Health Operations Management / Health Services Administration

1. Keyword Searching:

• This is a good place to start. Databases search for your search terms in specific search fields of the reference record (e.g. title, abstract, author supplied keywords, journal title, etc.)

• Determine alternative terms, names, or synonyms for these concepts, as needed

2. Subject Searching (aka descriptors in some databases)

• offers a more focused search
• searches for search terms in the subject field only
• uses the standardized subject terms of the database you are using
  • Check CINAHL Headings, MeSH (for PubMed) or the thesaurus in the database you are using to locate correct terminology

Title or Title /Abstract Searching:

• searches for your terms in the title field of the record only or title/abstract fields
• will help narrow or focus a search
• spelling counts - not all databases will offer autocorrect options

CINAHL - use the drop menu and select the Title option

• or the Title and Abstract option

PubMed - pair the search term (xxxx) with the tag in the search box (no space between)

• e.g. for Title: xxxx[ti] or xxxx[Title]
• e.g. for Title / Abstract: xxxx[tiab] or xxxx[Title/Abstract]

• or go into PubMed Advanced Search and select either Title or Title/Abstract from the drop menu. After selecting, then choose the ADD button to place the search terms into the query box.

Author Searching:

• searches for your words in the author field only
• authors frequently publish under various forms of their name (e.g. Smith, JA; Smith, J; Smith, John A; Smith, J. Aaron; etc.). It is best to search using last name with just the first initial.
• CINAHL - use the drop menu and select the Author option (see title search example)
• PubMed - pair the name with the tag [Author] or [au] in the search box
  • e.g. Turner[Author]

OR

• Use OR to indicate either of the terms should be included in the results. Use OR between synonyms or related terms

• e.g. a search for sweat OR perspire would result in
  • articles that mention the word sweat but may not include the word perspire
  • any articles that include the word perspire but may not include the word sweat
  • articles that include both the word sweat and the word perspire

AND

• Use AND to indicate that all of the search terms must be present in an article
• Great way to get more focused results
  • e.g. searching for handwashing AND infection means that articles must contain the word handwashing and the word infection to show up in the results
    • For example, if the circle on the left represents articles containing the word handwashing, and the circle on the right includes articles containing the word infection, the red area shows the results for a search for handwashing AND infection

 NOT

• Use NOT to exclude articles with a different meaning or an unwanted concept
• For example, if you want articles on burnout in the health professions and the results include too many articles on burnout during Covid, you can choose to exclude Covid from the results.
  • e.g. Burnout NOT Covid

Nesting:

• Multiple Boolean operators can be used in a search. By using parentheses, you can “nest” terms together to build a search strategy.  
• Parentheses dictates the order in which the database processes the search terms (just like an algebraic equation).  Information within parentheses is processed first, then information outside parentheses is processed.  
• Every opening parenthesis must have a closing parenthesis
  • e.g. (exercise OR physical activity OR yoga) AND migraine
  • e.g. (sweat OR perspiration) AND fluid replacement
  • e.g Handwashing AND (infection AND (prevention OR control))

                                                             

Place phrases in Quotations Marks

• can use in CINAHL, PubMed, and ProQuest
• e.g. “Health expenditures” or “intensive care unit” or "Calgary Family Assessment"

Caveat: 

• Turns off auto mapping and auto explode in PubMed

Truncation and Wildcards:

• Can be used at the end or in the middle or a word
• Offers a way to easily search for words with multiple endings, variant spellings, or word groups
• Symbols are not universal – check database help as needed
• Any terms retrieved using either truncation or wildcard characters are not considered when sorting your results based on relevance

CINAHL: ( *  ?  # )

• The asterisk (*) matches multiple characters
  • use either at the end of words or within words
    • e.g. nurs* finds nurse, nurses, nursed, nursing, nursery, etc.
    • e.g. equ*y finds equity, equitability, equality, equally
  • use between words to match a single word
    • e.g. nursing * education finds nursing education, nursing diabetes education, nursing and education
• The hash sign (#) matches one optional character.
  • use where an alternate spelling might contain an extra letter
    • e.g. orthop#edic finds orthopedic, orthopaedic
• The question mark (?) matches exactly one character.
  • use to replace a letter
    • e.g. Wom?n finds women or woman; Assistan?? finds assistance or assistants
  • cannot be used as the first character of a search term
    • e.g. ?ffect
• truncation and wildcards can be combined in a search term
  • e.g. p#ediatric* finds pediatric pediatrics pediatrician pediatricians paediatric paediatrics paediatrician paediatricians

Caveats:

• cannot be used as the first character of a search term
  • e.g. ?ffect
• using wildcards turns off the automatic inclusion of plural and possessive forms of the search word
  • e.g. wom?n will not include womens' or woman's

PubMed: ( * )

• Asterisk (*) matches multiple characters - substitute for 0 or more characters in a term or phrase.
  • Must use at least 4 characters before placing the asterisk or the truncation will be ignored
    • e.g. Ped* is not sufficient and the command will be ignored
  • Search for words with multiple endings
    • e.g.  nurs* finds nurse, nurses, nursing, nursery, etc.
  • Use within words to find multiple variant characters
    • e.g. equa*y finds equality and equally
  • Terms can contain multiple wildcards
    • e.g. organi*tion*

Caveat:

• Truncation turns off automatic term mapping (the process that maps to MeSH terms along with other similar terms (Entry Terms) in the MesH record
  • e.g. tumor* will not map to the MeSH term Neoplasm or include any of the Entry Terms: malignancies, cancer

ProQuest: ( * ? )

• An asterisk (*) replaces up to 5 characters
  • cannot be used as the first character of a search term
    • e.g. *ffect
  • Search for variant word endings
    • e.g.  nurs* finds nurse, nurses, nursed, nursing, nursery, etc.
  • Use within words to find multiple variant characters
    • e.g. equ*y finds equality, equally
  • [*n] denotes up to how many characters you want to truncate
    • e.g. nutr[*5] finds nutrition, nutrient, nutrients

• The question mark (?) replaces a single character. The ? will match for both 0 and 1 character
  • e.g. Wom?n finds women or woman; Assistan?? finds assistance or assistants

Caveat:

• Truncation will not execute when phrase searching using quotes plus the truncation on a single word. However,   can help retrieve the plural
  • e.g. "economic value*" can help retrieve "economic values"
  • e.g. "econom*" - truncation will not execute

Proximity searching allows for searching for two or more terms within a certain number of words of each other.

CINAHL: 

• The proximity operators are composed of a letter (N or W) and a number (to specify the number of words). The number cannot exceed 255.

• The proximity operator is placed between the words that are to be searched

N# = terms appear in any order

• N3 finds the words if they are a max of 3 words apart, regardless of the order in which they appear.

  • e.g. insurance N3 reimbursement will find:

    • insurance reimbursement

    • insurance for reimbursement

    • reimbursement practices of insurance companies

    • insurance approval and reimbursement

W# = terms appear in the order entered

• W4 finds words that are within 4 words of one another, in the order entered
  • e.g. Covid W4 protocols will find
    • COVID pandemic and public health protocols

    • COVID related protocols

  • will not find protocols for Covid

PubMed:

• Used to find terms that are close to each other - in any order
• format = "search terms"[field tag:~N]
  • include the quotation marks around your terms
• Field tags: Proximity searching is only available in the following search fields
  • [Title] or [ti]
  • [Title/Abstract] or [tiab]
  • [Affiliation] or [ad]

• N stands for the maximum number of words appearing between search terms.
  • Using an N of zero means the search terms must be adjacent to each other - in any order
• E.g. "prenatal vitamins"[Title:~2] - will retrieve citations with the terms prenatal and vitamins with up to two words between them in the title of a citation - prenatal vitamins; prenatal intake of vitamins; vitamins given prenatally

ProQuest:

• searching works the same as CINAHL (above) but the symbols are different

N/# or NEAR/# = terms appear in any order

• N/3 finds the words if they are a max of 3 words apart, regardless of the order in which they appear.
  • e.g. insurance N/3 reimbursement or e.g. insurance NEAR/3 reimbursement
    • insurance reimbursement
    • insurance for reimbursement
    • reimbursement practices of insurance companies
    • insurance approval and reimbursement

PRE/# or P/# = terms appear in order entered in search

• P/4 finds words that are within 4 words of one another, in the order entered
  • e.g. Covid P/4 protocols or e.g. Covid PRE/4 will find
    • COVID pandemic and public health protocols

    • COVID related protocols

  • will not find protocols for Covid