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Nursing and Health Research

Searching tips

1. Define Your Research Question

Use frameworks like PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) to structure your clinical question.

  • P: Elderly patients
  • I: Fall prevention programs
  • C: Standard care
  • O: Reduced fall rate

Example question: “Do fall prevention programs reduce the risk of falls in elderly patients compared to standard care?”

 2. Choose the Right Database

Start your research in databases tailored to nursing and health sciences:

3. Use Keywords and Subject Headings

Combine keywords and subject headings to improve your search.

  • Keywords: elderly, fall prevention, nursing
  • MeSH Terms (PubMed): Accidental Falls, Aged, Fall Prevention

Use each database’s thesaurus or subject heading tool to find the best terms.

4. Search Techniques

Use Boolean operators and symbols to enhance your search:

  • AND –  narrows results (e.g., fall prevention AND elderly) 
  • OR – broadens results (e.g., elderly OR older adults)
  • NOT – excludes terms (e.g., elderly NOT children)
  • "Quotation marks" – for exact phrases (e.g., "fall prevention")
  • Truncation (*): – finds word variations (e.g., nurs* → nurse, nursing, nurses)

5. Refine Your Results

Use filters in the database:

  • Publication Date (e.g., last 5-10 years)
  • Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • Research Type (RCTs, Systematic Reviews, etc.)