CUMULATIVE INDEX TO NURSING AND ALLIED HEALTH LITERATURE

WHAT IS CINAHL?

AN OVERVIEW OF THE CUMULATIVE INDEX TO NURSING AND ALLIED

HEALTH LITERATURE

by

MARK HABER

THE COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLE, GILL LIBRARY

JANUARY 2009

WHAT IS CINAHL?

• Provides indexing to over 1200 journals• Contains more than 1,000,000 records• Coverage dates back to 1982• Covers nursing, biomedicine, health

sciences librarianship, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines

Controlled Vocabulary

• Agreed upon term for a subject or concept

• Cancer USE Neoplasms

• Diabetes USE Diabetes Mellitus

• Heart Attack USE Myocardial Infarction

Heart attack (free text search)

Click “Myocardial Infarction”

Click “Myocardial Infarction”

Limiting Your Search

• Searches in the CINAHL Database can be limited to

• Full text materials

• Peer reviewed journals

Put check marks in relevant boxes and click “Update Results”

Click “Rehabilitation, Cardiac”

Click “More” for additional limiters

Click the title for detailed record

Detailed Record - Citation

Detailed Record - Abstract

Click “PDF Full Text”

Example of full text article

CINAHL Headings

• List of CINAHL Subject Terms• Lists Related Subject Terms• Lists Relevant Sub-Headings

Click “CINAHL Headings”

Type “heart attack” and click “Browse”

Click “Myocardial Infarction”

List of Subheadings

Click “Diet Therapy” and Click “Search Database”

Click inside “Full Text” and “Peer Reviewed” click “Update Results”

Truncation

• The asterisk* at the end of the root of a word retrieves the word and all forms of the word

• Nurs* retrieves nurse, nurses, nursing, etc.

• Herb* retrieves herb, herbs, herbal, etc.• Hospital* retrieves hospitals,

hospitalization, etc.

nurs* and herb* and hospital*

Retrieving the Full Text

• Some articles are available full text

• Others can be requested at the Circulation Desk

• Journal articles, books, and dissertations that are not owned by CNR can be ordered via Illiad

Click title of article

Detailed record of article

Scroll down and click “Search for Article”

Click “Journal”

Request microfiche at Gill Library Circulation Desk

Advantages of Using CINAHL

• Comprehensive indexing of nursing literature

• Subject Headings and Sub-Headings• Boolean Searching