NURS 6052 Discussion Searching Databases
NURS 6052 Discussion Searching Databases
Main Post: Clinical Issue of Interest and Searching Databases
For this discussion, my clinical issue of interest is the medical underlying causes for mental health unaddressed. There are external and medical causes for mental health disorders in children and adults, but many times, these underlying causes are not treated as priority or even completely ignored. Rather than confining mental health to be purely psychosis, it will be beneficial to delve into the possibility that health-related issues, social and economic situations, and emotional well-being are significant contributors to mental illness.
Research work has inadvertently exposed how some mental health symptoms are dismissed in younger individuals, and never diagnosed or identified too late, which only further creates a sense of alienation for children suffering from mental illnesses. An underlying or untreated medical condition is a contributor to typical signs of mental instability. For example, chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and lack of vitamin D can result in mental health disorders like mood swing, anxiety, depression, and unexplained weight changes. Oftentimes, the build-up of multiple chronic diseases significantly decreases the quality of life for an individual leading to mental health issues. For this work, a literature search was conducted using EBSCOhost databases. Two peer-reviewed articles were selected using two different databases in the Walden Library. Respectively, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature Database, and Eric Database.
To search, I identify the keywords to the related article and use this as the prompt. “Mental health”. This initial search generated 28,397 results. I Combined keywords to narrow or broaden search results “Underlying mental health causes”. Three results generated. Using Boolean operator AND, “Mental health and Underlying causes” Nine results generated.
With this, I would say that the strategies to use for better and effective database search for my PICO(T) question will be using more than one database to view variety of articles and select what is relevant like peer-reviewed, full article and date range (within 5 years recommended)
It also works best to breakdown the content. Pick a topic from the most related subject, like nursing. When we type everything into the database, we get nothing. It is always better to type in the main idea and concept. Select full article, peer-reviewed, relevant date, and search.
Boolean terms AND, OR, NOT connects the keywords to create a more precised logical phrase that the database can understand and use to look for multiple terms or concepts at once. AND finds items that uses both keywords, OR find items that use either of the keywords and NOT excludes items that use the keywords. I have lots of resources to work with, and a PICOT question in progress. Changes may occur as needed.
PICOT- Problem– Mental health causes unaddressed, Intervention–Treating the underlying causes, Comparison-Findings will emphasize the correlation between mental health and other underlying issues, Outcome-Positive improvement with treatment, Time frame-Within 72 hours of treatment, re-evaluation will be done.
References
Hussain, R., Wark, S., Janicki, M.P., Paramenter, T., & Knox, M. (2020). Multimorbidity in
Older People with Intellectual Disability. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 33(6), 1234-1244
Martin-Denham, S. (2021). Defining, identifying, and recognizing underlying causes of
social, emotional, and mental health difficulties: thematic analysis of interviews
with headteachers in England. Emotional & Behavioral Difficulties, 26(2), 187
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2018). Searching the Evidence [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
NURS 6052/NURS5052/NRSE6052 Essent of Evidence
Week 4 Discussion
Searching Databases
When you decide to purchase a new car, you first decide what is important to you. If mileage and dependability are the important factors, you will search for data focused more on these factors and less on color options and sound systems.
The same holds true when searching for research evidence to guide your clinical inquiry and professional decisions. Developing a formula for an answerable, researchable question that addresses your need will make the search process much more effective. One such formula is the PICO(T) format.
In this Discussion, you will transform a clinical inquiry into a searchable question in PICO(T) format, so you can search the electronic databases more effectively and efficiently. You will share this PICO(T) question and examine strategies you might use to increase the rigor and effectiveness of a database search on your PICO(T) question.
To Prepare:
Review the materials offering guidance on using databases, performing keyword searches, and developing PICO(T) questions provided in the Resources.
Review the Resources for guidance and develop a PICO(T) question of interest to you for further study.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
The development of clinical guidelines to improve nursing practice is a rigorous process. Healthcare providers should utilize the most accurate sources of data that will enhance the effectiveness of the outcomes. Therefore, this paper explores the search strategy that will be used to obtain the data related to the proposed PICOT question.
PICOT Question
The PICOT question that is appropriate for the identified clinical issue is:
In hospitalized elderly patients (P), does the use of hourly nursing rounds and call lights (I) reduce the rates of falls (O) when compared to normal routine of care (C) in a six-month period (T)?
Search Terms Used
According to Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt (2018), search terms for a clinical inquiry question (PICOT) can be obtained by doing database search using the key words of the PICOT question. The keywords that were used in this research that relate to the PICOT question include falls, elderly patient falls, falls prevention, hourly nursing rounds and falls, call lights and falls, and nursing rounds and falls. The use of these keywords in selected databases yielded 59 articles. The number reduced to 30 when the search criterion was limited to peer-reviewed articles alone. The second search strategy that was utilized was the use of database-controlled vocabulary. This approach entails the use of specific keywords such as nursing rounds and elderly patient falls to obtain the needed articles. The databases produce all the articles that contain these keywords, thereby, increasing the accuracy of the obtained results (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). The use of this approach resulted in 45 articles related to the PICOT statement. Despite the effectiveness of these methods, they have the weakness of producing a large number of articles that might not be relevant to the issue under investigation. Consequently, the use of Boolean operation search is appropriate.
Boolean search is an effective approach to obtaining relevant research articles due to the accuracy of its results. The use of this approach allows for the searching of word combinations in a specified order (Stillwell et al., 2010). Often, combinations are used to increase the relevance and accuracy of the obtained resulted. For instance, Library of Congress (n.d.) recommend that Boolean OR expressions should be executed first, followed by AND or NOT expressions. The search can be done in either lower or upper cases. The use of this approach to searching articles yielded 16 articles that were related to the PICOT statement. Therefore, it became evident that the use of Boolean search is highly accurate when compared to the utilization of random search of key words in the PICOT statement.
Names of Databases
A number of nursing databases were used in this research. They included CINAHL, Medline, Embase, and TRIP databases. These databases were considered effective for the assignment because they publish peer-reviewed content. The sources contained in them are also credible for use in generating information for evidence-based practice.
Search Results
As shown above, the initial search that was undertaken using random search of the key words of the PICOT question yielded 59 articles. This number reduced to 30 when the selected articles were specified to peer-reviewed articles only. The use of database-controlled vocabulary yielded 45 articles while Boolean search resulted in 16 peer-reviewed articles related to the PICOT statement.
Strategies to Increase Rigor and Effectiveness of a Database Search on PICOT Question
A number of strategies will be utilized to increase the rigor as well as effectiveness of the database search for the relevant literature in the PICOT question. One of them will be the use of many databases. According to Ho et al. (2016), the use of a combination of different databases has been shown to result in an increased proportion of studies alongside questions. Restricting the search of the relevant sources of data to a single database would lead to one missing many articles, hence, skewed results.
The second strategy that will be utilized to increase the rigor and effectiveness of the database search on the PICOT question is limiting the period in which the appropriate articles were published. Often, evidence-based practice focuses on the use of the most recent, highly accurate clinical data in improving processes (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). This implies that recently published data should be utilized in coming up with new clinical guidelines. As a result, the search strategy for the articles on the PICOT question will be limited to articles that were published in the last five years. The use of this approach will increase the relevance of the findings to the current issues being reported in the clinical environments.
The last strategy that will be utilized to enhance the rigor and effectiveness of the database search on the PICOT statement is ensuring that the articles only relate to nursing practice. Evidence-based practice applies to all areas of healthcare. However, it is important that nurses explore the need for clinical practices that relate to their professional practice (Ellis, 2019). The need for this focus is to promote professional growth and advancement. Therefore, the search for the needed resources will only be specific to nursing.
References
Ellis, P. (2019). Evidence-based practice in nursing. Learning Matters.
Ho, G. J., Liew, S. M., Ng, C. J., Shunmugam, R. H., & Glasziou, P. (2016). Development of a search strategy for an evidence based retrieval service. PloS one, 11(12).
Library of Congress. (n.d.). Search/browse help – Boolean operators and nesting. Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/ui/en_US/htdocs/help/searchBoolean.html
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
Stillwell, S. B., Fineout-Overholt, E., Melnyk, B. M., & Williamson, K. M. (2010). Evidence-based practice, step by step: Searching for the evidence. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 110(5), 41-47.
PICOT questions form the basis of clinical inquiry with a significant focus on improving patient outcomes (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). The implication is that a clinical issue is identified, and an appropriate question in the PICOT format is formulated (Nieswiadomy & Bailey, 2018). The chosen clinical issue is catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in the emergency department. CAUTIs are common in the emergency department due to the need to catheterize patients who come in for admission. CAUTIs lead to undesirable problems, such as longer hospital stays, and even more adverse outcomes, such as death, hence a need to prevent and properly manage them (Ohanian & Gaines-Hill, 2019). An appropriate database search strategy is necessary when searching databases for appropriate evidence regarding clinical issues. For instance, one can start the search broadly with a concept or a word and add more specific keywords to the search process to narrow down on more appropriate evidence.
Using the Walden database search, a search was conducted starting with the word catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Nursing databases were specifically used during this search. The first search was general and yielded 46,800 results. However, most of these resources were irrelevant, so more words were added to help narrow the search. The word emergency department was added to the search, reducing the number of articles to 10,600 and making them more specific. This was made possible by using the Boolean operator “And” (Grove & Gray, 2018). After formulating the PICOT question, it is expected that more specific terms will be included in the search strategy to help narrow down the most appropriate articles or evidence. For instance, the search still does not include a possible intervention to be used in the emergency department to reduce the chances of patients getting CAUTI.
PICOT question: Among adult patients admitted to the emergency department, what is the efficacy of using CAUTI bundles as compared to normal practice in lowering the rates of CAUTI in 12 weeks?
References
Grove, S. K., & Gray, J. R. (2018). Understanding nursing research e-book: Building an evidence-based practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2018). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
Nieswiadomy, R. M., & Bailey, C. (2018). Foundations of nursing research. 1073.
Ohanian, S., & Gaines-Hill, S. (2019). Reduction of CAUTI rates organization-wide begins in the Emergency Department. American Journal of Infection Control, 47(6), S37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2019.04.086
