Nursing Systematic Reviews: Building Your Search

Please note:  Dr. Waldrop's 779 class will NOT be using Covidence.

•   subjects (topics of articles)
•   keywords (searching anywhere for that word)

Alternate names for your topic

•   Prescription vs. OTC drug names

Acronyms or abbreviations

•   Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus OR MRSA

British vs. American spelling

•   Haematology

Hyphen vs. no hyphen

•   Prepregnancy vs. pre-pregnancy

Related topics that could get you more articles

•   “Video game” and “computer assisted therapy”

Try some search techniques to clean up your results!

• search for words next to each other with double quotes
  • “cell phone”  vs.  cell AND phone
     
• search for variations of a word with an asterisk (but be careful!)
  • Distract* = distract, distracts, distracting, distraction
  • App* = app, application, appliance, apple, apparition
     
• group synonyms together with parentheses
  • Soup or salad and bread…
  • (soup OR salad) AND bread    vs.   soup OR (salad and bread)

("Smartphone"[Mesh] OR "Cell Phones"[Mesh] OR "Computers, Handheld"[Mesh] OR "Mobile Applications"[Mesh] OR "Video Games"[Mesh] OR iphone* OR ipad* OR tablet* OR “electronic device” OR “electronic devices” OR “cell phone” OR “cell phones” OR smartphone* OR “smart phone” OR “smart phones” OR “mobile phone” OR “mobile phones” OR app OR apps OR computer* OR “video game” OR “video games” OR Nintendo OR Sega OR Gameboy OR wii)

*Note: they are combined with OR because they are treated as similar concepts

Other filters you can add to your search- just copy and paste these into your search box with AND in between.

RCT's may NOT work for your type of question (especially if there are ethical implications) or it may not work for the amount of articles on your topic.  If you decide to use an RCT, you can use the search hedge found here (from Cochrane).  Just copy and paste the entire line into your search box.

Pubmed:

("randomized controlled trial"[pt] OR "controlled clinical trial"[pt] OR randomized[tiab] OR placebo[tiab] OR "drug therapy"[sh] OR randomly[tiab] OR trial[tiab] OR groups[tiab])

Embase:

('randomized controlled trial'/exp OR 'controlled clinical trial'/exp OR randomized:ti,ab OR placebo:ti,ab OR 'drug therapy':lnk OR randomly:ti,ab OR trial:ti,ab OR groups:ti,ab)

CINAHL or PsycInfo:

(PT Randomized Controlled Trial OR TI(randomized OR placebo OR “drug therapy” or random OR trial OR groups) OR AB(randomized OR placebo OR “drug therapy” or random OR trial OR groups))

Combine each part of your PICO with AND in beween.  Be sure to use parentheses around groups of synonyms.

(child* OR adolescen* OR teen* OR preteen* OR pre-teen OR "pre-teens" OR youth*) AND ("Smartphone"[Mesh] OR "Cell Phones"[Mesh] OR "Computers, Handheld"[Mesh] OR "Mobile Applications"[Mesh] OR "Video Games"[Mesh] OR iphone* OR ipad* OR tablet* OR “electronic device” OR “electronic devices” OR “cell phone” OR “cell phones” OR smartphone* OR “smart phone” OR “smart phones” OR “mobile phone” OR “mobile phones” OR app OR apps OR computer* OR “video game” OR “video games” OR Nintendo OR Sega OR Gameboy OR wii)  AND pain AND (postop* OR post-op* OR postsurg* OR post-surg*)

*Note: This search is actually a PIOT (patient/ intervention/ outcome/ timeframe), not a PICO (patient/ intervention/ comparison/ outcome)