Why subject search?
The result? There is no need to worry about synonyms, plurals or variations in spelling.
Please note that the OHSU CINAHL interface is not set up to search for suggested subject headings first ... if you want to search using subject headings, click the "Suggest Subject Terms" box at the top to find the subject heading that matches your concept, then search the database to retrieve all citations that have been assigned that heading.
CINAHL uses some subject headings that include acronyms at the end of the heading, such as Sensory-Perceptual Alterations (NANDA) or Risk Identification (Iowa NOC).
When searching CINAHL for a topic, it is recommended that a more general subject heading be used.
Only use the nursing classification subject headings if you are looking for records that specifically mention the classification.
These acronyms refer to nursing classification systems:
Applying this limiter allows you to limit results to:
It is one way to limit a search, but will not capture all the evidence!
Searching CINAHL to Find Articles Written by Nurses
In 2009, CINAHL, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, introduced two limiters to CINAHL Advanced Search, entitled “First Author is Nurse” and “Any Author is Nurse." Applying these limits will narrow search results to articles written (from 2009 onwards) by authors with an RN, BSN, MSN or equivalent foreign credential (such as the British “RGN” or “RMN”), as long as the credentials are listed in the article. The two limiters are both found on the limits page, which is accessible under “Search Options” on the main search page of CINAHL Advanced Search or under “Refine Your Results/Show More” on the search results page in CINAHL Advanced Search.
Other means of finding articles with nurse authors:
One final note: The user must still examine an article to check whether or not there are nursing credentials listed for the author, such as “Debra Davis RN, MSN, DSN.”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License.
Clinical Queries are built in filters that allow users to limit searches with specific search strategies, to aid in retrieving scientifically sound and clinically relevant study reports indexed in CINAHL databases. Searches can be refined using specific search strategies designed to produce results in five research areas:
As research may require different emphasis, three strategies are provided for each area.
To perform a search using Clinical Queries
Try adding one or all of the publication type limits from the list below to a search to retrieve evidence-based results. You access the additional limits page by clicking "edit" next the the search you're working with in your search history: