Hospital policies, procedures and guidelines should be based on the most current evidence available.
For this reason, it is very important to check the references you are citing before submitting your document.
Questions to consider:
Has the evidence been updated or superseded?
Are you citing the most recent edition of the NSQHS Standards?
Is this guideline/book the latest edition?
Does the document/webpage still exist?
Does the link still work? (government websites frequently change their links!)
What date was it published? Is this still the best source of information? There may have been crucial developments in the field since the last time your policy was reviewed.
When citing online content, you should specify the date you accessed it: “accessed Month DD, YYYY" (Vancouver) or "retrieved Month DD, YYYY" (APA). This shows the reviewer that you have recently checked the source. You need to include this if the content being cited is likely to be changed over time - for example on a webpage. You don't need to include this for books, journal articles or anything that has a static publication date.
When citing books, check that you are referring to the latest edition. If you only have access to an older edition, please contact the library for assistance.
The library can help you conduct a literature review on your topic.
