Step 2: Find

Individual Research Studies

Clinical trials or individual research studies published in the journal literature form the foundation of scientific evidence, but not all research meets the highest standards of quality. This means that if you locate relevant individual research articles in CINAHL or PubMed, another step (STEP 3-Appraise the Evidence) is required to determine the quality of a study.

CINAHL
(Cumulated Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature)

  • Major database for the nursing and allied health literature from 1982-Present
  • Includes citations (link to glossary) for journal articles, book chapters, nursing dissertations, research instruments, educational software and selected conference proceedings
  • Provides access to selected full-text sources: Critical Paths, Clinical Innovations, Standards of Practice and more

Search the CINAHL Nursing database (EBSCO)          

PubMed Clinical Queries

  • A subset of PubMed designed for clinicians looking for “evidence”
  • The National Library of Medicine states that the Systematic Reviews option retrieves citations for “systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine, consensus development conferences, guidelines, and citations to articles from journals specializing in clinical review studies.”

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