NURS 3710 (RN to BS): Evidence-based Practice in Nursing

When thinking about the types of databases, one aspect is how many disciplines does it cover.

A Subject Database focuses on one discipline or sub-discipline. CINAHL Complete and Proquest Nursing & Allied Health are both subject databases focused on the discipline of nursing as a whole. The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials is a subject database focused on evidence-based research in medicine (it can be searched as an individual database or as part of the Cochrane Collection Plus which is a group of 4 Cochrane dataes). Click on their respective tabs above to learn more about each of these subject databases.

• Advantages to searching a subject database are:
  • The discipline is usually covered in depth.
  • A primary focus of its collection is on professional/scholarly resources created by practitioners and experts in that discipline.
  • You are likely to find primary, original research published here.
  • Subject searching (the way experts in the discipline think and converse about the discipline) becomes a very effective tool once you identify the terminology they are using.
• Disadvantages:
  • No discipline or topic exists in a vacuum; they often overlap with other disciplines. However, a subject database may not provide any or just a few resources from outside the discipline. A good researcher wants to investigate all aspects relevant to their topic.
  • If you aren't an expert in the discipline or the specific area you are researching, it can be hard to develop a search strategy that yields relevant results right away.  

A Multi-disciplinary Database focuses on at least two different disciplines, but often covers many more. A great multi-disciplinary database is Academic Search Ultimate, covering 21 disciplines. Click on the Academic Search Ultimate tab above to learn more about this multi-disciplinary database.

• Advantages to searching a multi-disciplinary database are:
  • Provides a good starting point when you are researching a topic new to you. Because it covers multiple disciplines, you usually can find something on your topic.
  • No discipline or topic exists in a vacuum; they often overlap with other disciplines. When you find articles on your topic, you will often see resources from multiple disciplines which can help you identify related disciplines you can explore that you might not have originally thought to check.
  • Keyword searching (the way the non-expert thinks about a topic) can often be more effective when searching across disciplines serving as a tool to find some initial resources that can then help you identify how experts in different fields think and converse about your topic.
• Disadvantages:
  • It doesn't cover each discipline in depth, in fact, it may only provide a glimpse into the resources of that discipline.
  • It may or may not provide access to the professional/scholarly resources created by practitioners and experts in that discipline.
  • You may or may not find primary, original research published here that relates to your topic.

Another aspect to consider is its content level and the type of sources it provides access to.

Content Levels:

• Reference databases contain basic level content which can be general or specific to a discipline. Here you will find entries and articles from dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, et cetera. You will not find scholarly level sources.
• Research databases often contain a range of content levels and types of sources, sometimes including reference materials and multi-media. As a college student and/or professional you want to be using reliable, authoritative sources such as academic/scholarly journals, peer-reviewed primary research studies, books written by discipline professionals and experts, et cetera.
• Media databases: Some databases are a collection of images, videos, audio clips, multi-media, newspapers, etc.

Research tip: Look at the criteria for your assignment (whether for school or work) in identifying any requirements as to the types of sources you must use or can't use to help you select a database as well as in forming your search strategy.

• When doing a research literature review you never want to use reference sources, very rarely do you want to use content from websites unless it is a professional website where they are publishing primary research you can access or newspapers.
• When doing a research literature review and selecting primary research studies to use, remember to examine it with a critical eye:
  • Is it published in a peer-reviewed, academic/scholarly journal or been presented at a professional conference where it has been vetted by professionals in the discipline?
  • Is the author a practitioner or expert in the discipline? Do they have an educational or special training in that area of study?
  • Analyze the methodology the researcher used. Different types of studies quantitative vs. qualitative measure different things, how participants are selected and the number of participants can impact how the data can be used, did the researcher run the experiment/conduct the survey multiple times (either over time or across different participant groups) or just once, does s/he identify any limits to their study and the data gathered, et cetera.

CINAHL Complete stands for the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature. It is a subject database focused on the field of nursing and is one of the largest and most in-depth nursing research database.

You can connect to CINAHL Complete using the link below or from the Research section of the Library website.

CINAHL Complete also provides indexing for more than 4,000 journals (come across something that isn't full text - request it using ILLiad), and provides additional nursing and allied health research material including health care books, select conference proceedings, evidence-based care sheet and quick lesson disease overviews. It has broad subject content coverage including 50 nursing specialties, speech and language pathology, nutrition, general health and medicine and more. 

Special Limit & Search Options - help you refine your search

Most of the research databases, including CINAHL Complete, provide limit options that you can use to help narrow your search. Most databases have at least these two limits:

• Full Text - Check this option if you only want to see the articles that have full text available in that database. When you use this option keep in mind that you may not be seeing some really great articles that you need for your research and you may have access to through one of our other databases, our print collection or our Interlibrary Loans service.
   
• Date Range - Use this when you want the database to exclude any articles that are too old to use in your research. Often your professor may state that you can only use materials from the last 3 or 7 years. The currency of the research and sources may vary by discipline with some like nursing requiring more current materials because the field of medicine changes so rapidly.

CINAHL and many of our other databases provide additional limits you may want to use such as:

• Peer-reviewed Journals / Academic Journals / Scholarly Journals (name differs, but they all mean the same thing) - Check this option when you only want to see articles written by professionals in the field which are submitted to the publisher for review by experts in the field before they are published in professional, scholarly journals.
   
• Publication / Journal Name - This tells the database to only search within a specific journal for articles on your topic.
   
• Image Quick View / Image Types - This tells the database to only keep the articles that include images such as pictures, diagrams, charts, etc.

• Publication Type - You can specify if you only want newspaper articles, journal articles, books, audio files, etc. The type of files you can select from will depend on the type of resources the database contains.

Limits unique to CINAHL:

• While in the Basic Search you see these options:

  • Journal Subset – you can limit your results to articles from core nursing journals, public health journals, etc. 

  • Sex – Limit your results to articles and information to females or males instead of having to build this into your search terms.
     
  • English Language – see only articles published in English.
     

• While in the Advanced Search you have access to all of the limits listed above plus a large set of additional limits – here are some that you might find most useful in doing your research, but depending on your topic and or assignments there are others that might be helpful so remember to check them out when you’re in the database.

  • Age Groups – Limit your results to articles and information focused on fetus, infant, child 2-5 years, middle aged, etc. instead of having to build this into your search terms.

  • Any Author is Nurse – always check this limit if your professor requires you to only use articles and resources where at least one of the authors is a nurse.

  • First Author is Nurse – always check this limit if your professor requires you to only use articles and resources where the first or primary author is a nurse.

  • Geographic Subset – set this to the USA to exclude other countries. Sometimes this limit is more effective than at other times. If you don’t seem to find much, you can always uncheck this limit and build this restriction into your search terms instead.

Special Search Functions:

CINAHL and many of our databases also offer special searching functions which can be really helpful. When you are in a new database click on Help to see what is available. A couple of the functions to look for are:

• Truncation Symbols - The truncation symbol is usually an asterisk "*". When you have a search term such as teenager you can type in the root of the word followed by the truncation symbol and the database will look for all forms of the word and retrieve the articles. So if you typed in teen* the database would look for teen, teens, teenager and teenagers. It is also great for when you want to get the singular and plural forms of a word. An important thing to keep in mind when using truncation is where you truncate the word and what type of database are you in. For example if you are in an Education database and you type bull*, you will get articles on bullying. However the same truncated search term in a general reference database will get articles on bullying, cows, rodeo, bullets, etc.
   
• Wildcard Symbols - The symbol is usually a question mark "?" or a pound sign "#". The symbol substitutes for a letter when you are not sure of the spelling. For example if you are looking for articles written by Ann Reid but you're not sure if her last name is spelled Reid or Reed you can type in Re?d and the database will look for both names.

• Including Phrases in a Search - Some databases assume that if you type two or more words together and don't separate them by using AND, OR, NOT, that the words should be treated as a phrase. Other databases assume that several words typed together are words to be searched individually, just as is you had typed OR between each one, and need you to tell it by enclosing the words in parentheses or quotation marks that they are actually a phrase. In CINAHL, put phrases inside of quotation marks.

CINAHL Headings

Located in the top blue bar of the CINAHL database's search pages, you can search for CINAHL headings which are subject terms assigned to a topic. These are the same as MESH Headings in the Medline database. This is a great tool to help you find subject terms that you can use in your search strategy to find more relevant results. For example, clicking on CINAHL Headings and typing bedsores into the search box results in the database showing that the subject term to use is pressure ulcer. It also gives you the option to click on that term to see a list of broader and narrower terms related to it. Checking the in front of one or more terms from withing the CINAHL Headings search and then clicking on the "Search Database" button adds the term(s) to your current search.

Want to learn more about this tool? Click on the View Tutorials link at the top of the CINAHL Headings search page to see a quick demo.

Evidence-Based Care Sheets

Located in the top blue bar of the CINAHL database's search pages, you can search for Evidence-Based Care Sheets by topic from this specialized search page. The care sheets are summaries on specific key topics, which are focused on nursing practice. Each evidence-based care sheet incorporates the latest evidence, statistics, research and references on a given topic. The references are ranked, using a coding matrix, according to the type of literature they represent (systematic reviews, meta-analysis, etc).

The Cochrane Collection Plus consists of four databases which can be searched simultaneously or individually. The databases are:

• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)
• Cochrane Clinical Answers
• Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
• Cochrane Methodology Register

You can connect to Cochrane Collection Plus using the link below or from the Research section of the Library website. Once you are in the collection, you can click on the Choose Databases link to uncheck one or more of the Cochrane databases if you don't want to search the whole collection. Cochrane Collection Plus combines the most comprehensive databases from the Cochrane Library, a key resource in evidence-based medicine including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), the leading source of peer-reviewed systematic reviews in healthcare. 

Special Limit & Search Options - help you refine your search

Most of the research databases, including Cochrane Collection Plus, provide limit options that you can use to help narrow your search. Most databases have at least this limit:

• Date Range - Use this when you want the database to exclude any articles that are too old to use in your research. Often your professor may state that you can only use materials from the 5 or 10 years.

Different from many databases, Cochrane Collection Plus has a limit for Linked Full Text instead of Full Text . While this database doesn't provide full text access to the items indexed here, the vendor EBSCOhost provides direct links to the full text content automatically if the full text is available in another database that we get from EBSCOhost. - Check this option if you only want to see the articles that have full text available in one of the EBSCOhost databases. When you use this option keep in mind that you may not be seeing some really great articles that you need for your research and you may have access to through one of our other databases, our print collection or our Interlibrary Loans service.

Cochrane Collection Plus and many of our other databases provide additional limits you may want to use. Because it is a collection of 4 databases some of the limit options may not apply to all four databases:

• Image Types (applies to all four databases) - This tells the database to only keep the articles that include images such as pictures, diagrams, charts, etc.
• Unique to Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials:
  • MEDLINE Publication Type - selecting a specific MEDINE publication Type from the drop down list means only items designated as that publication type that match your search criteria will appear in your results list.
  • Language - will restrict your results list to only show items published in the language you select
  • Review Groups & Registers - will restrict your results list to only show items designated as such
• Unique to Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews:
  • Document Type
  • Date Last Assessed
  • Records by Review Group
• Unique to Cochrane Methodology Register:
  • Document Type
  • CMR Keyword

Note: While two of the databases have a Document Type limit, the options listed in each one's drop down menu are different.

Special Search Functions:

Cochrane Collection Plus and many of our databases also offer special searching functions which can be really helpful. When you are in a new database click on Help to see what is available. A couple of the functions to look for are:

• Truncation Symbols - The truncation symbol is usually an asterisk "*". When you have a search term such as teenager you can type in the root of the word followed by the truncation symbol and the database will look for all forms of the word and retrieve the articles. So if you typed in teen* the database would look for teen, teens, teenager and teenagers. It is also great for when you want to get the singular and plural forms of a word. An important thing to keep in mind when using truncation is where you truncate the word and what type of database are you in. For example if you are in an Education database and you type bull*, you will get articles on bullying. However the same truncated search term in a general reference database will get articles on bullying, cows, rodeo, bullets, etc.
   
• Wildcard Symbols - The symbol is usually a question mark "?" or a pound sign "#". The symbol substitutes for a letter when you are not sure of the spelling. For example if you are looking for articles written by Ann Reid but you're not sure if her last name is spelled Reid or Reed you can type in Re?d and the database will look for both names.
   
• Including Phrases in a Search - Some databases assume that if you type two or more words together and don't separate them by using AND, OR, NOT, that the words should be treated as a phrase. Other databases assume that several words typed together are words to be searched individually, just as is you had typed OR between each one, and need you to tell it by enclosing the words in parentheses or quotation marks that they are actually a phrase. In CINAHL, put phrases inside of quotation marks.

ProQuest® Nursing & Allied Health Database provides a diverse mix of scholarly literature, clinical training videos, reference materials, and evidence-based resources, including dissertations and systematic reviews. Its focus is on those preparing for a career in healthcare, teaching patient care, or engaged in nursing research. This database takes a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to subject coverage

You can connect to ProQuest Education Database using the link below or from the Research section of the Library website.

Special Limit & Search Options - help you refine your search

Most of the research databases, including Proquest Nursing & Allied Health Source, provide limit options that you can use to help narrow your search. Most databases have at least these two limits:

• Full Text - Check this option if you only want to see the articles that have full text available in that database. When you use this option keep in mind that you may not be seeing some really great articles that you need for your research and you may have access to through one of our other databases, our print collection or our Interlibrary Loans service.
• Date Range - Use this when you want the database to exclude any articles that are too old to use in your research. Often your professor may state that you can only use materials from the 5 or 10 years.

Proquest Nursing & Allied Health Source and many of our other databases provide additional limits you may want to use such as:

• Scholarly Journals / Peer-reviewed Journals / Academic Journals - in many databases these names are interchangeable, but Proquest Nursing & Allied Health Source is one database that differentiates them and offers two separate limit options:
  • Scholarly Journals - Check this option when you only want to see articles published in academically oriented journals.
  • Peer Reviewed - Check this option when you only want to see articles written by professionals in the field which are submitted to the publisher for review by experts in the field before they are published.
• Document Type- This tells the database to only keep the articles that include images such as cartoons, maps, etc.
• Source Type - You can specify if you only want newspaper articles, journal articles, etc. The type of files you can select from will depend on the type of resources the database contains.
• Language - Check this option to specifiy that you only want articles in the lanuage you select. If you choose English, you won't see any article published in French, Spanish, etc.

Proquest Nursing & Allied Health Source provides additional limits that you may want to use:

• Females - Limits the items in your results list to those that have a subject focus on females
• Males - Limits the items in your results list to those that have a subject focus on males
• Age Group - you can select a specific age group from a predefined drop down list rather than typing in key words or subject terms into the search box

Special Search Functions:

Proquest Nursing & Allied Health Source and many of our databases also offer special searching functions which can be really helpful. When you are in a new database click on Help to see what is available. A couple of the functions to look for are:

• Truncation Symbols - The truncation symbol is usually an asterisk "*". When you have a search term such as teenager you can type in the root of the word followed by the truncation symbol and the database will look for all forms of the word and retrieve the articles. So if you typed in teen* the database would look for teen, teens, teenager and teenagers. It is also great for when you want to get the singular and plural forms of a word. An important thing to keep in mind when using truncation is where you truncate the word and what type of database are you in. For example if you are in an Education database and you type bull*, you will get articles on bullying. However the same truncated search term in a general reference database will get articles on bullying, cows, rodeo, bullets, etc.
   
• Including Phrases in a Search - Some databases assume that if you type two or more words together and don't separate them by using AND, OR, NOT, that the words should be treated as a phrase. Other databases assume that several words typed together are words to be searched individually, just as is you had typed OR between each one, and need you to tell it by enclosing the words in parentheses or quotation marks that they are actually a phrase.

Thesaurus

Proquest Nursing & Allied Health Source provides a thesaurus (alphabetical listing) of all the subject terms in a single database, used to classify and organize information for that database. The thesaurus shows relationships between terms such as synonymous or related terms, and hierarchical arrangements such as broader or narrower terms. Many subjects also have associated scope notes. Searching the thesaurus can be a good way to discover search terms to try and/or identify the subject term that professionals in the field use when referring to that subject.

Academic Search Ultimate is a multi-disciplinary database that offers access to resources cited in key subject indexes.  The combination of academic journals, magazines, periodicals, reports, books and videos meets the needs of scholars in virtually every discipline ranging from astronomy, anthropology, biomedicine, education, engineering, health, law and literacy to mathematics, pharmacology, women’s studies, zoology and more. Content includes:

• 10,021 active full-text journals and magazines
• 9,017 active full-text peer-reviewed journals
• 5,254 active full-text journals indexed in Web of Science or Scopus
• 67,000+ videos from the Associated Press, this collection of videos from the world’s leading news agency includes footage from 1930 to the present

You can connect to Academic Search Ultimate using the link below or from the Research section of the Library website.

Special Limit & Search Options - help you refine your search

Most of the research databases, including Academic Search Ultimate, provide limit options that you can use to help narrow your search. Most databases have at least these two limits:

• Full Text - Check this option if you only want to see the articles that have full text available in that database. When you use this option keep in mind that you may not be seeing some really great articles that you need for your research and you may have access to through one of our other databases, our print collection or our Interlibrary Loans service.
• Published Date Range - Use this when you want the database to exclude any articles that are too old to use in your research. Often your professor may state that you can only use materials from the 5 or 10 years.

Academic Search Ultimate and many of our other databases provide additional limits you may want to use such as:

• Scholarly Journals / Peer-reviewed Journals / Academic Journals (name differs, but they all mean the same thing) - Check this option when you only want to see articles written by professionals in the field which are submitted to the publisher for review by experts in the field before they are published in professional, scholarly journals.
• Publication / Journal Name - This tells the database to only search within a specific journal for articles on your topic.
• Image Types - This tells the database to only keep the articles that include images such as pictures, diagrams, charts, etc.
• Publication Type - You can specify if you only want newspaper articles, journal articles, books, audio files, etc. The type of files you can select from will depend on the type of resources the database contains.
• Language - Check this option to specifiy that you only want articles in the lanuage you select. If you choose English, you won't see any article published in French, Spanish, etc.

Special Search Functions:

Academic Search Ultimate and many of our databases also offer special searching functions which can be really helpful. When you are in a new database click on Help to see what is available. A couple of the functions to look for are:

• Truncation Symbols - The truncation symbol is usually an asterisk "*". When you have a search term such as teenager you can type in the root of the word followed by the truncation symbol and the database will look for all forms of the word and retrieve the articles. So if you typed in teen* the database would look for teen, teens, teenager and teenagers. It is also great for when you want to get the singular and plural forms of a word. An important thing to keep in mind when using truncation is where you truncate the word and what type of database are you in. For example if you are in an Education database and you type bull*, you will get articles on bullying. However the same truncated search term in a general reference database will get articles on bullying, cows, rodeo, bullets, etc.
• Wildcard Symbols - The symbol is usually a question mark "?" or a pound sign "#". The symbol substitutes for a letter when you are not sure of the spelling. For example if you are looking for articles written by Ann Reid but you're not sure if her last name is spelled Reid or Reed you can type in Re?d and the database will look for both names.
  Including Phrases in a Search - Some databases assume that if you type two or more words together and don't separate them by using AND, OR, NOT, that the words should be treated as a phrase. Other databases assume that several words typed together are words to be searched individually, just as is you had typed OR between each one, and need you to tell it by enclosing the words in parentheses or quotation marks that they are actually a phrase.
• Cited References links, Unique to Academic Search Ultimate, may appear under some of the items in your results list. Clicking on this link opens the References/Works Cited page for that source and provides full text links to any of the sources that author used that are also available in this database.
• Times Cited in this Database links, Unique to Academic Search Ultimate, may appear under some of the articles in your results list. Clicking on this link will bring up a list of any articles available in this database that were published after this article that used this article as a resource.

Many databases include an added function to help you cite the sources you use. In most cases, you won't see the citation tools until you click on either the full-text link at access the item or click on the item's title in the results list (this takes you to a Detailed Record page that provides additional information about the item and its source). Whenever you take a citation from a database, ALWAYS check it  for errors. Here is what to look for:

In databases such as CINAHL Complete and Academic Search Ultimate databases that we get via EBSCOhost, once you are in the full-text or on the Detailed Record page a Tools bar will appear on the right of your screen. In the middle of the options you have several choices:

• Cite - clicking on this option pops-up a Citation Format box in the middle of the screen showing the citation for that source in multiple citation styles, simply scroll down to the APA version and copy/paste it into your reference list.
• Export - clicking on the option allows you to export the citation into RefWorks if you decide to use that research management tool.
• You can also tell the database to include the APA citation with the article when you email, save or print the item - In the email/save/print pop-up box you must click on the option for Citation Format and then select APA from the drop down menu.

In databases from Proquest such as the Proquest Nursing & Allied Health Source, you can select one or much items in your results list and then click on the "Cite option in the top right-hand corner (between your search box and your results list). This will pop-up a box showing the items you listed, just click the dropdown menu and select APA 6th edition and click the change button. You can then copy paste those citations into your reference list. As with the EBSCOhost databases, you can also access the "Cite link when you are are in the full-text or on the Detailed Record page (right, upper corner of your screen).