Techniques for searching the CINAHL database using the EBSCO interface

AORN Journal,  April, 2007  by Janna C. Lawrence

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In the information age in which we live, many excellent research tools are available to nurses. Whether a nurse is conducting research to write a school paper or journal article or investigating evidence for practice, being able to efficiently search for articles and journals is essential. The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) database, available from EBSCO Publishing, Ipswich, Mass, is a powerful and useful indexing tool that nurses can use to assist them in their research needs.

This article is designed to give step-by-step instructions for conducting a basic search in CINAHL. It is not meant to cover every search option but to allow readers to begin searching CINAHL correctly. These instructions will be most useful if you can work through them while working on a computer, performing the steps as you read. If, after going through this tutorial you still have questions, your best resource is a health sciences librarian.

The CINAHL database is a searchable, online database that provides references to articles from more than 2,800 journals. (1) The CINAHL database is different from MEDLINE, which is produced by the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md, and is available at no charge through PubMed; CINAHL is privately owned by EBSCO Publishing.

The CINAHL database currently is available from several vendors; however, this article will focus on searching CINAHL Plus with Full Text as provided by EBSCO. According to the online Database Help, CINAHL Plus with Full Text provides indexing as far back as 1937, with "complete coverage of English-language nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses' Association." (1) In addition to its coverage of nursing literature, CINAHL also covers 17 allied health disciplines as well as consumer health, alternative medicine, health sciences librarianship, and biomedicine in general. A subscription to CINAHL Plus with Full Text provides full text retrieval of articles from more than 530 journals. (2)

Unfortunately, EBSCO does not allow individuals to subscribe to the customizable version of CINAHL. You will need to check with your institution's library to request access to CINAHL through EBSCO. If your institution does not have a library or if your library does not subscribe to CINAHL, a local college or university may have a subscription and may allow people not affiliated with the institution to access CINAHL in its library. If your library does have a subscription to CINAHL, access to the program from off campus also may be available. You will need to inquire about the availability of this feature through your institution. At the time this article was written, CINAHL still provides a version of the database to individuals at http://www .cinahl.com for a fee of $20 per year.

SUBJECT HEADINGS

Every article indexed in CINAHL is read by a subject specialist and indexed using appropriate subject headings that reflect the content of the entire article. The subject specialists select terms from an annually updated list of headings. This list of terms is an integral part of the CINAHL database. In most cases, using subject headings is the best way to search this database. It is important to remember that the text of most of the articles indexed in CINAHL is not searchable, so the subject headings that are assigned act as a surrogate for the complete article.

The subject specialist who reviews an article assigns the most specific subject terms possible. For example, an article about pneumonia would be indexed to Pneumonia, rather than the broader heading Lung Diseases. An article on aspiration pneumonia will be indexed to the more specific heading Pneumonia, Aspiration, rather than Pneumonia. You are able to find all articles associated with the term "pneumonia" by selecting the option to "explode" the subject in your search for pneumonia. This broader search feature is easy to select during a search of CINAHL.

For more complex searches, it is best to locate and search for one subject heading at a time. After several searches have been performed, you can combine the concepts. By selecting one term at a time, you also will be able to combine the search terms in different ways, if necessary.

A SAMPLE SEARCH

To illustrate some of the many features of CINAHL, this article demonstrates how to search for alternative or herbal medicines used to treat severe nausea and vomiting. Many of the features in CINAHL Plus with Full Text can be customized, so the version available to you may not look exactly like the screens that have been recreated here.

From the CINAHL home screen (Figure 1), select the "Advanced Search" tab and then click the "CINAHL Headings" link. This will allow you to conduct a search based on the CINAHL headings that were assigned to articles by the subject specialists. Alternately, if your version of the program gives you the option "Suggest Subject Terms," you can enter your first concept into the "Find:" box and check the "Suggest Subject Terms" check box, which is typically located near the "Find:" box. This will yield a list of CINAHL headings related to your concept.