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How to find the Synthesized Evidence Based Resources
The purpose of this website is to empower the Nursing Team to search through the literature for synthesized evidence-based practice resources. Luckily, there are resources that synthesize existing research on specific topics. Here's how to find them:
| name | Dw | Tips |
1. Johanna Briggs Institute: Type in high-level topic such as "Surgical Site Infection". Enter another term such as "Chlorhexidine" to narrow such results. Review results.
2. Dynamic Health: Use this database to search for diseases, conditions, care interventions (this database was selected by SMH Nurses!)
3. CINAHL Evidence-based care sheets - CINAHL has 150 topical overviews available. Search for your topic - Review References of the overview for insights.
4. Clinical Key Overviews - Search by specialty or A-Z list of topics such as Deep Vein Thrombosis
5. Professional Guidelines: Associations develop synthesized evidence and provide recommendations for specific clinical situations. Be sure to check your favorite association for updates.
Below are links to a few of the Nursing Associations:
- American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) (https://www.aacn.org/
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) https://www.aanp.org/
- American Nurses Association (ANA): https://www.nursingworld.org/
- American Society for Pain Management Nursing (ASPMN): https://aspmn.org/
- Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN): https://www.aorn.org/
- National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN): https://nann.org/
- Oncology Nursing Society (ONS): https://www.ons.org/.
- Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society (WOCN): https://www.wocn.org/
If we can not locate synthesized evidence relevant to our specific topic, we will need to search for un-filtered evidence available by searching the SMH Medical Library.
Step 1. Refine your PICO question:
- P - Patient/Population: Who are you interested in (e.g., diabetic patients, post-operative patients)?
- I - Intervention: What specific treatment or approach are you considering (e.g., pain management technique, educational intervention)?
- C - Comparison: Is there an alternative intervention you want to compare it to (e.g., standard pain medication vs. a new technique)? This might not be applicable in all cases.
- O - Outcome: What are you hoping to achieve (e.g., reduced pain scores, improved patient satisfaction)?
Step 2. Visit the SMH Medical Library and conduct a literature search -
SMH Medical Library Digital Library - use the Search terms relevant to your topic and that coincide with your PICO question.
Narrow down the search by using terms that will pull EBP articles such as:
| Evidence-based practice, ebp, or best practice | Quality Improvement, Quality of care |
| Guidelines, protocols, practice guidelines, clinical practice guideline | Meta-analysis, systematic review, literature review, overview |
| Nurse, Nurses, Nursing | Treatment outcome, Therapeutic use, Hospital Setting (or specify ie. ICU, Peds, etc) |
When Searching, use a combination of the search fields to create your search:
| AU Author | use for Author search |
| AB Abstract | use to discern specific terms like "ERAS" etc. |
| TX All Text | use for large range search |
| TI Title | use to narrow down the topic by selecting words found in the title |
| SO-Journal | use if searching known journals ie. AORN |
| SU-Subject | use for topic of search ie. Surgical site infection |
Use filters to narrow down or sort the search:
| Scholarly Journal | Check to limit to Peer Review |
| Pub Date | Limit to date range |
| Source Types | Limit to Academic Journals |
| Publication | Limit to journal subset |
| Geography | Limit to location (USA, Europe) |
| Databases | Limit to Medline or CINAHL |
Sign in to EBSCO to save your articles in a folder - click the folder to add an article.
Below are a few tutorials for how to search for the literature.
CINAHL
CINAHL stands for the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. CINAHL has a particular focus on nursing journals making this one of the most important nursing resources. Please review the topics below for instruction on how to use this database.
- Basic Searching with CINAHL (3:20)
- Advanced Searching with CINAHL (3:53)
- Using CINAHL/MESH Headings in CINAHL (3:32)
- How to Build a CINAHL Ultimate Search
Johanna Briggs Institute
JBI is a global organization promoting and supporting evidence-based decisions that improve health and health service delivery.
- JBI Joanna Briggs Institute – Brief overview on how to search for Systematic Reviews
- JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis "guidance to authors for the conduct and preparation of JBI systematic reviews and evidence syntheses"
PubMed
PubMed is one of the best indexes to search when conducting a literature search. Please review the topics below for instruction on how to use this database.