Foundations for Specialty Practice
Searching the Literature CINAHL
Sharon Karasmanis
Faculty Librarian, Health Sciences
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