8/30/2012 DJKS
Debra’s tips for successful nursing research
Remember, RARELY will you find one article, book, or Web site that will address EVERY aspect of your patient scenario. The fact is, real patients do not come with care labels or user manuals (but wouldn’t it be great if they did?!). You will need to gather multiple credible resources addressing the conditions of your unique patient and then synthesize the information that you find in order to create a comprehensive plan of care. This process will require you to search multiple places (Library catalog, several databases, the Internet) using more than one search strategy. If this were real life, you would then have to synthesize the information that you find and directly apply it to patient care. In your current academic program, your final project will be in the form of a written paper that conforms to the APA style guidelines.
You are responsible for learning and using the APA style guidelines for formatting your paper and citing your resources. There are many resources available to assist you with APA. Be proactive and seek the help that best fits your needs.
Think about APA style requirements and gather citation information while you research instead of trying to figure everything out at the end of your writing process. A large amount of student stress arises from having to “reinvent the wheel” and find citation information after the fact (not to mention that it takes a lot of time).
1.) Familiarize yourself with the examples and helpful links found on the COD Library Citing Sources page: http://www.cod.edu/library/research/citenet.htm
· This page has an excellent link to annotated bibliography assistance in the Green section
· Annotated bibliographies should be double-spaced
· Content of annotations varies dependent upon assignment and instructor preference. APA does not specify the content of an annotation so be sure to check with your instructor about what should be included.
· The formatting of annotations can vary. Some guides suggest that annotations should be block indented five spaces, other guides recommend indenting five spaces plus two (for a total of seven spaces). NoodleBib annotations use the seven space block indent format. Check with your instructor for preferred formatting.
· Print the handouts in the green section for APA style tips, help with citing electronic resources, and citing CareNotes and MicroMedex information
2.) Attend a free APA workshop sponsored by the Library for hands-on practice and assistance (located under research skills section): http://library.codlibrary.org/sos
3.) Get a writing handbook or an APA style guide like these examples (remember that there are many more resources available in the COD Library or online):
Little Brown Handbook
Ready Reference, General: PE1112 .L58 2010
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6TH ed.)
General & Reference: BF76.7 .P83 2010
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
4.) Make an appointment with the COD Writing Assistance Area. For hours, locations and times go to: http://www.cod.edu/academics/learning_commons/
5.) Utilize the FREE citation program, NoodleBib (linked from the COD Library Citing Sources page).
A 69 year old Caucasian male had a prostatectomy performed for a diagnosis of prostate cancer. He is married, has an active sex life, and is concerned about how this disease and surgical procedure will impact his life. He was very active in his Jewish Temple prior to admission to the hospital.
Step one: Identify the important topics/keywords pertaining to your patient.
Some important factors include: age, race, marital status, religion, preexisting conditions, current disease/condition/procedure, home life, medications, etc.
See bold and italics above.
Step two: What is THE most important factor? WHY is this patient on your hospital floor and in your care? What MUST you address first and foremost?
See the underlined procedure above*
Note that he is not on your hospital floor because he has prostate cancer (the underlying disease). He is there because he has had a surgical procedure and you must treat him for the procedure first and foremost. All of his concerns that you also will address are resultant from the procedure.
Step three: Search CINAHL for articles on your topic because it allows you to “drill down” and find nurse-specific information
Library homepage à Databasesà Health à CINAHL
The online version of Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, CINAHL covers nursing, allied health, biomedical and consumer health journals, publications of the American Nursing Association, and the National League for Nursing. It includes the CINAHL Thesaurus and full text of over 300 important nursing and clinical journals.
CINAHL uses controlled vocabulary (subject headings) to represent concepts allowing more thorough searches.
An example of a subject heading used to represent a concept is using the CINAHL heading “myocardial infarction” to represent all synonyms: Heart Attack; Infarction, Myocardial; Myocardiac Infarction; Myocardial Infarctions; Heart Attacks; Infarctions Myocardial; Myocardiac Infarctions; MI
The patient in the clinical scenario needs to be treated for a prostatectomy. From the initial CINAHL search page, select CINAHL headings from the top of the page:
Type your search term in the box and click the Browse button:
In this case, prostatectomy IS a subject heading. Since the case scenario doesn’t provide a specific type of prostatectomy, CHECK the box in front of the “generic” prostatectomy subject heading to display the subheadings (used to refine searches to specific aspects of subjects) and the scope note (definition of topic and synonyms) which will then appear in the middle of the page (light blue shaded area).
Review the scope note then check the appropriate subheading boxes (adverse effects, contraindications, education, ethical issues, mortality, methods, nursing, psychosocial factors, rehabilitation) and then click the Search Database button at the top right of the screen.
Note that there are over 600 results but don’t bother to review them. You must first apply limits. Click the Show more link in the Refine your results section on the left-hand side of the page:
When the Limit window appears, select: (last five years, English Language, peer reviewed, set journal subset to NURSING) and click the search button
Approximately 35 results are returned, many full text
Here are some tips regarding your results:
1.) You can limit to full text to only see what is available online in CINAHL** (approximately 21 results). To do so, simply click the show more link in the Refine your results section (left hand side of the screen) and then click the Full Text box and then the Search button.
**When limiting to full text in CINAHL, remember that we may have full text electronic versions (or print versions) of articles available in our other health databases or our print collection. Use the Journal Locator feature found on the Main Databases page to search for journal article availability. CINAHL is the most comprehensive database for searching the nursing literature (and finding articles citations that may be available full text in other COD resources). Therefore, don’t automatically limit your results to full text—you could be missing out on GREAT articles available in another database or in the library!**
2.) Remember to look at the LANGUAGE of the article (indicated in parentheses in the citation list). CINAHL has articles in many different languages. That is why I recommend limiting to English language.
3.) You may want to look for CEU journal articles in your results list (see the example citation below). CEU stands for continuing education unit and these types of articles are GREAT for student nurses because they provide not only an overview of a disease/condition, but also specific information to educate nurses on the latest diagnosis, treatment and care of patients.
4.) Further narrow your topic by supplying keywords or more limits. These, of course, will depend on your specific retrieval needs. For example, Click in the actual search box after the initial search string and add: AND (older OR elderly AND adult) to further refine search results to articles written about aged populations.
Reviewing Retrieved Citations:
Take time to review the results:
Ø Place your cursor over the magnifying glass icon to see more information about the article including viewing part of the abstract.
Ø To save an article for later viewing/printing, click Add to folder
Ø click on the PDF full text link (if available to view and print the entire article)
Course textbooks as well as other nursing resources within the Library collection will address things like how race, gender or age influence the patient’s condition and well being.
Use the Library catalog to search for nursing care plan books, diagnostic manuals, drug handbooks, etc.
Sample Library Catalog Searches:
Diagnostic manuals: do a keyword search for nurs* AND diagnos*
Nursing care plan books: do a keyword search for nurs* AND care plan*
Patient education resources: do a keyword search for nurs* AND patient education
Reference staff can assist you with this process. Remember to try not only keyword but also subject searches.
For Point-Of-Care, Clinical Drug-Related Information and Customizable Patient Education Resources:
Check Micromedex for drug-related information
and
CareNotes for patient education materials
COD Research Guides offer additional resources and assistance:
Library home page à Research à A-Z list, look at Consumer Health Resources and Nursing guides
Ø Additional online resources for your project can be found on the Consumer Health Resource Guide (check out the Internet Sites section where you will find sections for multicultural, and multilingual sites)
Ø The Nursing Resource guide offers a lot of unique nursing resources (for example, the Web site C.R.I.S. can be a wonderful resource for finding local support and assistance for patients)
Remember that you can email, instant message, call, or stop by the main reference desk for research assistance from the Library staff. You may also contact Debra Smith to set up an individual appointment.
Debra J. Kakuk Smith Page 2 of 6