NUR 901: Family Health Theory and Nursing Practice

Searching For Information | Locating What You Find | Evaluating What You Find
Citing What You Find | Questions?

Searching For Information

As you read background resources or scan the current issues of journals, look for the following which can help you in constructing your search:

• Terms and phrases used to describe the subject. The English language is very rich in synonyms, so make a note of the different terms used for the same concept.
• Identify parameters such as disease state, geographic location, environment, gender, ethnicity, age group.
• Identify important researchers

Finding Journal Articles

Remember that nursing draws on many disciplines and most of the journal or "periodical" databases are discipline oriented. Different reference tools are used for nursing, psychology, physiology, education, sociology, economics, etc. Listed below are the most useful databases for nursing:

CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature)

- Covers 1982 to date

- Includes all aspects of nursing, physical therapy, communicative disorders and other allied health fields

- Focus is practice with a growing research aspect, uses nursing terminology

- Able to limit to research articles or consumer health journal subsets

- International in scope but mainly English language articles

- Indexes journals, books, pamphlets, dissertations, instruments

Medline

- Ovid Medline (subscription through SDSU library) or PubMed < http://pubmed.gov/ >

- Covers 1966 onwards.

- Includes all aspects of medicine, nursing, and dentistry

- Focus is research, uses medical terminology (MeSH)

- International in scope

- Indexes journals only

Academic Search Premier (EBSCO)

-Coverage varies by title, with the earliest beginning in 1990.

-Access to articles across a wide range of academic disciplines.

-Features the full-text of articles from over 1200 periodicals and indexing for over 3000.

-Indexes journals (scholarly and general interest)

-Can limit to peer reviewed articles.

Proquest Research Library

-Coverage varies by title, with the earliest indexing beginning in 1971 and the earliest full-text coverage beginning in 1986.

-Access to articles across a wide range of academic disciplines. Default is to search all collections or you may limit to subject-specific modules, such as Health, Education, International, or Multicultural.

-Features the full-text of articles from over 1400 periodicals and indexing for over 2200.

-Can limit to peer reviewed articles.

-Indexes journals (scholarly and general interest)

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center Database)

-1966 to date

-Search this free ERIC online database for articles, books, and reports on the extensive body of education-related literature.

Indexes education journals and unpublished reports.

CHID (Combined Health Information Database)

Produced by health-related agencies of the Federal Government

provides unique titles, abstracts, contact information, and availability information for health information and health promotion/education resources. (updated quarterly)

PAIS International (Public Affairs Information Service)

- Search the literature in public policy, social policy, and social sciences.

- 1972 to date

- Indexes journal articles, books, statistics, and reports of government, public, and private organizations.

- International in scope

POPLINE

- Freely available via the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

- 1970 to date

- Worldwide coverage of population, family planning, and related health issues, including AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, maternal and child health in developing countries

- Primarily English language items but international in scope

- Indexes journal articles, books, technical reports, and unpublished works

Cochrane Library Online

- Cochrane Library contains the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, the Health Technology Assessment Database, the NHS Economic Evaluation Database, the Cochrane Methodology Register, and other sources of information on the science of reviewing research and evidence-based health care.

- The Database of Systematic Reviews is fulltext and indexed in CINAHL.

A complete list of journal databases is available on Infodome, the Library's homepage.

Online Journal Articles via Publisher or Aggregator

• Elsevier's ScienceDirect (click on 'group-wide login'; then 'search journals' tab)
• Wiley IterScience (click on 'Search Wiley Interscience' at bottom)
• Springer Verlag

Database Search Tips

When possible, use the controlled vocabulary/subject headings employed by individual databases.

Truncation ($ or *) may increase the number of results by allowing for variant endings. Note: truncation symbols vary from database to database. Read the online help to familiarize yourself with the intricacies of each database.

Search for single concepts and then combine the sets.

• Combining sets (for example, synonymous or related terms) using `OR' increases the number of articles.
• Combining sets using `AND' decreases the number of articles.

Don't worry about large sets in the beginning since combining different concepts decreases the number of articles.

Apply limits last to further decrease the number of articles while narrowing/focusing their topic range. Limits include English language articles and/or specific age groups.

Be sure to refer to the `Help' information provided by the database companies and ask a librarian if you require additional assistance.

Finding Books

The Library Catalog or PAC is the main system for identifying books at the SDSU Library. It is also interlinked with two union catalogs. Circuit is a joint catalog of SDSU, UCSD, USD, and CSUSM. Link+ is a joint catalog for several of the CSU campuses plus three private colleges. Books may be borrowed from any of these libraries via the catalogs. See below for more information.

Other library catalogs to search include:

• Melvyl
  • http://melvyl.cdlib.org/
  • Union catalog for the University of California system. This includes the libraries for UCSD, UCLA, and UCSF.
• LocatorPlus
  • http://www.nlm.nih.gov/locatorplus/locatorplus.html
  • Catalog for the National Library of Medicine

Finding Online Books

NetLibrary

Over 1,800 electronic books on a variety of topics, including nursing.

Useful books include:

National Association of School Nurses (U.S.) and American Nurses Association. Scope And Standards Of Professional School Nursing Practice. Washington, DC: American Nurses Association, 2001. RT85.5.N385 2001 5th Floor Books

Healthy People 2010. Washington DC: US Dept of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 2000. HE 20.2:P 39/3/ v.1-2 Gov Pubs US; RA445.U486 2000 v.1-2 Sci Ref

Online book: http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/Document/default.htm

Murray, RB. and Zentner, JP. Health Promotion Strategies Through the Life Span. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001. RT48.M8 2001 5th Floor Books

Summarizes each stage of life.

Brown, RT, and Sawyer, MG. Medications for School-Age Children: Effects on Learning and Behavior. New York: Guilford Press, 1998. RJ560.B76 1998 5th Floor Books

Rodgers, BL, and Knafl, KA. Concept Development in Nursing: Foundations, Techniques, and Applications. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2000. RT84.5.C6624 2000

Schuster, PA. Communication: The Key to the Therapeutic Relationship. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 2000. RT86.3.S525 2000 5th Floor Books

Canino, IA, and Spurlock, J. Culturally Diverse Children and Adolescents: Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford Press, 2000. RJ507.M54 C36 2000 5th Floor Books

Olendorf, D., Jeryan, C., and Boyden, K., eds. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1999. RC41.G35 1999 v.1-5 Sci Ref

Bowman, CA, ed. Using Literature to Help Troubled Teenagers Cope with Health Issues. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. RJ505.B5 U843 2000 5th Floor Books

Krapp, K. and Longe, JL, eds. Gale Encyclopedia Of Alternative Medicine. Detroit, MI: Gale Group, 2001. R733.G34 2001 v.1-4 Sci Ref

Goldman, MB, and Hatch, MC. Women And Health. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2000. RA778.W742 2000 Sci Ref

Nursing Practice Act, with Rules and Regulations. Sacramento: Board of Registered Nursing, 2000. L400 N97b 2000 Gov Pubs/CA; also available online at http://www.rn.ca.gov/practact/nursingpract.htm

Finding Theses and Dissertations

Theses from SDSU may be found by looking under the subject heading SDSU thesis-public health or SDSU thesis-nursing in the library catalog. Be sure to use LIMIT by SUBJECT since there are a large number of Public Health theses on a variety of topics.

To identify theses from other universities, use the database Dissertation Abstracts / Digital Dissertations. It indexes doctoral dissertations back to 1861 and masters' theses back to 1962.

Finding Health Statistics

Begin with our health statistics webpage. If you have questions, feel free to talk with a librarian.

Finding Websites and Government Reports

Healthy People 2010

http://www.health.gov/healthypeople

"Healthy People is a national health promotion and disease prevention initiative that brings together national, State, and local government agencies; nonprofit, voluntary, and professional organizations; businesses; communities; and individuals to improve the health of all Americans, eliminate disparities in health, and improve years and quality of healthy life."

National Women's Health Information Center (NWHIC)

http://www.4women.gov/

A free information and resource service on women's health issues for consumers, health care professionals, researchers, educators, or students. Bilingual (Spanish and English). Part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. (http://www.dhhs.gov/)

The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI)

http://www.health.org

National Maternal & Child Health Clearinghouse (NMCHC)

http://www.nmchc.org

CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp

CDC National Prevention Information Network (NPIN)

http://www.cdcnpin.org

CDC's Reproductive Health Information Source

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/drh

CDC's TIPS: Tobacco Information and Prevention Source

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco

Wide variety of publications and media sources plus a huge, searchable Smoking and Health Database.

World Health Organization

http://www.who.int

Access to WHO publications, programs, locations and addresses. Frequently updated information on disease outbreaks worldwide. Health Topics and Policy http://www.who.int/home/map_ht.html

The Annie E. Casey Foundation

http://www.aecf.org

AECF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the "best available data and analysis on critical issues affecting disadvantaged children and families, as well as the knowledge and tools practitioners, policymakers, and citizens need to advance their efforts on behalf of children. They are best known for the Kids Count Publications (2001 Kids Count Data Online http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/kc2001).

Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

http://www.kff.org

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, based in Menlo Park, California, is an independent health care philanthropy and is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries. The Foundation's work is focused on four main areas: health policy, reproductive health, HIV policy, and health and development in South Africa. The Foundation also maintains a special interest in health policy and innovation in its home state of California.

National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)

http://www.rarediseases.org

A federation of more than 140 not-for-profit voluntary health organizations serving people with rare disorders and disabilities.

Diversity Rx

http://www.DiversityRx.org

Committed to promoting language and cultural competence to improve the quality of health care for minority, immigrant, and ethnically diverse communities. This comprehensive clearinghouse of information on model programs, policies and legal issues related to cross cultural health, in collaboration with the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Office of Minority Health Resource Center (OMH-RC)

http://www.omhrc.gov

Created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Resource Persons Network (RPN) is a unique service composed of health professionals from a wide variety of organizations including community organizations, academia, research organizations, medical centers, etc. who volunteer to provide technical assistance to community-based organizations and other health professionals active in minority health issues.

NIH Toll-Free Information Lines

http://www.nih.gov/news/infoline.htm

List of toll-free telephone numbers for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Health Hotlines: NLM Toll-Free Numbers

http://newsis.nlm.nih.gov/hotlines

An online database of health-related organizations operating toll-free telephone services. It also includes information on services and publications available in Spanish. Search by keyword or browse the subject list.

MEDLINEplus

http://www.medlineplus.gov

The consumer health service provided by the National Library of Medicine and medical librarians to assist lay persons in finding quality health sites.

Quackwatch: Your Guide to Health Fraud, Quackery, and Intelligent Decisions

http://www.quackwatch.com

"Quackwatch, Inc., a member of Consumer Federation of America, is a nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies. Its primary focus is on quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere. Although well regarded and often cited, be sure to evaluate the information as you would any other site.

Virtual Hospital

http://www.vh.org

Delve into University of Iowa Health Care's Virtual Hospital website. This digital health sciences library supports the information needs of both health care providers and patients, in a large part through online books, images and brochures.

Medical Matrix

http://www.medmatrix.org

Medical Matrix is an interface that provides access to digital, clinical medicine documents primarily for US physicians and frontline healthcare workers. Preference is given to quality, peer-reviewed, full content, multimedia features, and unrestricted access. Registration is required yet free. Be sure to check the sections on Patient Education and Ethnic Medicine.

NOAH: New York Online Access to Health Home Page

http://www.noah-health.org

JAMA Health Information Centers

http://www.ama-assn.org/special/infohome.htm

Helping Children Cope With a Disaster

http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~disaster/facts/kidcope.html

How to Talk to Your Child About the News

http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/news.html

Locating What You Find

Remember that the SDSU Library does not own all the journals indexed in the journal databases nor are very many databases fulltext, therefore you must check the library catalog for availability, locations and call numbers.

Using the Library Catalog

The SDSU Library's online catalog, sometimes referred to as the PAC, simply lists the books the library owns and the journals to which we subscribe. It does NOT list individual journal articles or most book chapters.

What if it's not at SDSU?

Journal Articles

If this library does not own the journal, you can request a copy of the article through InterLibrary Loan (ILL).

• You can place your requests electronically
• The service is free.
• Currently no limit to the number of requests you can make.
• Takes 1-2 weeks for delivery.
• Articles are mailed to your home or campus address. (You may want to check that we have your correct address by using the View Your Circulation Record function on the PAC. If not, update your address at Admission and Records and the Library will get the updated information in about 48 hours.)

Books, etc.

There are three steps to take.

First check Circuit to see if the book is available at one of the other San Diego area university libraries.

If available, request the item.

Circuit deliveries usually take overnight.

Books are picked up at the Main Circulation Desk in the Dome.

Next check Link+, a union catalog of several CSU and private university libraries throughout the state of California.

If available, request the item.

Delivery generally takes 3-5 days.

Pick up the items at the Main Circulation Desk.

Last, fill out an Inter-Library Loan (ILL) request.

ILL will find out which library in the US (or the world, if necessary) has the book and borrow it from them.

Usually takes one to two weeks for delivery.

Evaluating What You Find

It is important to determine your criteria for evaluating the relevance of retrieved books and journal articles. These can include:

• Authority of the author(s)
• Date of publication
• Type of publication
• Relevance of content
• Intended audience
• References cited
• Cited or reviewed by others

Some additional websites with more information about evaluation of resources (especially Internet resources) include:

• Evaluating Sources of Information
• How to Critically Analyze Information Sources
• Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources
• Thinking Critically about Discipline-Based World Wide Web Resources

Health On the Net (HON)

http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html

Websites which abide by the eight principles of the HON Code of Conduct for medical and health websites may post this logo. HON is trying to address the reliability and credibility of health information on the Internet.

Citing What You Find

Bibliographic citations at the end of a paper need to be formatted in a fairly precise way so that others can find the journal articles and books you used. One of the most common styles used for citing references in public health is that created by the American Psychological Association. The main items to use are:

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). (2001). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

BF 76.7 P83 2001 Sci Circ Desk, Gen Ref Desk, Gen Ref Stacks

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Electronic reference formats recommended by the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved September 12, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

Additional examples can be found at:

Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center. (n.d.). APA style guide. Rohnert Park, CA: Author. Retrieved from September 12, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://libweb.sonoma.edu/research/citation/apa.html

Questions

Need some help getting started? Questions about Medline? Call us!

Science Division

619-594-6715

General Reference Division

619-594-6728

Government Publications and Maps Division

619-594-5832

Stuck with computing problems?

Contact the Student Computing Help Desk

Phone: 619-594-3189

Email: problems@rohan.sdsu.edu

Other important phone numbers and web sites

Infodome - the Library's homepage

http://infodome.sdsu.edu/

Library Hours

619-594-6721

http://infodome.sdsu.edu/about/hours.shtml

Circulation Desk

619-594-6793

View Your Circulation Record

http://libpac.sdsu.edu/patroninfo

Renew Books Online

http://infodome.sdsu.edu/howto/renew.shtml

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Marilyn Hall, Health Sciences Librarian
Email: mehall@mail.sdsu.edu
Phone: 619-594-5864
Office: LL 505E