Nursing

To formulate the search for evidence-based research answer these questions:

P - Patient/Population/Problem: such as age group, gender, ethnic group, disease or condition

I -   Intervention/Issue: treatment, course of action, symptom

C - Comparison: alternative to compare with the intervention such another treatment, medication or test; not always necessary

O - Outcome: what you are measuring or hoping to accomplish

For example, the PICO for the question: Does having a CT scan as a child increase the risk of cancer?

P = children

I  = CT scan

C = no comparison

O =  cancer risk

Go to the Academic Search Complete database

Click on Advanced Search

Sample Advanced Search

Quick Lessons (QL) are clinically organized nursing overviews, with information mapped to the nursing workflow (i.e. description/etiology, signs and symptoms, assessment, treatment goals, red flags, what to tell the patient/patient’s family). From the CINAHL database homepage, you can browse the list of Quick Lessons from the toolbar above the Results.

Evidence-Based Care Sheets (EBCS) are summaries on specific key topics, which are focused on nursing practice. Each evidence-based care sheet incorporates the latest evidence, statistics, research and references on a given topic. The references are ranked, using a coding matrix, according to the type of literature they represent (systematic reviews, meta-analysis, etc).

From the CINAHL database, you can browse the list of Evidence-Based Care Sheets from the toolbar just below the Results.