Search Statement - a combination of search terms and boolean operators that help the electronic database understand the kinds of articles you are looking for.
Boolean Operator - Words that the database will recognize as connecting terms, and not search terms. These include the words AND, OR, and NOT. Watch a tutorial here to explain how boolean operators work.
Database - A collection of information (periodicals, academic articles, newspapers, reports, etc) often focused around one topic. (We will use the nursing focused database CINAHL for this class)
Patient | Intervention | Outcome | |
Term/Element | Surgical Patient | Hand washing | Infection Prevention |
Synonyms |
Post-Operative Surgery |
Soap and Water Hand Disinfection Hand Hygiene |
Cross-Infection Surgical Wound Infections |
(Surgical Patient Post-Operative Surgery) (Hand washing soap water disinfection hygiene) (infection prevention cross-infection surgical wound)
(Surgical Patient OR Post-Operative OR Surgery) (Hand washing OR soap water OR disinfection OR hygiene) (infection prevention OR cross-infection OR surgical wound)
(Surgical Patient OR Post-Operative OR Surgery) AND (Hand washing OR soap water OR disinfection OR hygiene) AND (infection prevention OR cross-infection OR surgical wound)
A simple way to remember these steps is by looking at your chart. Anytime you are combining words in the SAME column, use OR. Anytime you are combining words in DIFFERENT columns use AND
Write a Search Statement for your topic like the example below using the Boolean Operators AND and OR:
(Surgical Patient OR Post-Operative OR Surgery) AND (Hand washing OR soap water OR disinfection OR hygiene) AND (infection prevention OR cross-infection OR surgical wound)
HINT: Your search will be more effective if you do not duplicate words.
Look at how I chose not to duplicate the word HAND in my Intervention element.
HINT: Check out the video below if you're still confused about Boolean Operators