Research Guides: NU 310: Concepts of Professional Nursing Practice: Searching the Evidence

Tips to get you started

Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Start your research early!

2. Start by identifying 2-3 key concepts from your PICO question. PICO questions are very detailed and having too many concepts can work against you.

3. Brainstorm additional related terms, keywords, broader/narrower terms for each concept.

4. Write everything down! This will save you time! You won't have to start from scratch each time you to to search. This includes the name(s) of database(s), search terms, and limiters.

5. Not one single database will have everyting in it. To do comprehensive research you will have to search more than 1 database.

6. Don't ignore something simply because the library does not have the fulltext. Request items through our free Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service.

7. Still stuck? Schedule a research appointment with our Health Care Professions Librarian.

Gather Synonyms

Think broadly and abstractly! Pro tip: Get in the habit of writing your terms down

Terms with the same meaning
- hypertension / high blood pressure
- myocardial infarction / heart attack
Terms with alternate spellings
- leukemia / leukaemia
- pediatrics / paediatrics
Complex concepts described inconsistently
- Long-term, patient-reported satisfaction…/Patients’ experiences with…
Umbrella terms and specific names
- Sexually transmitted disease/genital warts, syphilis
Keywords and database-specific subject terms
- Cancer, tumor/Neoplasm (MeSH)

Construct Search Strategies

Construct search by combining concepts with Boolean operators. Use keywords and subject terms in combination.

Boolean Operators:

AND	limits results, both concepts	myocardial infarction AND diabetes
OR	expands results, either concept	myocardial infarction OR heart attack
NOT	excludes concept(s) from results	diabetes NOT gestational

Where to Search

Here are a few databases that librarians recommend you use when starting your research. For a full listing of Trexler Library databases click here.

CINAHL This link opens in a new window
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Click the red star for a brief tutorial. Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) provides access to virtually all English-language nursing journals, and primary journals from 13 allied health disciplines.
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
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Click the red star for a brief tutorial. The Cochrane Library is the gold standard for evidence-based research to inform healthcare decision making. It is a collection of databases including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. (See more information for a detailed explanation of each).
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) is the leading resource for systematic reviews in health care. The CDSR includes Cochrane Reviews (the systematic reviews) and protocols for Cochrane Reviews as well as editorials. The CDSR also has occasional supplements. The CDSR is updated regularly as Cochrane Reviews are published ‘when ready’ and form monthly issues; see publication schedule.

The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) is a highly concentrated source of reports of randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials. The majority of CENTRAL records are taken from bibliographic databases (mainly MEDLINE and Embase), but records are also derived from other published and unpublished sources. In addition to bibliographic details (author, source, year, etc.) CENTRAL records will often include an abstract (a summary of the article). They do not contain the full text of the article.
PEDro This link opens in a new window
From the website: "PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. PEDro is a free database of over 28,000 randomised trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. For each trial, review or guideline, PEDro provides the citation details, the abstract and a link to the full text, where possible. All trials on PEDro are independently assessed for quality. These quality ratings are used to quickly guide users to trials that are more likely to be valid and to contain sufficient information to guide clinical practice. PEDro is produced by the Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy at The George Institute for Global Health." (Australia)
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
American Psychological Association's (APA) renowned resource for abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapter, books and dissertations, is the largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. Contains over 3 millions records and summaries dating as far back as the 1600's with one of the highest DOI matching rates in the publishing industry. Journal coverage, which spans from the 1800's to the present, includes international material selected from around 2500 periodicals in dozens of languages.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
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Click the red star for a tutorial on using the Advanced Search Builder in PubMed.
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, comprises over 28 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. It is global in its scope of coverage and it ranks as the best sources for medical and life science information.
PubMed Central (PMC) This link opens in a new window
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PubMed Central® (PMC) is a free archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM). PMC contains more than 5 million full-text records, spanning several centuries of biomedical and life science research (late 1700s to present).
Trip Database This link opens in a new window
this database has evolved into a sophisticated tool for locating the highest possible evidence with which to inform clinical decisions, using the principles of evidence-based medicine.

Tailor Search Strategy to the Database

Understand different vendor interfaces (EBSCO publishes CINAHL and PsycINFO, Medline is part of PubMed)
Differentiate between keywords and subject headings (PubMed uses Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), CINAHL uses subject headings)
Different databases, different subject headings
Know if the content is peer-reviewed (Medline = all peer-reviewed, CINAHL and PubMed include non-peer-reviewed material)

Keyword vs. Subject Searching

Understand MeSH

Search Limiters

When doing a search there are different way you can narrow down your search results using limiters.

Age is important. Studies done on children are different that studies done on adults. – child, adult 65+, all adults, etc.
Publication types limit you to specific studies.
Any search restrictions – anything related to your topic that you wish to exclude.
Avoid bias, use generic limitations only where strictly necessary, e.g. avoid restrictions such as limiting to US studies only, studies published since 2010, or English language only.

Finding Full Text

Can't find the full text of an article you need?

Use our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service to request materials. Interlibrary Loan is a free service for our faculty, staff, and students through which materials not owned by Trexler library may be requested from other libraries. A PDF of the full text will be delivered to your DeSales email. Please allow enough time between request date and need by date for processing of the request - both on the part of Trexler as well as the eventual lending library.

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