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Evidence Based Practice in Nursing: Finding EBP in Databases

Guide to EBP in Nursing

Finding EBP in Databases

Tips for finding EBP in CINAHL Complete

CINAHL Complete opens in the Advanced Search screen. Scroll down to Limit Your Results. You can select options (click to check boxes) including:

  • Research Articles
  • Peer-Reviewed
  • Evidence-based Practice
  • Randomized Controlled Trials

Clicking the checkbox for the search option Evidence-Based Practice searches the Special Interest field for the value "Evidence-Based Practice."  Applying this limiter allows you to limit results to:

  • Articles from evidence-based practice journals
  • Articles about evidence-based practice
  • Research articles (including systematic reviews, clinical trials, meta analyses, etc.)
  • Commentaries on research studies (applying practice to research)

Further down on the left, under the Special Interest menu, is " Evidence-Based Practice." With your options set, type your search term(s) in the Find boxes and click on the Search button. (You probably will not want to try them all together-you may need to experiment with one or the other.)
OR
Find “Publication Type,” use the pull-down menu and find Systematic Review, Meta Analysis and others.  Click on one of them at a time. (Both methods can be used together, but you may not receive as many hits as when you use them on separate searches.)

 

Tips for Finding Evidence-Based Practice information in Other Databases

Cochrane Library
At the default search screen, enter your search term(s) The more search terms you connect with AND, the fewer results you should get, as the search is narrowed. This is true for most databases.

Ovid Nursing Full Text Plus
Opens to the Advanced Search page by default.  Under Limits, on the right side, under Point of Care, select Evidence-Based Healthcare, then type in your search term(s).

Nursing and Allied Health Source
Click on the tab for Advanced Search. Look for Search Options underneath the search boxes. Scroll down to Document Type and select the checkbox for Evidence-Based Healthcare

PubMed/Medline
From the Library's databases, under Title Listing, select PubMed (Medline). Use the NLM search, which contains links to available articles. (Not all are available from JSU. You will still have to check the catalog for journal access at times.)  In the center of the page, under the heading PubMed Tools, click on Clinical Queries.  Type in your search terms, connected by AND, to narrow the search. Results are displayed in three columns. Or type your search terms in the box at the top of page, click Search, then narrow the search by selecting filter(s), such as Systematic Reviews, on the left sidebar under Article Types.

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