LibGuides: NR 532: Introduction to Evidence Based Practice: Databases

Nursing databases

Start with one or two keywords, then combine concepts one at a time. Do not add limiters (date, article type, etc.) until you're sure your keywords are productive.

Databases use Boolean logic, which means you can combine terms using the words AND and OR to explore the literature more strategically.
- Use Boolean operators AND and OR to combine terms (3-minute video)
- To broaden/expand results, consider synonyms: heart OR coronary OR cardiac
- Databases typically assume AND between search terms if no operator is present

Use truncation to include variant endings: therap* = therapy OR therapies OR therapeutic
Use quotation marks to bind keywords into a phrase like "fetal alcohol syndrome". This will narrow results.
Use search history or advanced search to review previous searches and combine them to build new ones

Use controlled vocabulary to refine and focus results. Many articles have standardized descriptive terms assigned to them so you can easily find related articles.

MeSH tutorial (Medical Subject Headings 3-minute video)
- Most health sciences databases offer MeSH search options
- CINAHL uses Subject Terms instead of MeSH terms

CINAHL Plus with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text of the literature of nursing and allied health.

Recommended limiters (click "show more" under the date range limiter bar to the left of your results list):
- Published date: adjust range to limit to past 5 years
- English language (checkbox)
- Research article (checkbox)
  - This limiter does not necessarily limit to research study articles, but it does eliminate content that is not research at all (newsletters, book reviews, etc.)
Do not overuse limiters! Sometimes they don't do what you think they will do. For example, the "Evidence-Based Practice" limiter in CINAHL eliminates most primary research articles and limits results to a small collection of highly specialized journals.
Two ways to select Subject Terms (content-focused controlled vocabulary):
1. check the box above the search bar and enter keywords, or
2. find an article by keyword and then click on highlighted Subject Terms in the article's full description
Use search history to review and combine searches

MEDLINE with full text This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive index for medical journals and provides full text for more than 1,370 journals.

Recommended limiters (click "show more" under the date range limiter bar to the left of your results list):
- Published date: adjust range to limit to past 5 years
- English language (checkbox)
Do not overuse limiters!
Two ways to select MeSH Terms (content-focused controlled vocabulary):
1. check the box above the search bar to Suggest Subject Terms and enter keywords, or
2. find an article by keyword and then click on highlighted MeSH Terms in the article's full description
Use search history to review and combine searches

PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed is service of the National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources.

everything in Medline is also in PubMed, but PubMed also includes books and other resources from the National Library of Medicine
even though there is significant overlap between PubMed and Medline, search results will differ because the databases work differently

Other PubMed tips:

Click Advanced under the PubMed search bar to view your search history and combine searches using the search builder
PubMed uses automatic term mapping, which means your keywords will be matched to relevant MeSH terms
- expand "Details" on a search in your search history to see how PubMed executed your search
apply filters on the left side of your result list to narrow results to the past 5 years
- to limit by language, click "additional filters," select the checkbox for Languages, and click "Show"
- then apply the English limiter to your result list by clicking on it

MeSH database via PubMed: MeSH tutorial

PubMed Workshop Library Guide

Find Full Text

LibKey Nomad
Add LibKey Nomad to your web browser(s) for easy access to full text that the library purchases on your behalf!

Other ways to find the full-text of an article:

PDF Full Text Link
Find It! button connects to full text where it resides in another database
Don't see a PDF Full Text link or Find it! button? Or perhaps the Find it! button didn't work properly? Try searching for the journal title (i.e. American Journal of Nursing) in Journal Finder.
Still can't find the full-text?! Submit an Article Request form. We can often provide full-text access right away. If we can't, we will request the article through interlibrary loan (ILL).