Explore, Search, Stay informed, and Make the most of UpToDate through Busitema University Library

Busitema University Library is creating awareness about UpToDate, an evidence-based clinical decision-support resource available to the University community through the Library’s electronic resources.

For students, lecturers, researchers and health professionals, keeping up with changes in medical knowledge can be demanding. New research findings, treatment recommendations and clinical guidelines continue to emerge, making access to reliable and current information increasingly important. UpToDate helps address this challenge by bringing together clinical evidence, expert interpretation and practical recommendations in one searchable platform.

Developed by Wolters Kluwer, UpToDate provides access to more than 13,000 clinical topics across 25 medical specialties. Its recommendations draw on current evidence together with the experience of more than 7,600 physician authors and editors involved in developing and reviewing its content.

The resource covers a broad range of areas relevant to health sciences education and clinical practice. Users can consult information on diagnosis, treatment, medicines, disease management, prevention and other clinical questions. This makes it particularly useful when a student needs to understand a condition encountered during coursework or clinical training, when a lecturer is preparing teaching material, or when a health professional needs evidence to support a clinical decision.

Unlike a conventional textbook that may remain unchanged until a new edition is published, UpToDate is designed to reflect developments in clinical evidence as they emerge. Its content is reviewed by medical experts and presented in a form intended to help users move from a clinical question to relevant evidence and recommendations more efficiently.

For students, this can mean having a reliable starting point when studying a disease or preparing for a clinical discussion. Lecturers and clinical educators can use the resource to complement teaching with current evidence, while researchers can use references within UpToDate topics to identify literature for further investigation. For clinicians, the platform provides evidence-based information that can support decision-making at the point of care.

Busitema University Library currently lists UpToDate Database among the electronic databases available to its users. The Library describes it as a clinical decision-support database covering more than 25 medical specialties and provides access through its A–Z Databases platform.

The availability of UpToDate is particularly relevant to the University’s health sciences community. Busitema University operates a dedicated Health Sciences Library at Mbale Campus, alongside its wider network of campus libraries that support teaching, learning and research across the University.

Students and staff are therefore encouraged to explore UpToDate and make greater use of the resource as part of their learning, teaching, research and clinical information-seeking.

To access the resource, users can visit the Busitema University Library website, navigate to the E-Resources Portal, select A–Z Databases, and locate UpToDate Database. Registered Library users can also seek assistance from Library staff where they experience challenges accessing electronic resources.