Search Engines & Databases
Post #3
Lisa Wright
St. Thomas University
NUR 416: Nursing Research & Evidence-Based Practice
Lisbet Henriquez
August 31, 2022
Search Engines & Databases
Working in an acute care setting can overwhelm nurses, especially when nurse staffing is a problem. Nurse understaffing was a significant nursing problem during the Coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic at the Med-Surg unit where I practice. Research shows that nurse staffing issues such as understaffing negatively impact throughput metrics such as nursing hours that negatively impact mortality (Rochefort et al., 2020). I developed a research question to investigate the effect of one such solution (improved nursing hours per patient day). The research question is: Is there a difference between patients who died when receiving treatment in a med-surge unit with improved nursing staffing versus those in a med-surge unit without improved nursing staffing? Guided by this research question, I searched for peer-reviewed articles relevant to the problem to support my supposition.
Engines and Databases
I used search engines and databases to identify the research article for the weekly article summary. For the search engines, I mostly relied on Google, which contains millions of reliable and unreliable sources of information. In a sentence format, I used the keywords acute care, Med-Surg, nurse staffing, intervention, and mortality to search for articles on Google. I ensured that I got reliable and peer-reviewed articles by adding the terms journal articles at the end of the statement before searching. For example, I used the title “impact of nurse staffing intervention on patient mortality in the Med-Surg Unit Journal articles.” For databases, I used PubMed Central and CINAHL Complete for a systematic search for relevant articles. Both databases were accessed through the university library. Keywords used in the search were; acute care, Med-Surg, nurse staffing, intervention, and mortality. Boolean operators ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ were used to connect the keywords.
Google was effective in locating relevant peer-reviewed articles for clinical practice. I categorize effectiveness based on the ability to identify several relevant articles. From Google, I found at least four relevant articles. Google was an effective resource for searching for credible, current, and relevant articles to the research problem. Unfortunately, the two databases, PubMed and CINAHL, were ineffective in locating articles. For example, PubMed generated nine articles published between 2018 and 2022, none relevant. Similarly, CINAHL completely generated six articles, none relevant. I expected the databases to be particularly useful because they specify the search through filters, and inclusion and exclusion criteria, allowing me to identify articles as closely as I needed. I was disappointed because I understand that the database help retrieves full-text versions of relevant articles. The databases, through the university library, would give me full access to relevant articles, which is important in screening a study’s sections to determine its relevance. Some of the articles obtained through the Google search engine only has abstract accessible to readers. Fortunately, I obtained a full-text article through Google that I used in the weekly article summary assignment.
Conclusion
Understanding search engines and databases as resources for locating relevant research articles is critical in nursing research. I have gained knowledge of search engines and databases to find credible articles. Specifically, I used Google as the search engine and PubMed and CINAHL as the databases. Google effectively helped in locating several relevant articles. The databases were not effective in obtaining relevant sources. I now know how to locate articles to support a research process, but I need to learn more about databases and search articles in them.
References
Rochefort, C. M., Beauchamp, M. E., Audet, L. A., Abrahamowicz, M., & Bourgault, P. (2020). Associations of 4 nurse staffing practices with hospital mortality. Medical Care, 58(10), 912–918. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001397
Post #4
Kevin Capdevila
St. Thomas University
NUR 416 AP2
Instructor Henriquez, Lisbet
September-1-22
Search Engines & Databases
Search engines can vary on quality based on the accessibility features that are offered and the accuracy of data being given. When searching for the optimal method of obtaining an article for the summary assignment there must be assurance that the article is close in proximity to what is being asked. In this paper I will be explaining what search engine I am using for the assignment, the key words being used, and how effective the search engine has been.
Search Engine
The search engine that I have found success in has been NCBI. This database uses a plethora of resources to allow smooth maneuvering across different topics to achieve an accurate search of the topic I am looking for. The website has an easy to navigate interface that allows for filters to be added in case there is a need to narrow down the search and minimize how broad the subject can be. The reason for this website being my choice is the distinct attention to detail in what I want from my search.
Key Words
The key words that are used typically are related to my field and range from conditions that I typically see on my unit or ways to improve upon existing practices. For example, I would use “Bed Alarm” as a subject of research to find new ways of improving upon this already frequently used piece of technology. Approaching searches in this manner is necessary to reach results that are expected (Strzelecki et al., 2019). The goal is to find words that are not broad enough to receive results that have no relevance to what I am trying to reach. For example, “Medical-Surgical” will not be sufficient to draw in useful results.
Efficacy and Rationale
This method to finding results has proven to be very useful and continues to produce articles that are relevant to my currently practice. One of the resources that NCBI uses, Pubmed has been especially useful in finding new research in practices that are currently employed in my workplace. There is evidence of quality control on this search engine and continues to deliver a good level of service (Ossom et al., 2019).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the search engine that I am most comfortable with has by far been NCBI for the countless resources it uses in conjunction with the easy-to-use interface make it enjoyable to use for my needs. Key words are kept from being too broad to be able to find the exact topic of information needed. This results in a well working search engine that has been very prudent with information and continues to deliver what is needed.
References
Ossom Williamson, P., & Minter, C. (2019). Exploring PubMed as a reliable resource for scholarly communications services. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 107(1), 16–29. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.433 (Links to an external site.)
Strzelecki A. (2020). Google Medical Update: Why Is the Search Engine Decreasing Visibility of Health and Medical Information Websites?. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(4), 1160. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041160