors.net.uk/
• Doctor’s Desk. Useful links to journals, databases and many other useful sites http://drsdesk.sghms.ac.uk/
• On Medica http://www.onmedica.net/
• Medix http http://www.medix-uk.com/

Professional Bodies and Organisations

• GMC http://www.gmc-uk.org/
• RCGP http://www.rcgp.org.uk/
• Medical Protection Society (MPS) http://www.medicalprotection.org/medical/united_kingdom/default.aspx
• Medical Defence Union (MDU) http://www.the-mdu.com/gp/index.asp
• PMETB (Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board). This will take over the supervision and training of all postgraduate doctors http://www.pmetb.org.uk/pmetb
• National Office of Summative assessment for General Practice http://www.nosa.org.uk/
• BMA http://web.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/__Home_Public
• National Association of Sessional GPs http://www.nasgp.org.uk/
• Avonweb http://nww.avon.nhs.uk/
• BANES PCT Intranet http://nww.banes-pct.nhs.uk/
• Mendip Primary Care Trust http://www.somerset-health.org.uk/mendip/
• RUH http://www.ruh-bath.swest.nhs.uk/

Educational Sites

• Wessex Deanery http://www.wessex.org.uk
• Swindon and Bath Day Release Course http://www.gppro.co.uk/newgpr/index.htm
• Bath GP Educational Trust (includes information about educational meetings, also links to Bath Locums and Assistants Group(BLAG)) http://www.bathgped.org/
• Well Close Square GP Practice (fantastic resource for trainers and GP registrars) http://www.gp-training.net/training/resource.htm
• BMJ e learning. Good way to learn on line. Evidence based learning modules http://www.bmjlearning.com/planrecord/index.jsp
• Wisdom. NHS site providing educational materials to support health professionals in their life-long learning. http://www.wisdomnet.co.uk/default.asp
• MPS GP Registrar site with useful guides on ethics and medico-legal issues http://www.medicalprotection.org/medical/united_kingdom/publications/gp_registrar/
• GPTrainers . Links to useful resources and info for GP Trainers and registrars. http://www.gptrainers.co.uk/
• National Association of Primary Care Educators http://www.napce.net/
• Doctor Update (useful self-tests) http://www.doctorupdate.net/du_home/du_home.asp

I.T.

• Tutorials and tips re Powerpoint www.microsoft.com/uk/office/powerpoint

• Dr on line: Patient leaflets http://nww.doctoronline.nhs.uk/masterwebsite1Asp/

Bulletins with publications, updates and developments

• MPS Risk Consulting. Outlines publications in the following areas: Patient Safety Quality Improvement Risk Management Regulations and Guidance Employment Issues Other News Forthcoming Courses & Events. Free e-mail subscription. http://www.mps-riskconsulting.com
• Dept of Health GP Bulletin www.dh.gov.uk/publicationsandstatistics/bulletins/gpbulletin
• RCGP. Seven Days Bulletin. Only available via password to members http://www.rcgp.org.uk/; http://www.rcgp.org.uk/information/publications/sevendays/
• RCGP e-bulletin update. Only available to members via password, but also distributed with Doctors.net.uk http://www.rcgp.org.uk/information/publications/e_bulletin/index.asp?menuid=112
 

Appraisal , Revalidation and Personal Development Plans

• DOH GP Appraisal forms. Information and downloadable forms http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HumanResourcesAndTraining/LearningAndPersonalDevelopment/Appraisals/AppraisalsArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4052082&chk=gXUb3K
• GMC Appraisal Info http://www.appraisaluk.info/
• GP Learning (PDP plan)http://www.gplearning.co.uk/
 

Where to look if you need to research a topic

The relevant speciality/professional body internet sites

• RCGP http://www.rcgp.org.uk/
• RCOG http://www.rcog.org.uk/home.asp?PageID=3
• Faculty of Family Planning http://www.ffprhc.org.uk/
• British Thoracic society http://www.brit-thoracic.org.uk/
• GMC, Defence organisations, BMA

Guidelines

• eguidelines http://www.eguidelines.co.uk/
• Scottish Intercollegiate Network Guidelines SIGN http://www.sign.ac.uk/
• Prodigy http://www.prodigy.nhs.uk/indexMain.asp
• Screening (UK National Screening committee) http://www.nsc.nhs.uk/index.htm

Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) sites

• Clinical Evidence www.clinicalevidence.com
• National Electronic Library for Health (NELH) guidelines finder: http://libraries.nelh.nhs.uk/guidelinesFinder/
• Centre for reviews and dissemination http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/index.htm
• Netting the Evidence http://www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/ir/netting/
• Leicester Dept. of GP Audit guidelines http://www.le.ac.uk/cgrdu/
• National Institute for Clinical Evidence (NICE). http://www.nice.org.uk
• The Cochrane Collaboration http://www.cochrane.org/index0.htm
• The Centre for Evidence-based medicine (everything you need to know about EBM) http://www.cebm.net/
• BMA Medline Plus. (BMA Password needed) http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/LIBMEDLINEPlusNLI
• Medline http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/medline/ (You will need an Athens password, which is available to anyone working in NHS. To register visit: https://www.athens.nhs.uk/region/nhsswr/ ) or http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
• Bandolier http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/
• TRIP Database http://www.tripdatabase.com/
• Netting the Evidence http://www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/ir/netting/
• Ingenta http://www.ingentaconnect.com/;jsessionid=1mnjcmti350i9.victoria
• National Electronic Library for health (NELH ). Many of the above are available through this site http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/
• PubMed PubMed. Service provided by US National Library of Medicine. Allows you to search for article by topic, author or journal

Looking things up in general

• Google: A useful general search engine www.google.co.uk
• Ask Useful for asking questions on the internet http://www.ask.co.uk/
• NHS Library http://www.library.nhs.uk/
• South West Information for Clinical effectiveness (SWICE). Access to journals, search engines etc. http://www.swice.nhs.uk/ Athens password needed. This is easy to do, visit: https://www.athens.nhs.uk/region/nhsswr/
• BMJ learning http://www.bmjlearning.com/planrecord/index.jsp
• GP Notebook. Useful source of information about a wide range medical conditions. www.gpnotebook.co.uk
• Search Medica http://www.searchmedica.co.uk Pulse new search engine
 

Journals

• Bandolier is a useful evidence based journal summarising studies relevant to Primary Care http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/
• The electronic BMJ http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/
• The Lancet http://www.thelancet.com/
• The British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) http://www.rcgp.org.uk/journal_/bjgp.aspx
• Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) http://jama.ama-assn.org/

Department of Health

• National Electronic Library for Health (NELH) http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/

• DOH Website and use site index http://www.dh.gov.uk/Home/fs/en

• South West Information for Clinical effectiveness (SWICE). Needs Athens password. See below or can register at this site http://www.swice.nhs.uk/

General Internet search and gateways

• Google http://www.google.co.uk/
• Health on the net. United Nations department promoting useful and reliable resources on the net. http://www.hon.ch/
• OMNI (allows you to search selected and reviewed health websites) http://omni.ac.uk/
• Drs Desk http://drsdesk.sghms.ac.uk/
• GP Online/Healthcare Republic http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/login/
• Merck manual http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/home.jsp
• EMIS Mentor
• Look at your trainer’s list of favourite internet sites
 

Paper resources

• Practice library
• Postgraduate centre RUH Library (will find articles very quickly if you complete a library request slip)

 

Written by: Dr Mark Dinwoodie. With thanks to Dr James Blackstock

Last update: 27 December 2006