Using CINAhl and pubmed to find nursing research articles

1. A Presentation for Saint Louis University School of Nursing Students By Mary Krieger, MLIS, RN Medical Center Library June 9, 2011 Using CINAhl and pubmedto find nursing research articles Please turn on speakers for audio. Slides will advance automatically. Right click to pause or end.

2. Difference between Google and a database • Google (search engine) • Searches billions of web pages… not necessarily journal articles • No quality control of content • Databases at SLU (CINAHL, PubMed) • Cover specialized health sciences subject areas • Selective in journals that are included • More effective and time saving for students

3. Which database to choose--CINAHL? • Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) • Subscription only--not free • Covers English and non-English language journals • Dates of most articles from 1981 to present

4. Which database to choose--CINAHL? • Contains nursing-related subject headings • Can limit a search to “Research Articles” and “Peer Reviewed Journals” • Includes books, nursing dissertations, ANA and NLN publications, standards of practice, book chapters, and others

8. CINAHL link on MCL home page… http://www.slu.edu/libraries/hsc

9. Which database to choose--PubMed/MEDLINE? • Produced by the National Library of Medicine • 5,200 worldwide journals in 37 languages • Includes over 20 million citations from 1940s to present • Mainly peer reviewed biomedical journal articles • Can limit to nursing subset

10. What is the difference between PubMed and MEDLINE? • PubMed is the free version of MEDLINE • Library also subscribes to Ovid MEDLINE • Search interface looks different and searches differently • Database is the same/citations same • Your preference--choose one and become familiar

11. PubMed link on MCL home page… http://www.slu.edu/libraries/hsc

13. Setting up your search

14. Write out your question • In patients with central venous catheters, are gauze dressings or transparent dressings more effective in preventing infection? • Identify the important concepts • Central venous catheters • Gauze dressings • Transparent dressings • Prevent infection (use only if result set too large)

15. Connecting search concepts in databases • 3 search concepts: central venous catheters, gauze, transparent • Use the Boolean operators (connectors) • AND--will retrieve database records that contain all concepts in the same record. • OR--will retrieve database records that contain any of the terms; use to connect synonyms • NOT--will exclude database records with a specific term; use cautiously

16. Entering the search in PubMed

19. Selecting search termsKeyword vs. Subject Headings

20. Two ways to search PubMed/CINAHL • Keyword search--also called “natural language” • Subject Heading search

21. Keyword searching… • Searches for an exact character string • Need to use synonyms for a concept • Side rails, bed rails • Older adults, elderly, aged, geriatric • Consider singular and plural forms of words • Child, children

22. Keyword searching… • Formatting of words, e.g. needle stick (190 hits in CINAHL), needlestick(2,800 hits in CINAHL) • Variant spelling, e.g. behavior, behaviour • Two meanings for a word, e.g. walkers, AIDS • Keyword searching is fine if you remember these caveats

23. Keyword technique--Truncation or Stemming • Retrieves a word with various endings: • Asterisk symbol * in most databases • In PubMed--hospital* • In CINAHL--hospital* • Retrieves articles with any of these words: hospital, hospitals, hospitalized, hospitalization

24. Keyword technique--Phrase Searching • Many web sites and databases allow quotation marks for exact phrase searching, e.g. “white coat hypertension”

25. Subject heading search… • PubMed & CINAHL have a “master list” of terms called “subject headings” (MeSH in PubMed) • One subject heading is chosen to represent a concept • Example: Decubitus ulcer, pressure sore, bedsore • Pressure ulcer--subject heading in PubMed and CINAHL

26. Subject heading search… • Searches only the subject heading field, not title and abstract • Pulls all records with the same subject heading--spend less time thinking of synonyms • Subject headings in PubMed and CINAHL vary slightly--CINAHL has more nursing-focused terms

31. Summary of keyword vs. subject heading • Keyword Search--will retrieve records with an exact match in the title, abstract, or subject heading fields. • Pros: Retrieves more results, easy to use (like Google searching) • Cons: Less precise, more irrelevant hits, you must think of synonyms

32. Summary of keyword vs. subject heading • Subject Heading Search--will retrieve all articles indexed in the database with that subject heading • Pros: More precise, less irrelevant hits, you don't need to use synonyms • Cons: Must use the ”master list” to find subject headings, subject heading may not exist, indexing is imperfect

33. Selecting articles for your research paper

34. Pitfalls to avoid… • Letters, commentaries, news items, and poster abstracts are usually NOT acceptable as sources for your papers • Avoid articles in consumer health journals and trade publications • Try to find research that is conducted in a country and with a population similar to your practice area

35. EXCELLENT!! Is Cameroon similar to U.S. population?

36. Non-English Poster abstract--note one page length

37. Consumer health journal--probably not acceptable

38. None of these would be acceptable sources

39. Additional Resources • Nursing Research Guide http://libguides.slu.edu/nursing A web guide on how to use SLU’s online journals, books and databases for your research • SLU School of Nursing Library Online (Tutorials) http://nursing.slu.edu/online/library1.html • Medical Center Library home page http://www.slu.edu/libraries/hsc/

40. Additional Resources • You may always contact the Nursing Liaison Librarian for assistance with difficult search topics: Mary Krieger, MLIS, RN Office: 314.977.8810 Email: kriegerm@slu.edu Permission has been granted by EBSCO Publishing to use screen shots from the EBSCOhost database for educational purposes only.