Realistically, guidelines practice remain the gold standard if you want to look up information. CANMAT for depression, Katzman for anxiety disorders, CANMAT for bipolar disorder, CADDRA for ADHD: those are all PDF worth having accessible on a cloud storage. However, those are lengthy and beside the tables, often are not that useful for the everyday professional. There are so many information and books out there that it might easily be confusing. Teaching students and clerks, I realized that many tools were not user friendly or not clinically oriented enough.
If you are a student, a professional or a doctor looking for the bare essentials, you will find below what I recommend. Please note that those are only tools and do not replace professional judgment. Feel free to call the psychiatrist on call to discuss anytime more specific or difficult situations!
There is also now Openevidence.com. It is currently free with your Medical Identification Number for Canada.
REMINDER sheets
Simple no-fuss introductory PDF to various topics, good go-to reminders.
- Medications 101: antidepressants, mood stabilizer, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines tables with common medications with commercial/generic name, dosages and clinical pearls; last updated 2022 (ENG / FR)
- Consultation 101: one page summary of what a psychiatric consult should include (ENG / FR)
- Rotation 101: for students starting a psychiatric rotation (ENG / FR)
- Assessing suicide 4-pages reminder : by Dr Bilsker and Samra (Simon Fraser University)
- Annick Vincent ADHD medication table
Books
- Prescriber’s Guide : Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology: amazing practical book, clear, addressing everyday concerns (how to start and stop medication, side-effect, monitoring, formulations, pearls). A must have!
- The Gift of Therapy, by Irvin Yalom: if you have therapeutic encounters, an easy to read but very informative book on what is often not taught but how useful
For more advanced readers or extensive references on specific topics:
- The Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry, as well as other Maudsley psychopharmacology books : if you are a soon-to-be psychiatry resident, or want to deepen you psychopharmacology knowledge, this is a great book that includes key studies and findings, and honestly in itself it worth easily a week-long psychopharmacology seminar!
PsychOnCall 