NURS 6052 Week 2 Discussion Literature Searches
An important step in the EBP process is reviewing the current body of literature to better understand the subject or topic in which you are interested. By conducting a review of the literature, you are building foundational knowledge about the topic; later, you can use this background to build new insights. Developing a strong grasp of a topic can only be garnered by taking the time to thoroughly search for relevant information and resources.NURS 6052 Week 2 Discussion Literature Searches
For this Discussion, you will practice searching the literature to find evidence on a specific topic.
To prepare:
Choose a simple search term(s) relating to a topic of your PICOT question.
Review the information on the evidence hierarchy discussed in Chapter 2 of the course text, in the article, “Facilitating Access to Pr-Processed Research Evidence in Public Health,” and in the multimedia presentation “Hierarchy of Evidence Pyramid,” found in this week’s Learning Resources.NURS 6052 Week 2 Discussion Literature Searches
Review the information on the Walden Library’s website, “Levels of evidence.” Take a few minutes to explore the different types of databases available for each level of evidence and focus on the meaning of filtered and non-filtered resources.
Conduct a literature search in the Walden Library on your selected topic using the databases that you reviewed. Use at least one database for each of the three levels of filtered information and at least one unfiltered database. Record the number of hits that you find at each level of the hierarchy of evidence.
Select one article from the results at each level of the hierarchy. Compare the articles based on the quality and depth of information. What would be the value of each resource if you were determining an evidence-based practice?
By Day 3
Post a summary of your search. Describe what topic you selected, the search term(s) that you used, and the number of results found at each level of the hierarchy. Compare the types of information found in the articles from different levels and the value of the information from each level. Highlight a useful tip that you could share with your colleagues about conducting an effective literature search.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:
Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.NURS 6052 Week 2 Discussion Literature Searches
Validate an idea with your own experience and additional sources.
Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings, or after synthesizing multiple postings.
A literature search is a systematic, thorough search of all types of literature (e.g. books, peer reviewed articles, etc.) in your topic. Commonly you will be asked to undertake literature searches as part of your level 3 and post graduate study.
It’s important before undertaking any research to fully understand the shape of the literature in the area. Literature searching can be broken down into a series of iterative steps. You may want to revisit some of these several times throughout your search.
Planning your search
What to search for: Key words and phrases
Start the process by clarifying the research question you would like answered. Your next step is to use your research question to help you identify keywords. The language and terminology of your subject area will help you to identify the most effective words for your search.
You can also identify keywords by looking for background information on key areas within your topic online as this will give you ideas for synonyms and other words commonly used.
Systematic literature searching requires that you to organize and perform the search process in a structured and per-planned way. It necessitates careful consideration of your search terms, selection of resources (including databases), choice of search methods, and requires you to reflect on the search results obtained during the process. NURS 6052 Week 2 Discussion Literature Searches
When you search the literature in a systematic way you have a greater chance of avoiding disparities and selection bias, and it enables you to identify gaps in the existing research. In this way you also minimize the risk of reproducing already existing research.
Documenting your searches during the process is key. Your aim is that your searches are, in principle, reproducible.
Some disciplines such as medicine have a strong history of producing systematic reviews. Systematic reviews are a formalized method of research output that aims to identify, select, critically appraise and synthesize all relevant research that answers a specific research question.
To search in a systematic fashion, it is not necessary is not always necessary to be so rigorous as a formalized systematic review. You can follow and adapt the basic principles for the construction of structured and systematic searches and documentation of results.
The review question will guide not only the search strategy, but also the conclusions that can be drawn from the review, as these will depend on which studies or other forms of evidence are included and excluded from the literature review. A narrow question will produce a narrow and precise search, perhaps resulting in too few studies on which to base a review, or be so focused that the results are not useful in wider clinical settings. Using an overly narrow search also increases the chances of missing important studies. A broad question may produce an imprecise search, with many false-positive search results. These search results may be too heterogeneous to evaluate in one review. Therefore from the outset, choices should be made about the remit of the review, which will in turn affect the search.NURS 6052 Week 2 Discussion Literature Searches
A number of frameworks can be used to break the review question into concepts. One such is the PICO (population, intervention, comparative and outcome) framework, developed to answer clinical questions such as the effectiveness of a clinical intervention (Richardson 1995). It is noteworthy that ‘outcome’ concepts of the PICO framework are less often used in a search strategy as they are less well defined in the titles and abstracts of available literature (Higgins 2011). Although PICO is widely used, it is not a suitable framework for identifying key elements of all questions in the medical field, and minor adaptations are necessary to enable the structuring of different questions. Other frameworks exist that may be more appropriate for questions about health policy and management, such as ECLIPSE (expectation, client group, location, impact, professionals, service) (Wildridge 2002) or SPICE (setting, perspective, intervention, comparison, evaluation) for service evaluation (Booth 2006). A detailed overview of frameworks is provided in Davies (2011).NURS 6052 Week 2 Discussion Literature Searches