CKN provides access to databases for all Queensland Health staff.
Always start your search in the database that is most appropriate for the topic. CHQ Library recommends:
CKN provides Medline and CINAHL on the Ebsco platform. Once you have built your search in the most appropriate of these two, it is very simple to run it across the other, as well as any of the other Ebsco databases that are appropriate to the topic. Remember - build your complete search in either CINAHL or Medline before running it across the others.
Once you have run your search in one of these large databases, then run it in Embase as well as any specialist database. It is useful to run the same search across multiple databases, because while there is some crossover in content, each database also has unique indexed content.
To run searches across different platforms (also known as "translating searches"), see the resources below for tips.
Clarity about your clinical or treatment questions will enable the development of an effective search strategy.
There are a variety of question tools available, including PICO, SPIDER and SPICE.
For clinical questions, PICO is the most appropriate tool as it enables a focus on outcomes for the patient or population group.
P = Patient or population group
I = Intervention or Indicator (or therapy or treatment or test etc)
C = Comparison (if applicable, eg comparing to gold standard)
O = Outcome (what is the desired measure, improvement or affect)
R / T = Research type / Type of study or evidence (eg, Meta-analysis, Systematic review, Randomised control trial, etc)
Useful format for structuring your question:
In <define characteristics, eg age / gender, etc> patient(s) or population groups with <disease or condition / exposure, etc>
How does <proposed intervention / therapy / treatment> (if comparison is applicable...) compare with <gold standard / alternative>
Effect <reduce (or increase) / improve / change / benefit, etc> <symptoms / care / length of bed stay / costs, etc>
Keywords
When using keywords to search, remember that keywords are terms found anywhere in the article. Consider your keywords and how you will search them. For example:
Subject headings
Subject headings are usually a database record (called subject indexing). Subject headings may also be referred to as "subject terms", "descriptors" or "thesaurus terms" in different databases.
Not all records in the database will have subject headings assigned. Also include keywords in your search to ensure all possible records are retrieved. Consider using the "mapping" or "suggest subject" features within databases to find subject headings. Different databases use different subject headings, eg:
Provides access to online resources for Queensland Health staff
