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NURS 1121 (Term 1): Library Basics

Find articles in CINAHL: A step by-step guide to strategies

  1. Identify the main ideas/search terms to use in CINAHL:
    your healthcare topic  AND  ethic*  AND   nurs*
    --► AND means all my words must be there
    --► ethic* will search for ethic, ethics, ethical, ethically, etc.
     
  2. Go to CINAHL (Library home page -> Articles in Journals -> CINAHL) and enter your search terms from step 1. Limit to Peer Reviewed & Published Date 2020 to present and click on Search. Here’s an example:


     
  3. Now improve your search. After scanning the results, add additional terms that make sense for your topic or that you've seen in your search so far. Or perhaps you can name your ethical issue. For example:



    --► OR means that ANY term inside the box can be in the search results.
     
  4. Expand, focus and tweak your results by changing where your search words are found:



     
  5. Sometimes you can drop ethic* as a search term if your topic is already "loaded" in terms of ethical issues, e.g.:



    --► “Words in quotations” will be searched as phrases. Sometimes this is useful.
     
  6. Save your work in a temporary EBSCOhost folder to email to yourself (and your group):
  7. Your temporary EBSCOhost folder will look something like this:

 

Your group topics - spring 2025

For the N1121 group assignment, search
CINAHL Complete (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) to find relevant articles. CINAHL tracks articles from over 5,400 journals in nursing and allied health fields.
When to use it? - for topics with a nursing focus or of strong interest for nurses.

Section 1 groups and topics Tips and some initial search words/ideas/notes
1. CRISPR - Designer Babies

Search1, focus on reproductive issues: ( crispr or "gene edit*" or "genome edit*" or "genetic* engineer*" )  AND ( pregnan* or babies or fertili* or embryo* or baby or conception )  NOT TI ( mice or rats or pigs )

Search 2, with nursing perspective: ( ( crispr or "gene edit*" or "genome edit*" or "genetic* engineer*" ) ) NOT TI ( mice or rats or pigs ) ) AND nurs* 
 

Search 3, same as Search 2 but nurs* can be found anywhere in the article: ( crispr or "gene edit*" or "genome edit*" or "genetic* engineer*" ) AND TX nurs* NOT TI ( mice or rats or pigs ) 
2. Neuroenhancement

You may want to narrow down your topic further, e.g. by population, condition, and/or issue.

Search link: ( neuroenhancement or neuro-enhancement or (cognit* N5 enhance*) ) AND ( ethic* or bioethic* or benefit* or harm* or risk* or moral* ) 

Tip: N5 between two search terms means they must be found within 5 words of each other but can be in any order.
3. DNR (Do Not Resucitate) orders

You may want to narrow down your topic further.

Search link: ( DNR OR "do not resuscitate" OR "living wills" OR "advance directives" or "rescusitation orders" ) AND ( ethic* or decision or implement* )
4. Abortion Search link:  abortion AND ( ( ethic* or moral* or relig* ) ) AND TX nurs* 
5. MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying)
Search link: ( maid OR euthanasia OR (assisted AND (dying OR suicide OR death)) ) AND ( ethic* OR moral* OR values OR family OR consent* ) AND nurs*
6. Harvesting organs

Search link: organ AND TX ( harvest* or donat* or donor ) AND ethic* AND TX nurs* 

Could try searching for specific organs to find more results.
7. Impact of AI advancement in healthcare

Search link: ( (MH "Artificial Intelligence, Generative+") OR (MH "Expert Systems") or "artificial intelligence" ) AND ( healthcare or "health care" ) AND nurs* 

 
Section 2 groups and topics Tips and search ideas/words/notes
1. Providing transgender adolescent care Search link: ( transgender or gender-diverse or "gender diverse" or gender-nonconforming ) AND ( adolesc* or teen* or youth or "young adults" ) AND ( nurs* or care ) 
2. CRISPR (gene editing)

Search 1, with nursing perspective: ( ( crispr or "gene edit*" or "genome edit*" or "genetic* engineer*" ) ) NOT TI ( mice or rats or pigs ) ) AND nurs*  

Search 2, same as Search 1 but nurs* can be found anywhere in the article: ( crispr or "gene edit*" or "genome edit*" or "genetic* engineer*" ) AND TX nurs* NOT TI ( mice or rats or pigs )  

Search 3, with focus on disease: ( crispr or "gene edit*" or "genome edit*" or "genetic* engineer*" ) AND ( disease or germ* or cure or prevent* or disab* ) AND ethic* NOT TI ( mice or rats or pigs ) 
3. Harm reduction

Search 1, broader health focus: ( (MH "Harm Reduction") or "harm reduction" or "supervised injection" ) AND ( drug* or addict* or "substance abuse" ) AND ( ethic* or bioethic* or moral* or risk* or benefit* or harm* ) AND health* 

Search 2, nursing focus: ( (MH "Harm Reduction") or "harm reduction" or "supervised injection" ) AND ( drug* or addict* or "substance abuse" ) AND ( ethic* or bioethic* or moral* or risk* or benefit* or harm* ) AND health* AND nurs* 
4. Abortion Search link:  abortion AND ( ( ethic* or moral* or relig* ) ) AND TX nurs* 
5. MAID Search link: ( maid OR euthanasia OR (assisted AND (dying OR suicide OR death)) ) AND ( ethic* OR moral* OR values OR family OR consent* ) AND nurs*
6. Organ Transplantation Search link: ( MH "Organ Transplantation+" OR (organ and transplant*) ) AND ( ethic* or bioethic* or moral* or "medical tourism" or controvers* or barriers ) AND nurs*  
7. Vaccine Mandates

Search link: ( vaccin* or immuniz* or immunis* ) AND ( mandate OR MW mandatory OR TI mandatory ) AND ( ethic* or moral* or bioethic* or rights or dilemma or legal* or controvers* )

You may want to narrow down your topic further, e.g. by population (e.g. nurses, healthcare workers, children, etc.), disease (eg. covid, flu, etc.) and/or issue.
8. Medical Futility Search link: ( (MH "Medical Futility") or "medical futility" OR (futil* AND (therapy or treatment or medication or diagnos*) ) AND TX nurs*