Research guides: HCA: Health Care Assistant: Background Information

Getting started - Backgound Resources

Body Basics
Basic body systems information

Canada Commons
A collection of ebooks (most with multi-user simultaneous access) and public documents from Canadian scholarly and independent publishers.
If you have a question about gaining access to a specific title, please contact the library.
eBook Nursing Collection

An EBSCO collection featuring 550 selected, quality materials that focus on the needs of nursing professionals, including clinical guides, evidence-based practice manuals, practical handbooks and professional growth titles.

Merck Manual of Medical Information (Professional Version)
Explains disorders, who is likely to get them, their symptoms, how they're diagnosed, how they might be prevented, and how they can be treated.

Credo Online : Health & Medicine
Searches nearly 200 Health & Medicine related online reference books, including the Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health, Black's Medical Dictionary, SAGE Key Concepts in Nursing, Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses, & Davis's Comprehensive Handbook of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests with Nursing Implications.

Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health
Provides detailed information on mental disorders and conditions. Also features entries for prescription, alternative and over-the-counter drugs, as well as the various therapies used to treat mental disorders
Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders
Publication Date: 2010

Unlock comprehensive and accessible information on genetic disorders. Clear articles cover conditions, tests, treatments, and therapies for easy understanding by laypersons.
The Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy Through Adolescence
Publication Date: 2016

Provides in-depth coverage of pediatric diseases and disorders, along with issues related to physical and cognitive/behavioral development.
The Encyclopedia of Elder Care : The Comprehensive Resource on Geriatric Health and Social Care
Provides comprehensive, yet succinct, entries on a variety of topics related to elder care and geriatrics written at an undergraduate level and useful for practitioners, students, and caregivers.
Nursing Leadership : A Concise Encyclopedia
A single comprehensive reference for nursing leaders, leadership organizations, nursing clinicians, and educators, Nursing Leadership is the only compendium of nursing terminology in existence.
Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health
Written for students and professionals in the field. Entries cover topics in body systems and functions, conditions and common diseases, issues and theories, techniques and practices, and devices and equipment.

The Nursing Assistant by Jolynn Pulliam; Meg Holloway
Call Number: RT 84 P85 2020 (Interurban)

A concise guide for short courses, focusing on acute care and nursing home environments. It offers step-by-step procedures, aligning with nursing process models, state curricula, and mandates like OBRA, emphasizing patient care goals and cultural awareness.
Lippincott textbook for nursing assistants : a humanistic approach to caregiving
Call Number: RT 84 C37 2020 (Interurban)

Master nursing assistant skills with this comprehensive and reader-friendly text. Written in an engaging style with dynamic images, it focuses on technical, communication, and critical thinking skills for success.
DSM-5
Publication Date: 2013

DSM-5 is used by health professionals, social workers, and forensic and legal specialists to diagnose and classify mental disorders.
Professional Guide to Diseases
Publication Date: 2020

This comprehensive guide offers the causes, signs and symptoms for more than 600 disorders, with expert nursing direction on tests, assessments, diagnosis, treatments, and special considerations.

CPS (Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties)
From the Canadian Pharmacists Association. Includes drug information, therapeutic choices, minor ailments, and the Lexi-Interact drug interactions module. Also includes a pill identifier tool and Health Canada advisories.

Black's Medical Dictionary
Access over 5000 medical terms and concepts with vivid illustrations
Medical Terminology Made Incredibly Easy
Call Number: R 123 M394 2018 (Interurban)

Offers clear and simple explanations of vital terms and their everyday use in nursing practice.

Merck Audio Dictionary of Medical Terms
Listen to the correct pronunciations of medical terms

Top Resources

Assembly of First Nations--Health
The Health Unit is mandated to protect, maintain, promote, support and advocate for First nations inherent, Treaty and constitutional rights, holistic health and the well-being of First Nations
First Nations Health Authority--British Columbia
The FNHA is the first and only provincial First Nations Health Authority in Canada. We are working to transform and reform the way health care is delivered to BC First Nations.
Health Canada: First Nations, Inuit & Aboriginial Health
Canadian government database providing links to a wide range of up-to-date information covering all aspects of Indigenous health
Windspeaker
An Indigenous news journal with links to other national Indigenous news sources

Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America

Covers a wide range of topics including archaeology, multicultural relations, gaming, governance, legend, and literacy. Contains citations and some full text for books, essays, journal articles, and government documents of Canada and the United States.
Arctic Health
A source for information on diverse aspects of the Arctic environment and the health of northern peoples. Topics covered include: Climate Change; Environmental Health; Food Security; Mental Health; Social Justice & Traditional Healing. With over 250,000 records, Arctic Health provides access to evaluated health information from hundreds of local, state, national, and international agencies, as well as from professional societies, tribal groups, and universities
MEDLINE with fulltext via EBSCO

Comprehensive medical index. Finds different fulltext than Medline via OVID.
Canadian Major Dailies
All topics; covers major daily Canadian newspapers including the Times-Colonist.
Native Health Database
First Nations health articles, reports & surveys from the University of New Mexico. Has indexed Canadian content. Watch this tutorial for tips on searching this database.
Canadian Business & Current Affairs (CBCA Complete) + Canadian Major Dailies (Combined search)
Cross search these two major Canadian sources to discover magazine, journal and newspaper articles. See also the individual links in Databases A-Z to search them individually.
Alt Healthwatch

Useful for alternative and complementary therapies. Includes journals and magazines.
Academic Search Complete

All topics, academic focus, some Canadian content.