CINAHL Plus with Full Text Database Analysis

1. CINAHL Plus with Full TextDatabase Analysis Heather Wright LS 5813.21 Summer 2007 Dr. Hyuk-Jin Lee

2. CINAHL Plus with Full Text • CINAHL is the Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature. • CINAHL Plus with Full Text is the latest of all the CINAHL databases, and builds on CINAHL and CINAHL Plus.

3. Ownership • CINAHL Plus with Full Text is produced by CINAHL Information Systems. • Several database vendors sell access to CINAHL databases, or subscriptions can be purchased for direct online access through CINAHL’s website. • TWU’s access is through EBSCO Host

4. Size • Indexes 3001 nursing & allied health journals • Full text is supported for 336 journals

5. Coverage by Subject • English Language Journals in: • Nursing • Biomedicine • Health Sciences Librarianship • Alternative/Complementary Medicine • Consumer Health • 17 Allied Health Disciplines (see next)

6. Athletic Training Audiology Cardiopulmonary Technology Dental Hygiene Emergency Service Health Information Management Medical Assisting Medical/Laboratory Technology Nutrition and Dietetics Occupational Therapy Physical Therapy and Rehab Physician’s Assistant Radiologic Technology Respiratory Therapy Social Service in Health Care Speech-Language Pathology Surgical Technology Allied Health Disciplines

7. Book Reviews Book Chapters Clinical Innovations Clinical Trials Conference Proceedings Critical Paths Educational Software Review Evidence-Based Care Sheets Government Publications Legal Cases Nursing Dissertations Practice Standards Publications of NLN & ANA Research Instruments Statistics Systematic Reviews Coverage by Document Type

8. Coverage by Date • Coverage extends back to 1937 at the earliest • Most journals are included from the 1990s to present • Many other journals date from the 60s-70s-80s to present

9. Search Capabilities • Two main search options • Basic Search • Advanced Search

10. Basic Search • Search via keywords only • Boolean operators supported • Truncation supported • Results mapped to subject headings • Can refine search through limiters: • Full text, publication dates, type of document, peer reviewed/not, author, journal name

11. Advanced Search • Supports complex searches via many different fields • Supports Boolean Operators & Truncation • Searches can be combined using history tab • Results mapped to subject headings • Can refine search through limiters: • Full text, publication date, type of document, peer-reviewed/not, author, journal name, language, evidence-based/not, research article/not, age groups, special interest, etc. • Search via subject headings & subheadings

12. Simple Searches • I searched CINAHL Plus with Full Text with the following query: • I need information on the prevention of pressure ulcers in the post-operative phase of care. • Query terms: • Pressure ulcer • Prevention • Post Operative

13. I used the advanced search screen, CINAHL headings search and ended up with the subject heading “pressure ulcer” and subheading “prevention & control” combined with the heading “postoperative period” via the Boolean operator AND. 1st Search Search results - only 2 documents, both of which were relevant.

14. The search was repeated, again using the subject heading of “pressure ulcer” and the subheading “prevention & control”, but this time I used a keyword search of all text with the term “post operative.” The terms were combined with the Boolean operator AND. 2nd Search This time, 27 results were returned. All were highly relevant to my search query.

15. The building block search. Using the search history tab, I was able to combine three separate searches that I made for “post operative”, “prevention” and “pressure ulcer,” combining the sets with the Boolean operator AND. 3rd Search See next screen for search results

16. 3rd Search Results The search produced 8 results. All were highly relevant. All 8 results were found in the second search which produced 27 results.

17. Building Block Search Results • The building block search produced 8 results. I felt these results were very useful and met the requirements of my search statement. • All of the searches I performed produced relevant results. • Results were high in precision.

18. Evaluation Tests Coverage * Currency * Retrievability * Predictability *

19. Coverage Tests • 1) Literature Review Bibliography Search • 2) Nursing Center’s Recommended Reading List Search

20. Coverage Test 1 - Bib Search • Literature Review: Bakalis, N. 2006. Clinical decision-making in cardiac nursing: A literature review. Nursing Standard 21(2): 39-46. • Article included 81 citations: • 57 available in DB either full text or bib • 6 journals not available • 3 unpublished dissertations, not available • 15 book citations, not available • 70% coverage - Coverage very good

21. Coverage Test 2 - Reading List • Nursing Center, a leading nursing resource website • Recommended Reading List • http://www.nursingcenter.com/library/RecReading.asp • 10 nursing journal articles • Results: • 7 out of 10 articles available in DB • 1 available full text • 6 out of 7 bibliography available • 70% coverage consistent with previous test - Coverage very good

22. Currency Test • Database is updated weekly • Updates are made online • While searching the database, I noted that some documents have a one month delay before they are added, due to journal publisher restrictions.

23. Currency Test • Search of recent documents: • Search for documents from 2007 • 97,987 documents retrieved • Search for documents from May 2007 to present • 34,504 documents retrieved • Search for full text documents from August 2007 • 1123 documents retrieved • Database seemed very current to this analyst - currency testing is subjective.

24. Retrievability Test • Retrievability tests ask: What can be retrieved with a simple search? • Retrievability was tested through performing a search for a known item.

25. Retrievability - Known Item Search • I searched CINAHL Plus with Full Text for a known item - the article I used for my coverage test: • Bakalis, N. 2006. Clinical decision-making in cardiac nursing: A literature review. Nursing Standard 21(2): 39-46. • I easily located the known item using a simple search and limiters. • Retrievability is good, if you know how to use the search menus.

26. I used the advanced search option and searched for the author’s last name and first initial, followed by the truncation symbol, in the author field. I also utilized the refine search options to limit results. I entered the year “2006” and the publication name. See search results on the next screen

27. One result was produced. This is the known item I was searching for.

28. Predictability Test • Like currency, judging predictability can be rather subjective. • Predictability was tested by viewing search result screens and observing what information was present. • Predictability was found to be good. From reading the bibliographic information, I had a good idea if the article was appropriate.

29. Major/Minor subjects give extra clues to main ideas of article. Publication type - specific info on what the article includes Abstract provides valuable overview of article content.

30. Predictability Test • From the full bibliographic page, detailed fields give more information about the article. • An abstract gives a broad summary of the article. Very valuable for judging usefulness • Publication type gives information on the documents - such as “journal article”, “research”, “tables/charts” • Major/Minor subjects give keywords that may help the judgment

31. Opinion • CINAHL is one of the most popular databases in nursing & allied health and now I understand why. The coverage is excellent. All of the major journals in nursing are included, many full text. • It is a little complicated to search using subject headings, at first, but once you learn this skill, searching is a breeze. By using the subject headings, I felt more sure that my search terms would return useful results. • CINAHL Plus with Full Text has good coverage, currency, retrievability and predictability and I would recommend including this database in any academic or health science library.

32. Bibliography • CINAHL Information Systems Home Page. EBSCO Industries. 19 Jan 2007. Accessed 3 Aug 2007 <http://www.cinahl.com/index.html>. • Chu, Heting. 2003. Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age. Medford, New Jersey: Information Today, Inc.