Searching in health databases requires pre-planning to get the best results.
Unlike a Google search which instantly knows to bring back webpages containing your key terms, or any variation of them - you need to do most of the thinking for health databases!
To get the results we want, our first step is to put our research topic into a format the database can understand. We need to come up with a searchable question, made up of the most important components of our scenario.
Example scenario:
A patient with gestational diabetes (GDM) has been recommended glucose-lowering drugs, but wants to know if diet supplements could be just as effective.
Mnemonics are useful tools often used to identify the most important parts of a scenario. There are many different mnemonics available to suit the different types of clinical questions you may be asking. The most common one used at UTS for intervention questions is PICO.
PICO stands for:
e.g. Is (I) hand washing or (C) hand sanitiser more effective in preventing the (O) spread of colds among (P) children?
PICO(T) is a version of PICO with one extra element:
e.g. What is the effect of (I) nicotine patches compared to (C) self-help groups on (O) smoking cessation in the (T) first year of quitting?
Another useful mnemonic is PS which is useful for breaking down qualitative questions. PS stands for:
e.g. What are the experiences of (P) nurses in (S) caring for patients with dementia?
A mnemonic is there as a guide for you. You don't need to use all of the letters in your search; you can adapt the mnemonic to suit your purposes.
For example, if time is an essential part of your question, you can add a T at the end, like in PICO(T). To see different PICO breakdowns in action, check this PICO guide by Sydney Uni.
To see examples of different mnemonics, check out this Evidence-Based Practice site. or this Systematic Review Guide.