Searching CINAHL with Full Text (EBSCO) using CINAHL Headings for topics relating to Paramedic Practice v1.0
About this guide
This guide is for you if you are already familiar with keyword searching and want to take your search skills to the next level using more of the features of provided by CINAHL with Full Text from EBSCO.
Before you read on ...
It helps to know a bit about how databases are put together. Here are a few definitions:
Databases - comprise records of individual journal articles and sometimes conference papers. CINAHL has just over 1 million records.
Record - each record comprises a number of fields which contain information relating one journal article or conference paper.
Field - each field contains an individual piece of information, for example Title, Author, Journal Title and Abstract.
What is searched
When you login to CINAHL with Full Text you are offered, among other searches, Basic Search and Advanced Search. The Basic Search in CINHAL searches a limited number of fields known as Basic Fields, these fields are the Title, Abstract and Subject Heading fields.
Searching specific fields
You can search individual fields by specifying the field you want to search using
field name or tag, for example, searching for the word paramedic* in the Title search for TI paramedic*
A complete list of field names/tags can be found in the CINAHL with Full Text database Help.
Note that searching for a word(s) in one field will narrow your search, reducing the number of records you find because you have excluded fields where the word(s) might also appear. On the other hand using this technique can improve the precision of your search. If you search for the word paramedic* in the Title (TI) of the journal article you can be reasonably certain that the journal articles you find are about paramedics.
Before you read on ...
There is another way of searching using what are called controlled vocabularies and thesauri.
Controlled Vocabularies are collections of words from which human indexes choose terms that describe the subject of any journal article/conference paper and add them to each record. For example all the records for articles that are substantially about Prehospital Care will have the term Prehospital Care applied to them. They are controlled because individual terms are carefully chosen, defined and managed.
Thesuari are published collections of controlled vocabulary terms which direct you to related terms which may be broader, narrower or similar (synonyms) to terms you may be interested in. Terms are in a hierarchy with the broadest terms at the top and the most specific terms lower down. Transportation of Patients would be higher than the more specific term Ambulances or Air Ambulances. Thesauri published online are searchable, which enables you to find the most appropriate or useful term for your search.
For CINAHL the thesaurus is known as CINAHL Headings. This is how it will be referred to in the rest of this guide.
CINAHL Headings
The CINAHL Headings are available to search online, under the CINAHL Headings tab.
There is no CINAHL Heading for paramedic, the preferred term which includes paramedics is Emergency Medical Technicians. Other useful CINAHL Headings are included here together with their Scope Note, which describes how each term is used in CINAHL. Ambulances is the most specific term with 1250 articles retrieved, Emergency Services the broadest term with 11300 articles retrieved.
CINAHL Subject Heading / Scope Note / Hits CINAHL Heading (Jan 2012)Ambulances / No Scope Note / 1250
Emergency Medical Technicians / Paramedical personnel trained to provide basic emergency care and life support under the supervision of physicians and/or nurses. These services may be carried out at the site of the emergency, in the ambulance, or in a health care institution. May use /education for staff development or further education; otherwise, prefer pre-coordinated heading EDUCATION, EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES. / 4000
Prehospital Care / Emergency care provided prior to hospital arrival. Providers may include paramedics, EMTs, emergency nurses, aeromedical personnel, etc. / 5650
Emergency Medical Services / Do not use/education: prefer precoordinated heading EDUCATION, EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES. For further education or staff development of emergency medical technicians or paramedics use EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS/education. / 10700
Emergency Services / A facility that provides emergency care, either the emergency room of a hospital or a freestanding emergicenter. / 11300
Using CINAHL Headings
The value of using CINAHL Subject Headings can be illustrated by comparing the number of relevant articles retrieved with the term paramedic* and the relevant CINAHL Subject Heading, Emergency Medical Technicians.
· There are about 1800 articles retrieved by the term paramedic* searched in Basic Fields/Basic Search.
· c4000 articles are retrieved by the CINAHL Heading Emergency Medical Technicians. Of these 4000 about 1000 contain the word paramedic*.
· Searching just of the term paramedic* misses 75% of the potentially relevant articles. Using the thesaural term Emergency Medical Technicians finds more of the relevant articles whether they contain the term paramedic* or not.
Building a comprehensive set of records that includes all articles in CINAHL on emergency and prehospital care could include all these CINAHL Headings
Ambulances OR Emergency Medical Technicians OR Prehospital Care OR Emergency Medical Services OR Emergency Services
How to build Subject Headings into your search
To include Subject Headings into your search click on CINAHL Headings …
Type in the CINAHL Heading you know, or the keywords for the topic you are searching for e.g. paramedic* …
Choose the CINAHL Heading you want (click in the check box) and Search Database for it as a Major Concept …
Articles containing the CINAHL Headings are displayed on the results page.
Searches can be combined with OR or AND to enable you to build searches using CINAHL Headings and keywords you have chosen.
Matt Holland
March 2012
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