Skip to Main Content

Structured searching for health students (using CINAHL and other databases)

Other useful databases

Structured searching in Embase

The video tutorials below shows how to use Boolean operators, advanced search techniques and filters in the database Embase. There is a PIO and a PICO research question to put the search into context. You can access the database by clicking on the link below.

Video Tutorial (PIO search)

Video Tutorial (PICO search)
video camera

video camera

 

You can open an Ovid database (such as Embase or Maternity and Infant Care) and search without having to create a personal account but you need to create a personal account in order to:

  • Save searches (which you can re-run later)
  • Save articles
  • Create Projects to organise your saved articles

 

The videos and written guidance below explain how to create a personal account and how to save, re-run and share searches in the Ovid databases.

Video Tutorial (Creating a personal account) Written Guidance (Creating a personal account) Video Tutorial (Saving, re-running and sharing a search) Written Guidance (Saving, re-running and sharing a search)
Person icon Picture of a note pad and pencil Share Picture of a note pad and pencil
       

 

Structured searching in Scopus

The video tutorials below show how to use Boolean operators, advanced search techniques and filters in the database Scopus. There is a PIO and a PICO research question to put the search into context. You can access the database by clicking on the link below.

Video Tutorial (PIO search)

Video Tutorial (PICO search)
video camera video camera

Structured searching in Maternity and Infant Care

The video tutorials below show how to use Boolean operators, advanced search techniques and filters in the database Maternity and Infant Care. There is a PIO and a PICO research question to put the search into context. You can access the database by clicking on the link below.

Video Tutorial (PIO search)

Video Tutorial (PICO search)
video camera video camera

 

You can open an Ovid database (such as Embase or Maternity and Infant Care) and search without having to create a personal account but you need to create a personal account in order to:

  • Save searches (which you can re-run later)
  • Save articles
  • Create Projects to organise your saved articles

 

The videos and written guidance below explain how to create a personal account and how to save, re-run and share searches in the Ovid databases.

Video Tutorial (Creating a personal account) Written Guidance (Creating a personal account) Video Tutorial (Saving, re-running and sharing a search) Written Guidance (Saving, re-running and sharing a search)
Person icon Picture of a note pad and pencil Share Picture of a note pad and pencil
       

Searching in PEDro (the Physiotherapy Evidence Database)

PEDro is a free database of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.

The web guide below shows how to use Boolean operators and search techniques in this database and how to view the results. 

 

Online Guide:

Link to Spark tutorial  on how to use the Pedro database

Structured searching in PubMed

This interactive tutorial from the University of Nottingham shows how to conduct a structured search using PubMed. 

Online Tutorial:

open book

Medline (available via EBSCO) will cover a lot of the content within PubMed and offers the ability to do a more focused/structured search. It is also one of the main databases used in Systematic reviews. However, although both databases are very similar and will have a lot of duplicated content, there are some differences to be aware of, before you make your decision about whether to search them both or not.
 
PubMed is an interface used to search Medline but it does also have some additional biomedical content. PubMed citations come from:
1) MEDLINE indexed journals:
2) journals/manuscripts deposited in PMC
3) NCBI Bookshelf. 
If you limit your PubMed search to MeSH controlled vocabulary or the MEDLINE subset, you will see only MEDLINE citations in your results.
More information is available here: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/difference.html 

Searching in the Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library training hub guides you through how to use the Cochrane Library by providing access to quick training videos, user guides and webinars. The short video below shows the different ways to search in the Cochrane Library.

Video Tutorial

 
video camera  

Systematic Reviews

Systematic Reviews

If you a a postgraduate researcher undertaking a full systematic review or if you are a taught postgraduate on a course where you need to search systematically for a literature review, you might also find the Systematic Review LibGuide useful. 

Developing a search strategy

This series of videos from e-LfH (NHS, Health Education England) will take you through the steps needed to develop an effective search strategy.

VideoIntroduction to SearchingThis video helps you to: recognise when you need to conduct a search; identify which  searching skills you need to develop; and find out where you can access further help with searching.

VideoWhere do I Start Searching?: This video explores what types of information are available and where to search for them. As well as CINAHL, the University subscribes to a variety of health resources which will be useful for you in your research. You can access these through the A-Z of databases or your subject LibGuide.

This video has been created by Health Education England, which means that some of the resources highlighted are only available to NHS employees. If you are a Healthcare student, on an education program which involves practice and placement within an NHS provider, you can access these additional resources through Open Athens.

VideoHow do I Start to Develop a Search Strategy?: This video will help you to: focus your research topic; use frameworks to break down your topic into key concepts; identify additional search terms to broaden your search; use AND/OR to combine search terms. Although other frameworks are shown in this video, the School of Health and Social Care recommends the PICO/PIO/PEO framework.

Reading

Further Reading

Click on the image to see additional useful resources

Link to online reading list of additional resources and further reading

Ask your Friendly Health (Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health) Librarians

This is your one-stop-shop for your research and study skills for health (nursing, midwifery and allied health).  

If you have any questions please contact one of our librarians.

Ask one of our friendly Health (Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health) Librarians.

Health (Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health) Librarians: 

Iain Baird

email icon  i.baird@tees.ac.uk

Nicola King

email icon  n.king@tees.ac.uk

Julie Hogg

email icon  j.d.hogg@tees.ac.uk

Gemma Wells

email icon gemma.wells@tees.ac.uk 

 

If you require further help with literature searching you can click on the 'Book a tutorial' button to make an appointment (please only book 1 appointment at a time). 

Please note, it is a very busy time of year and the appointments are getting booked up very quickly so may not always be available. To allow as many students as possible to be seen, please only book 1 appointment at a time. Keep an eye on the online booking page: https://libguides.tees.ac.uk/tutorials/health where you will see if there are any cancellations, and when more appointments are added. The appointments are only visible 2 weeks ahead, so each weekday more may get released (depending on availability).

Also, don’t forget to check out the online self-help resources that are available to help you develop your searching skills. Use the tabs within this guide to access them.

The health appointments are currently focused on providing support for literature searching. For help with referencing please see our How to use References guide or you can email libraryhelp@tees.ac.uk with any quick queries. If you would like to book a 1:1 tutorial for additional support with referencing, please book an appointment with any of the other subject teams.

Using material on this page