Foundations for Specialty Practice

Searching the Literature CINAHL

Sharon Karasmanis

Faculty Librarian, Health Sciences

s.karasmanis@latrobe.edu.au

Tools for searching the scholarly literature

• A database is a specialised research tool that identify useful journal articles

• There are a range of nursing/medical databases: – CINAHL, Embase, Medline, Cochrane Library,

Clinical Evidence, Proquest Health, Informit Health, PsycInfo and more ..

– Access from Databases tab on Library home page: www.lib.latrobe.edu.au

Types of databases

• Citation databases include the citation, subject headings, abstract - sometimes they link to full text e.g. Medline and CINAHL

• Full Text databases include the citation, abstract and in most cases the full text of an article e.g. Proquest Nursing and Allied Health

• Pre-appraised evidence databases:– Clinical Evidence summarise the current state of

knowledge and uncertainty about the prevention and treatment of clinical conditions, based on thorough searches and appraisal of the literature

– The Cochrane Library is a multi-database resource which varies in output e.g. the Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews contains complete systematic reviews

CINAHL Search Screen

Searching in CINAHL

• You can search by keyword (broader), subject term (more precise) or both

Search by keyword example

• Breast cancer

• Results 24,003!

Search by subject term example

• Breast cancer with box ticked

List of suggested subject terms

• Breast cancer Use Breast neoplasms

Scope Note

• Important to check the Scope Note

• For example palliative care:

Select Breast Neoplasms

• Then scroll down and check Used for in blue column

• Don’t tick individual subheadings

• Used For is at the end of the blue column

Search the database

• On the right hand side of the screen, click on Search Database

• Results = 33113!

Combine subject term and keyword search

Add another concept by subject term and keyword

• Palliative care

Lets combine the two concepts

Limit your results

• On the left hand screen, there is option to Refine your results. Show More provides additional limits such as age groups

Show more …

Results display

Full citation record

Useful tools

• On the right hand of the full record screen there is a list of tools:

Save Search History

• Access search history from the folder• Rerun the search at any time

Search results – finding the full text!

• Select the Full Text Finder to link you to the article

• If not available, search the journal title from Journals tab on the Library home page

• If the journal is not held, request the article from Document Delivery: – access via Quicklinks on the Library home page

Help!

• Nursing and Midwifery guide• http://latrobe.libguides.com/nursing_midwifery

• Postgraduate Cancer Nursing Guide• http://latrobe.libguides.com/cancernursing

• Live chat available from the Library home page

• Faculty librarians: www.latrobe.edu.au/library/contact-us/

Homework!

• Check the subject terms for the following:– Read the Scope note; check Used for; click on the term to see narrower

terms (Explode); do a search using each of these examples and try combining the results using And with another concept e.g. Cancer fatigue AND Self Care (as a subject term)

• Cancer fatigue• Cancer pain• Oncologic care• Cancer patients• Oncologic nursing

Homework continued ..

• Look for terms relating to your work or your assignments:– Can you find a subject term?– Try combining a subject term search with a keyword

search using OR e.g. Breast neoplasms OR breast cancer

– Practise refining your results by date, peer reviewed, language.

– Practise finding the full text• 1. click on Full Text Finder, if not found • 2. search the journal title under Journals• 3. still not found? Order from Document Delivery Services