1. Searching the Literature:
the Beginning
Mary Shah, MLS
Horblit Health Sciences Library
Danbury Hospital
Mary.shah@danhosp.org
2. Search Strategy
Plan your search at first and the process
will be much more effective.
1. Focus on what you are seeking
and think about which resources
would best have the answer.
2. Break down the query in basic
terms.
3. Choose the research method.
4. Search each point separately.
5. Combine these subjects with
AND, OR, NOT (these are Boolean
Operators).
6. Focus your search with limits.
3. PICO
PICO can be used to help break down your
question
• Patient or Population: How would I
describe a group of patients similar to
mine?
• Intervention: Which main intervention,
prognosis, or exposure am I considering?
• Comparison: What is the main alternative
to compare with the intervention?
• Outcome: What can I hope to accomplish,
measure, improve or affect?
4. Where to search?
• Basic Reference = Search engine
like Google
• Background or Introduction =
textbook
• Research Article = database like
CINAHL or Pub Med
• Practice = Cochrane, DynaMed,
Nursing Reference Center
5. Choosing the Evidence
Meta‐analyses
Higher Quality Percentage
of the
Systematic reviews
literature
Randomized controlled trials
Cohort studies
Case‐control studies
Case series and case reports
Animal and laboratory research
6. What does this mean?
Evidence‐based practice is
the systemic application
of scientific findings to
clinical practice and
decision making.
Tools already exist to rate
the quality of study and
its ability to inform the
scientific community.
7. Boolean? Halloween meat?
George Boole brought together philosophy and
math by inventing a logic that worked well with
computers: the answer is either true or false.
For your search, this means you can combine two
search terms using the connectors: AND, OR,
NOT.
11. Truncation?! Are we going
someplace w/ an elephant?
• Truncation is a short-cut to
include all the possibilities:
fall*= fall, falls, falling, fallen, and
so forth…
• Wildcards fill in for variations:
Reali?e = realize, realise
12. Not just for dialogue any more
Quotation marks force the database to look for
that specific combination of words.
In CINAHL:
• Practice Guideline without quotes: 90,812
results
• Practice Guideline with quotes: 3,656 results
13. 10 Minutes
If you’re taking more than ten
minutes to find what you need,
stop and contact us.
You are the health professional
and we are the information
specialists.
Fax, phone or email—it’s not
interrupting, it’s our job.
14. Horblit Health Sciences Library
Amanda Pomeroy, MLS
203-739-7279
amanda.pomeroy@danhosp.org
Mary Shah, MLS
203-739-7035
mary.shah@danhosp.org
Editor's Notes
In preschool aged children, is an electrolyte, flavored drink more effective at reducing dehydration than water alone? P=preschool aged children, I=electrolyte, flavored drink, C=water, O=reduced dehydration. Is there a disparity in treatment offered between people with insurance and those without insurance in the emergency department? P=people in ED, I=with insurance, C=without insurance, O=treatment disparity
Meta-analysis = statistical technique for combining results of independent studies. Aims for complete coverage of all relevant studies, looks for heterogeneity, and examines robustness of main findings. Systemic reviews =identifies all relevant published and unpublished evidence, selects studies for inclusion, synthesizes findings in unbiased manner, interprets findings and presents impartial summary. Randomized controlled trials =With clinical studies, patients are divided into the experimental group and the control (one that doesn’t receive the treatment) group. This should remove selection bias. All should be equal at baseline. Co-hort Studies= identifies two groups (or co-horts) of patients, one received exposure of interest and the other didn’t, and following them in the future to outcome. Case-control studies =Identifies patient who have outcome of interest (cases) and control patients who don’t, and look back to see if they had exposure of interest. Case reports & series = Report on a single or group of patients with an outcome of interest.
The search results using the word AND are shown by the grey triangle in the middle. It shows where all three circles overlap. These are the articles that include all three words: Cancer, patient, and fall (and its variations: falls, falling and so forth because we used truncation in the form of the *). Using the word AND narrows the search results.
The word OR will find the articles that include at least ONE of the three words: Cancer, patient, fall (and its variations: falls, falling and so forth because we used a wild card in the form of the *). All contents of all three circles are your results. Using the word OR expands the search results.
The word NOT will find the articles that include at least ONE of the three words: Cancer, patient, fall (and its variations: falls, falling and so forth because we used a wild card in the form of the *). For example: Fall* AND Patient NOT Cancer—excludes the oncology floor. The results are specific, not generic.
When you put the words in quotes, the search results will include only what you asked. It will not include practice guideline s if you don’t ask for it. Your search is only as smart as you make it.
