Essay Sample on Databases for Evidence-Based Nursing Research

The objective of Evidence-Based Nursing (EBN) in Applied Clinical Research in Health Sciences is to guide and train solvent research nurses capable of developing and carrying out research projects linked to their clinical trajectory. Nowadays, databases, search engines, and directories are key pieces for the training and development of professionals, in all fields of knowledge; without a doubt, the progress and accelerated proliferation of the search tools offered by the Internet have been one of the best allies with which the area of Health Sciences has counted throughout its history. Currently, there are multiple resources for the search for information. Retrieving efficient and specific information is imperative for developing the skills necessary to apply effective strategies in evidence-based research.

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PubMed is a search engine that allows queries in the MEDLINE database, which is the most important related to publications on biomedical research. MEDLINE, through PubMed, offers access to a large amount of current and quality biomedical literature to search and retrieve information for research in health sciences. Unlike Google scholar which offers limited search limits (eg, date, age, publication type), PubMed provides extensive filters that limit searches to specific clinical studies or subject matter (eg, Topic-Specific Queries and Clinical Queries). It is currently the most used tool in the search for biomedical information and one of the most effective in the search for relevant information (Demner-Fushman et al., 2006). A study by Hauser and collaborators with residents of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu compared the effectiveness of PubMed with that of Google in offering relevant specialized information at the resident's discretion. PubMed managed to provide answers to 73% of the questions asked, while Google, one of the most recognized general search engines, only generated answers to 58% of them. This highlights the selectivity of PubMed for quality information (Hauser et al., 2006). Similar findings were reported by Kulkarni et al. in 2009.

The Cochrane database was founded in 1993 to organize medical research findings for facilitating evidence-based alternatives to health interventions faced by health professionals, patients, and policymakers. Its fundamental goal of collecting the scientific evidence derived from randomized and controlled clinical trials, as well as the meta-analyzes derived from them, constitutes it as one of the sources that provide the best clinical evidence (Cundiff, 2007). Once the key is entered, a portal with an internal search engine is displayed on which the keywords that will guide the search are placed. In this way, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, meta-analysis protocols and systematic reviews that have not yet been carried out can be located. Additionally, there is a database that allows the location of the references that lead to controlled clinical trials.

References

Cundiff, D. K. (2007). Evidence-based medicine and the Cochrane Collaboration on trial. Medscape General Medicine, 9(2), 56. Retrieved from < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1994886/>

Demner-Fushman, D., Hauser, S. E., Humphrey, S. M., Ford, G. M., Jacobs, J. L., & Thoma, G. R. (2006). MEDLINE as a source of just-in-time answers to clinical questions. In AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings (Vol. 2006, p. 190). American Medical Informatics Association. Retrieved from < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1839449/>

Hauser, S. E., Demner-Fushman, D., Ford, G. M., Jacobs, J. L., & Thoma, G. (2006). Preliminary Comparison of Three Search Engines for Point of Care Access to MEDLINE Citations. In AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings (Vol. 2006, p. 945). American Medical Informatics Association.

Kulkarni, A. V., Aziz, B., Shams, I., & Busse, J. W. (2009). Comparisons of citations in Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar for articles published in general medical journals. Jama, 302(10), 1092-1096. Retrieved from < https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/184519#24831548>