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Searching Databases

When you decide to purchase a new car, you first decide what is important to you. If mileage and dependability are the important factors, you will search for data focused more on these factors and less on color options and sound systems.

The same holds true when searching for research evidence to guide your clinical inquiry and professional decisions. Developing a formula for an answerable, researchable question that addresses your need will make the search process much more effective. One such formula is the PICO(T) format.

In this Discussion, you will transform a clinical inquiry into a searchable question in PICO(T) format, so you can search the electronic databases more effectively and efficiently. You will share this PICO(T) question and examine strategies you might use to increase the rigor and effectiveness of a database search on your PICO(T) question.

To Prepare:

• Review the materials offering guidance on using databases, performing keyword searches, and developing PICO(T) questions provided in the Resources.

• Review the Resources for guidance and develop a PICO(T) question of interest to you for further study.

Post your PICO(T) question, the search terms used, and the names of at least two databases used for your PICO(T) question. Then, describe your search results in terms of the number of articles returned on original research and how this changed as you added search terms using your Boolean operators. Finally, explain strategies you might make to increase the rigor and effectiveness of a database search on your PICO(T) question. Be specific and provide examples.

For this discussion we are first developing your PICO(T) question. Try to use a topic that is important to you. From experience, it is usually easier to use an intervention type question. Here is the intervention type format to use (if you like).

In_____________________(POPULATION) how does __________________(Intervention) compared with ___________________(Comparison) affect _______________________(Outcome) within______________________(time, optional).

Example: In acute care hospitalized patients (Population) what is the effect of using CHG caps on all central line ports (intervention) compared to current ports used (comparison) on rates of CLABSI (outcome…be sure it is measurable), over a 6-month period (time)?

The second part of this discussion post is to describe your experience in your database searches. This can be a narrative description, or some students like to use a chart. Something like this:

Finally, explain strategies you might make to increase the rigor and effectiveness of a database search on your PICO(T) question. Be specific and provide examples.

Be sure to include a reference page including all the resources you used for this discussion post.