Research Guides: Nursing: Search with PICO

PICO Search Building Exercise

To get started with basic database searching and using subject headings, please see the instructional videos in the "Journal Articles & Databases" page of this guide. You may also schedule a research appointment with the subject librarian using the contact box on the "Home" page.

Search Builder Exercise
This blank document assumes you have a PICO question and will start out in PubMed. If you are using a different framework than PICO and/or if you are not starting in PubMed, you can break down the concepts of your research topic and search the thesaurus of your starting database using the chart.
Search Builder Exercise Example
Here is an example of the above search exercise filled out with the topic "Remifentanil for labor pain" and translated for a selection of databases. Note that there is nothing in the Outcome field. The purpose of this intervention is to reduce pain, and there is no other use for this medication in this context, so specifying the Outcome in the search is not necessary.

Searching resources:

MedSyntax
MedSyntax is a free visualization tool that works with any database. It makes your search easier to read and will tell you if you have the wrong number of parentheses, quotation marks, or brackets--however, it does interpret an apostrophe s as a quotation mark, so a term like Alzheimer's may yield a false error.
Yale MeSH Analyzer
When searching PubMed, you can enter article PMIDs (PubMed IDs) into this free online tool to generate a chart that will include title, author, year, journal, abstract, MeSH terms, and author-assigned keywords, which you can either download as an Excel file or view as HTML.

Translation resources:

Embase Query Translator (Video)
Embase has a built-in translator that will turn your PubMed search into an Embase search. However, you must double-check all translated controlled vocabulary terms to make sure there are no errors. You may also want to edit the keyword search field tags, and you should also search Emtree for any concepts that didn't come up when searching MeSH.
Polyglot
Polyglot is a search tool that translates the syntax of a PubMed search for other databases. This means it only changes search fields, such as changing cholestin[tiab] in MeSH to 'cholestin':ti,ab,kw in Emtree. It does not have the capability of searching the thesauri in the databases it's translating to, so you must search the thesauri of each database and change the controlled vocabulary terms if necessary and double-check the syntax to make sure there are no errors.

Databases with PICO Search Builder

FSU subscription access databases with a built-in PICO search tool.

Cochrane Library

Prepares full-text systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare. Each Cochrane Review is a peer-reviewed systematic review that has been prepared and supervised by a Cochrane Review Group (editorial team) in The Cochrane Collaboration according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions or Cochrane Handbook for Diagnostic Test Accuracy Reviews.

Subjects Covered:
Acute Respiratory Infections (200)
Airways (485)
Anaesthesia (321)
Back (298)
Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma (278)
Colorectal Cancer (276)
Dementia and Cognitive Improvement (279)
Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis (785)
Eyes and Vision (200)
Heart (209)
Hepato-Biliary (400)
Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility (260)
Musculoskeletal (349)
Neonatal (394)
Neuromuscular Disease (266)
Oral Health (224)
Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care (314)
Peripheral Vascular Diseases (437)
Pregnancy and Childbirth (681)
Renal (245)
Schizophrenia (270)
Skin (296)
Stroke (226)
Upper Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Diseases (213)
Wounds (208)

Abbreviation: cochrane
Vendor: Wiley
Subjects: Communication Disorders, Medicine, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health
Type: E-Journal Collections
Embase
International biomedical literature from over 95 countries, including 2000+ journals not indexed in PubMed/Medline.

Abbreviation: embase
Vendor: Elsevier
Subjects: Communication Disorders, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health
Type: Indexes / Catalogs
CINAHL Ultimate

CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature) Ultimate provides full-text access to nursing and allied health journals and covers over 50 nursing specialties. Additionally, it features full-text quick lessons, evidence-based care sheets, continuing education modules, and nursing instructional videos. PICO (Patient, Population, or Problem; Intervention; Comparison; Outcome) searching is supported.

Tutorials:
CINAHL Databases - Basic Searching Tutorial (Video)
CINAHL Databases - Basic Searching Tutorial (PowerPoint)
CINAHL Databases - Advanced Searching Tutorial (Video)
CINAHL Databases - Advanced Searching Tutorial (PowerPoint)
Using CINAHL and MeSH Headings (Video)
Using CINAHL and MeSH Headings (PowerPoint)
CINAHL Plus with Full Text Pocket Guide (PDF)
CINAHL User Guide (doc, 40 pages)
Using PICO Search in CINAHL Ultimate

Phone Apps:
Android (PowerPoint)
iPhone (PowerPoint)

Abbreviation: cinahlft
Vendor: EBSCO
Coverage: 1937–Current
Subjects: Communication, Communication Disorders, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health
Type: E-Journal Collections, Indexes / Catalogs

Additional PICO search builders.

PubMed PICO Search
Search biomedical literature.
Ovid PICO Resource Center
PICO videos, cards, and search builder widget.

Nursing

PICO Search Building Exercise

Databases with PICO Search Builder

PICO Video Tutorials