Canadian Medical Association

Testing for COVID-19

Last updated: August 4, 2022

CMA members have access to skilled medical librarians who can support you by searching on your behalf, teaching you effective search strategies or training you to use our resources Get the latest evidence and saving time, so you can focus on what’s important to you.

CMA Joule’s Ask a Librarian team has committed to curating free evidence-based resources related to the current COVID-19 pandemic. We periodically update the Ask a Librarian - COVID-19 vaccines and the Ask a Librarian: post-COVID-19 condition (long COVID) blogs with current clinical summaries, article collections, guidance and more. 

Clinical summaries

DynaMed

COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)

DynaMed COVID-19 related summaries

(CMA members can access all full summaries via this link – login required)

Access DynaMed online or through the mobile app to get concise overviews and detailed recommendations, medical graphics and images, drug information from Micromedex and more.

BMJ Best Practice

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) 

UpToDate

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) 

Essential Evidence Plus

Coronavirus SARS-CoV2 infection (COVID-19) 

CMA members can access Essential Evidence Plus via this link for point-of-care tools including clinical summaries, abstracts and the POEMs database (login required) 

Canadian Pharmacists Association

CPS Web (CMA members only) – Access the COVID-19 chapter for drug monographs and patient drug information.


Clinical information via ClinicalKey

Novel Coronavirus Information Center  (Elsevier/ClinicalKey) - freely available and current information in English and Mandarin Chinese. 

In ClinicalKey (CMA members only), search “COVID-19” for the latest articles from The Lancet, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Journal of Infection and more.

Books (CMA members only):

Jorge Hidalgo, Gloria Rodríguez-Vega and Javier Pérez-Fernández (2022) COVID-19 Pandemic. Elsevier Inc.

Ahmad Riad Ramadan and Gamaleldin Osman (2021). Neurological Care and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Elsevier Inc.Adnan I. Qureshi (2022). Coronavirus Disease: From Origin to Outbreak. Elsevier Inc.

ClinicalKey includes access to 1,000+ textbooks, 600 full text journals, medical images, videos and customizable patient handouts across 30+ specialties.


Evidence syntheses

American Family Physician – Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Daily Research Briefs

Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health – CADTH COVID-19 evidence portal

Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Oxford University – Oxford COVID-19 evidence service

Dala Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto – REAL – COVID-19 Rapid Evidence Access Link 

EPPI Centre - COVID-19: a living systematic map of the evidence 

Evidence aid ‒ Coronavirus (COVID-19) – summaries of relevant research. 

McMaster University - COVID-19 Evidence Alerts – weekly update of high-quality clinical studies. Free email notification is available upon registration. 

McMaster University – COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVID-END

Montreal Behavioural Medicine Centre – iCare International COVID-19 Awareness and Responses Evaluation Study

University of Ottawa - CoVaRR-Net – assessing the potential threat of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants

VA Evidence Synthesis Program – COVID-19 Evidence Reviews


Articles, article collections and reviews

Annals of Internal Medicine – Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

BMJ - Coronavirus (COVID-19) hub – collection of freely available news articles, opinion and timeline.

Cambridge University Press – Coronavirus Free Access Collection. 

CMAJ – COVID-19 – CMAJ articles, podcasts and blogs on public health and policy.

CMAJ – COVID-19 articles

CMAJ News – COVID-19

cmajOPEN – COVID-19 – collection of COVID-19 research articles.

Elsevier Vaccines Toolkit – latest evidence-based information about vaccines approved for use to prevent COVID-19 infections. 

Epocrates COVID-19 Drug Therapy Trial Updates – links to trials and resources focused on therapeutics. 

JAMA Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) – collection of current articles and multimedia.

The Lancet COVID-19 Resource Centre – free access to COVID-19 content from across The Lancet journals.

Merck Manuals COVID-19 Information and Resources – news, commentary and FAQs.

New England Journal of Medicine – Coronavirus (COVID-19) – collection of articles and other resources on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak including clinical reports, management guidelines and commentary (Chinese translations available for some content).

Oxford University Press – free access to OUP resources on COVID-19, other coronaviruses and related topics. 

Springer-Nature – Coronavirus (COVID-19) Research Highlights. 

Wiley Online Library - Covid-19: Novel Coronavirus Outbreak. 

Wolters Kluwer COVID-19 Resources & Tools (Coronavirus Resources) – updates, articles and podcasts. 


Guidelines and other information

International

Calculate by QxMD – Severe COVID-19 Prediction Tool. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention –  Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): information for health care workers

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control – Coronavirus disease. 

Johns Hopkins University – Interactive, global map tracking COVID-19

National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce (Australia) – Caring for people with COVID-19

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK) – Coronavirus (COVID-19) 

University of Oxford – Our World in Data - Coronavirus Source Data

World Health Organization – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. 

National

Canadian Institute for Health Information – COVID-19 resources.  

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) – COVID19 Recommendations and Gateway to Contextualization

Boldly (by Canadian Medical Association) – COVID-19 blog postsroll-out. 

Centre for Effective Practice – COVID-19 Resource Centre.

CMA Joule – Clinical guideline search (CPG Infobase). Clinical Practice Guidelines on COVID-19/Coronavirus infections.

College of Family Physicians of Canada – COVID-19 Information and Resources

Government of Canada – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): For health professionals

Government of Canada – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update

Government of Canada – Coronavirus infection: Symptoms and treatment.

Imgrund COVID-19 Dashboard - Specializing in effective reproduction numbers (R values) across Ontario, Canada, and the world.

Infection Prevention and Control Canada – Coronavirus (COVID-19) SARS-CoV-2

Public Health Agency of Canada – Infection prevention and control for coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Second interim guidance for acute healthcare settings

Statistics Canada – COVID-19 A data perspective

Provincial

British Columbia:

Yukon: Government of Yukon – COVID-19 information

Northwest Territories: Government of Northwest Territories – Health and Social Services - COVID-19 in NWT

Alberta: Alberta Health Services – COVID-19 Information for Albertans)

Saskatchewan: Saskatchewan – COVID-19

Manitoba: 

Nunavut: Nunavut Department of Health – COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)

Ontario:

Quebec:

New Brunswick:  Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health (Public Health) New Brunswick – Coronavirus

Nova Scotia:

Prince Edward Island: Prince Edward Island Health and Wellness – COVID-19

Newfoundland: Newfoundland Health and Community Services – NLife with COVID-19


Webinars and podcasts

American Medical Association ED Hub –  Coronavirus (COVID19)

American Society for Microbiology - This Week in Virology.

BMJ Best Practice – BMJ Best Practice Podcasts

Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota -  COVID-19 Podcasts and Webinars

CMA Joule –  COVID-19 Learning Series

CMAJ Podcasts –  COVID-19 Podcasts

College of Family Physician of Canada – COVID-19 Webinars

Elsevier – Expert Insights on COVID-19 podcasts. 

The JAMA Network – Coronavirus videos

University of Toronto – What’s Next COVID-19 Podcast

University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine – COVID-19 Webinars.


Telemedicine and virtual care

CADTH – Enablers for virtual visits

Canada Health Infoway – Rapid response to COVID-19

Canadian Medical Association – Virtual Care

Canadian Medical Association, The College of Family Physicians, and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada – Virtual Care in Canada: Progress and Potential

Canadian Medical Association, The College of Family Physicians, and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada – Virtual care guide for patients. 

Canadian Medical Association, The College of Family Physicians, and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada – Virtual Care Playbook. 

Canadian Medical Protective Association – Telehealth and virtual care

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health – Virtual care: Resources for health care workers during COVID-19

College of Family Physicians of Canada – Virtual Care in the Patient’s Medical Home

Doctors of BC – Virtual Care Toolkit

Ontario MD – Virtual care is here to stay

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada –  Telemedicine and virtual care guidelines (and other clinical resources for COVID-19). 


Ethics and medical-legal resources

BC Centre for Disease Control – Ethics

Canadian Medical Association – Framework for Ethical Decision Making During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Canadian Medical Protective Association – COVID-19 Hub. Advice, support, and medical-legal protection during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Hastings Center – Ethics Resources on the Coronavirus (COVID-19). collection of articles and reports on ethics related to COVID-19, other coronaviruses and pandemics. 

National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy/ Institut national de santé publique (Québec) – Public Health Ethics and COVID-19: Selected Resources


Patient education resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – What you should know about COVID-19 to protect yourself and others

Government of Canada – Coronavirus infection: Symptoms and treatment, what to do if you feel sick. 

Public Health Agency of Canada – Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Awareness resources (fact sheets and infographics available in many languages). 

Ryerson University National Institute on Ageing (NIA) – My COVID-19 Visit Risk. Understand the risks associated with your planned visit, and tips on how to make any proposed visits as safe as possible. 

University of Toronto – Family and Community Medicine - Confused about COVID? Family doctors answer your questions. 


Databases and pre-populated literature searches

Cochrane Library – Coronavirus (COVID-19) – evidence relevant to critical care.

Coronavirus disease (COVID‑19) – Epistemonikos foundation L·OVE database.

COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 preprints from medRxiv and bioRxiv  

COVID-19 global literature on coronavirus disease – World Health Organization

COVID-19 primer – Powered by Primer (AI) – dashboard for latest research and trending news and articles. 

COVID-10 Search Strings - Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health

Google Scholar search

LitCovid – the US National Library of Medicine’s curated literature hub for tracking up-to-date scientific information about the virus.

Pubmed search

Trip database search (Turning research into practice)


Need more information or have a more focused clinical question on coronaviruses or any other clinical topic of interest? Contact the Ask a Librarian team to request a literature search.


This material is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. The opinions stated by the authors are made in a personal capacity and do not necessarily reflect those of the Canadian Medical Association and its subsidiaries including Joule.

 

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