Writer’s choice

Respond to your colleagues and provide further suggestions on how their database search might be improved.

Response to Main Discussion Post

Database search is very important, especially in the nursing and general medical field. Through database searches, one can access all literature published on a particular topic. A properly structured and organized database search is the most efficient and effective way of locating evidence on a subject that one is researching. You seem to have conducted a good database search, being specific with the database to use and using Boolean search words. A good database search boils down to developing a well-focused question (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2018). You need to have a very clear idea of what you want to research. This knowledge will guide you and keep you on track during the search. Developing a well-focused question gives one a better start since it helps them come up with keywords that are appropriate to the research topic.

To improve database search, consider factors such as the topic of research, the type of patient, the condition you are researching, the procedure being investigated, and the type of intervention being researched. Also, determining the limitations of your planned search helps narrow down the search results to the most relevant results. Determine how many years the search should go back to make the search manageable and clinically up to date. Determine the geographical specificity to make the results more accurate. Lastly, keywords should be selected from the useful terms related to the topic under research. You can first note down all the useful terms that you can think of, then consider their synonyms and terms related to them. It is important to use Boolean operators to link related keywords as this improves the search by saving time (Library of Congress, n.d.).

References

Library of Congress (n.d.).  Boolean operators and nesting. 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.