Accessing Research in Clinical Practice

Knowing how to access research as a primary care provider is essential to providing informed choice and personal professional development and continuing education.

Preceptor Access to Research

When a midwife becomes a preceptor at McMaster or Toronto Metropolitan University, they can apply for an Adjunct Professorship in a 3 year renewable appointment that enables library access at that university. The midwife will receive a university employee number and may share library access with a practice group. Midwifery preceptors have, through the university library or through their hospital librarian, access to journal articles and health care system databases, such as NICE, TRIP, Health Systems Evidence, Cochrane, Medline, Embase, PubMed, and CINAHL.

Where to Access Research

Access to full-text articles is ideal, however in cases where only an abstract is available you may consider reaching our to the author to request a copy with an explanation of use. The resources below include options for midwives that are both available at a cost or are open source materials.