How we source our nursing study content
MagstoneRN's clinical facts come from published sources you can open yourself, and the app and our study guides show you those sources.
Updated November 14, 2026
Facts come from drug labels, government health sources, and nursing textbooks
- Drug facts come mostly from FDA-approved drug labels, read on DailyMed, the National Library of Medicine's label database.
- Diseases, lab tests, and prevention come from U.S. government health sources, mostly the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and MedlinePlus.
- Nursing care and skills come from Open RN, a series of free nursing textbooks from Chippewa Valley Technical College.
- Lab reference ranges come mostly from UW Medicine's published laboratory test guide and from Open RN's tables, and each of our lab pages says which. Treatment targets, such as the INR on warfarin, come from the drug's label. When you read a real result, use the range printed on the patient's report.
- Medication safety rules, such as which abbreviations lead to errors, come from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP).
Some topics also draw on professional guidelines and peer-reviewed research, such as recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and articles in PubMed Central.
In the app, flashcards and questions show their sources
A Sources button lists the references behind what you're studying. You'll find it:
- under a flashcard's answer
- under a practice question's explanation, during practice and again in your score report
- at the end of each lesson
- in each simulation debrief
- on each lab in the lab values tool, where it also lists the source of that lab's range
Drug monographs name their source, and Settings has a Sources screen with the citations and references the app uses.
Our study guides cite their sources
On our drug and lab pages, such as potassium normal range and furosemide nursing considerations, a bracketed number like [1] follows each fact and links to that source in the list at the bottom of the page. The list stays closed until you open it or follow a number. It gives each source's title, publisher, license, and the date we read it.
The desired over have dosage calculator page cites its sources with bracketed numbers too. That page's calculator, our gtt/min and mL/hr calculator, and our mcg/kg/min to mL/hr calculator use the same calculation steps as the MagstoneRN app. Each one is tested against answers the app's own code produced for the same numbers, and each shows every step with its units.
Our other study guides, such as dosage calculation for nurses, list their sources at the end of the page and use the same bracketed numbers where a fact comes from one of them.
Our comparison guides, such as SimpleNursing vs MagstoneRN, take a competitor's prices and plan details only from that company's own pages or its app store listings, and each guide shows the date we checked them. Prices change, so check the company's site before you buy.
Found a wrong or outdated fact? Tell us
Email MagstoneRN support with the page and the fact. A corrected study guide shows the date it was updated.
MagstoneRN hasn't commissioned an outside clinical review of its pages. The citations are there so you can check any fact against its source.
The educational use terms explain what MagstoneRN's study material is for, and sources and credits lists where the site's 3D models and images come from.