PICOT & Databases

Many of the same skills and tricks used for non-PICOT question searches apply when using PICOT. 

• Use the advanced search. This allows you to apply filters to your search and/or breaks you search query into parts. 
• Do not limit yourself to full text articles. Time permitting, you can request articles that the university does not have access to through the Interlibrary Loan service.
• Take a look at the subject terms in the articles you find; some of them may be useful to include in your own search to expand your results.
• Be sure to use quotations for any key terms that are two or more words.

Choose a database below for more specific help:  

• The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making.
• CINAHL contains full text coverage from 1937 to present on nursing, biomedicine, consumer health, and more.
• OVID contains over 50 full-text nursing journals from Lippincott Williams & Wilkins plus 2 comprehensive bibliographic databases (Ovid EMCARE and Ovid Nursing Proprietary Bibliographic Dataset).
• PubMed Central is a free, online archive of biomedical life science journals provided by the National Institute of Health.