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Physician Associates: E-resources

A guide to finding information for Physician Associate students. Includes links to key resources and sources of help.

Use the databases listed on this page to find relevant information on topics related to your studies. They will give you access to both primary and secondary sources of information.

  • Primary sources - these are first hand accounts of research that has been undertaken written by the researchers themselves.
  • Secondary sources - describe, summarize, or discuss information or details originally presented in another source. Books are usually secondary sources. As are review articles which summarise the current state of the knowledge on a topic (many databases allow you to restrict search results to this type of article). A more specialised secondary source is a systematic review, which uses the existing literature to try to answer a specific question, often including a meta-analysis of the all the studies included in the relevant articles.

Search Summon discovery service

Search Summon to find online journal articles and book chapters.

Key databases

These are the major resources for finding literature and information. 

Drug info
Journal articles and systematic reviews

NHS Athens resource

Whilst you are on placement you may be able to register for an NHS Athens account via the hospital's Library services. You will then be able to make full use their Knowledge and Library Hub for literature searching and accessing resources. Even without the login you can search, but you won't be able to access the full resources via the Hub.

Accessing online Library resources

If you are on campus you will be able to access most e-journals and e-books, and some databases, without entering a username and password because your IP address identifies you as being at the University of Reading.

For any that require a login, see the Off-campus tab.

Terms of Use

When you use our e-resources you are agreeing to our Terms of Use. Please take a moment to look at these by following the link below:

When you are off-campus you will need to login to identify yourself as a member of the University of Reading to gain access to our protected databases, e-books and e-journals. 

Your login details

You login in the same way as for Blackboard - via Microsoft. Just enter your University username followed by @student.reading.ac.uk (e.g. ab123456@student.reading.ac.uk) and your password. If this is the first time you have logged in via this method when off-campus you will be asked to complete a Multi-Factor Authentication. For more information see:

Getting to the login page...

  • For most resources, if you follow a link from our website or catalogues your login will be picked up automatically or you will be prompted to login straightaway. 
  • If you access resources via another route you will need to look for a login option once you reach the resource you are trying to access. Look for an institutional or shibboleth login option and pick 'University of Reading' from a list of institutions. This will then pick up your login or prompt you to login. For more information about institutional login, please see the link below:
Logging in to Library resources

Watch this short video on how you login to use Library resources.

If you are unable to view this video on YouTube it is also available on Stream - view the Logging in to the Library video on Stream (University username and password required)

Getting articles not held at Reading

Map of the south of the UKOur Inter-Library Loans service can get articles not held at Reading from other libraries (usually from the British Library).

For more information see our webpages:

Video: discovering online articles and chapters with Summon

If you are unable to view this video on YouTube it is also available on Stream - view the Get started with Summon video on Stream (University username and password required)

Literature searching guidance

This series of three videos (available via the tabs in this box) cover:

  • What is a literature search: tips on getting started and techniques to use
  • Finding journal articles using Summon, PubMed and Web of Science
  • Using the following specialist resources: MedicinesComplete (BNF/BNFC/Stockleys drug interactions), British Pharmacopoeia and The Cochrane Library (systematic reviews).

You will need to login using your University email address and password to view the videos.

We also have the following generic guides to literature searching and searching databases:

Literature search plan template and example

Use the following documents to help you plan your literature search to make it as comprehensive as possible. 

This video covers finding journal articles using Summon, PubMed and Web of Science.

This video covers using the following specialist resources: MedicinesComplete (BNF/BNFC/Stockleys drug interactions), British Pharmacopoeia and The Cochrane Library (systematic reviews).

Doing a systematic review

An introduction to planning your systematic review.

You will need to login using your University email address and password to view the videos.

See also our detailed guide to doing a systematic review:

This video covers the first four steps in doing a systematic review, including creating a protocol and searching for literature.

This video covers the fifth and sixth steps in doing a systematic review. It focuses on using EndNote Online to manage references and sifting the literature.

The final in a series of four videos on systematic reviews which covers writing it up.