Research Guides: Clinical Resources for Physical Therapy and Athletic Training 2025: Online Books & Reference Works

Online Books & Dictionaries

Have a background question?

These textbooks can often provide a broader focus on topics and other background information.

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
The premier internal medicine source for etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, signs & symptoms, prognosis, and treatment of medical conditions
Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy
A concise, reputable online manual of medical information that is freely available to the public
Taber's® Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
A core medical dictionary for students

AccessMedicine

Provides access to the most recent editions of many medical reference books.
ClinicalKey

Includes Elsevier's medical and surgical reference books, journals, point-of-care clinical monographs, drug monographs, and more.
Individual ClinicalKey account required for eBook PDF downloads and Presentation Maker.
App available. Individual ClinicalKey account required for access via app.
Register while on a SLU campus with your @slu.edu or @health.slu.edu email address. Please see “Additional Info” below for more detailed instructions.
To create a personal account to enable eBook downloading and access to Presentation Maker:
Register for a User Profile
- You must be on a SLU campus.
- Visit ClinicalKey and click Register in the top right corner
- Create your username and password using your @slu.edu or @slu.health.edu email address as your username
- Click register to generate a confirmation email
- Open the confirmation email to confirm your account
To register for access using the ClinicalKey app:
First, register for a User Profile (see instructions above). Then, activate remote access for your account:
- You must be on a SLU campus.
- Visit the ClinicalKey login page
- Click Apply Now under the Remote Access section in the lower right corner
- Input your @slu.edu or @slu.health.edu email address and click Continue to generate an activation email
- Open the activation email within 60 minutes and click Activate Your Remote Access link
See this help article from ClinicalKey for more detailed instructions.
STAT!Ref

Contains drug guides, lab test manuals, ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, medical dictionaries, other reference ebooks, BoardVitals for nursing, a board test prep resource, and more.

PubMed Bookshelf
A growing collection of free online biomedical books that can be searched by typing a concept into the search box
Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses
A good resource to look up the actions, dosage, adverse effects, and clinical implications for commonly used drugs
Davis's Comprehensive Manual of Laboratory & Diagnostic Tests with Nursing Implications
Full-color manual delivers all the information needed to understand how tests work, interpret their results, and provide quality patient care--pre-test, intra-test, and post-test.

Why was Access Denied?

If you see a Licenses Exceeded message when you try to access an online book, wait about 15-20 minutes then try again.

Please be sure to use the Log Out or Exit icons to free up the license for the next user.