Research Guides: Nursing: Home

Presentation Handouts - Changes Throughout the Semester

Useful Documents

The Clinical Inquiry Process Diagram (2023) The Clinical Inquiry Process Diagram (version 4) is an updated version of the previous iteration (version 3) created in 2020. It offers a more detailed depiction of the steps involved in research, performance improvement, and evidence-based practice, with new callouts on ethical reviews, feasibility, research data, and changes in verbiage. It is important to note that the clinical inquiry process is not a linear, sequential process. Rather, individuals may find themselves working on different parts of the process simultaneously or even revisiting previous steps as they move forward. This can be influenced by various factors, such as evolving evidence, organizational changes, and team dynamics to name a few.
The Clinical Inquiry Question Development Checklist (2023) The Clinical Inquiry Question Development Checklist is a handout used in instructional sessions with nurses about the clinical inquiry process. This process includes evidence-based practice, performance improvement, and research. The revised handout closely aligns with the 4th version of the Clinical Inquiry Process Diagram and contains information related to the performance improvement process and various other aspects of the clinical inquiry process.
Doing a Good Search : Basic Rules and Search Tips (2023) This handout is an update of a previous handout and should be used as a reference for those learning how to search databases effectively. The handout covers the basic rules of doing a good search in order to search more efficiently and effectively. The revised handout includes information related to Boolean operators, types of questions, and a list of potential databases to be searched for various clinical questions.
Things to Consider When it Comes to Publishing Handout that discusses what to consider when it comes to publishing.
Finding Clinical Practice Guidelines Guidelines (2018) Handout that explains the various places one can go to find guidelines now that the National Guidelines Clearinghouse has been shutdown.
Zotero Tip Sheet
Tips for Writing an Abstract
Abstract Writing Checklist
Poster Development Tips
Search Documentation Sheet for Reviews (2021) - Make a Copy or Download to Use Spreadsheet to track terms, databases and search strategies used for systematic reviews or other in-depth reviews.
Scholars Compass Submission Information Sheet Be sure to download and submit with poster or other work product.

Mobile Applications

Visual DX App and Personal Account Instructions Instructions on how to register for a personal account as well as how to download and access the program through the app.
Up to Date (Itunes)
Up to Date (Android)
Up to Date Remote Access Instructions
Skyscape Medical Library (Itunes)
Skyscape Medical Library (Android)

Nursing Organizations

Link to nursing organizations where white papers and practice guidelines or guidance may be found.

ANCC: Accredited Organizations List
This list compiled by the American Nurses Credentialing Center provides links to accredited nursing organizations.

Nursing Liaison

Roy Brown

Email Me

Contact:

804-828-1592

Subjects: Nursing

Other Useful Research Guides

Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses
by John Cyrus Last Updated Aug 22, 2023 136 views this year

Nursing Evidence Based Practice Resources Research Guide Guide that provides resources that will be useful when conducting a search for evidence for evidence-based practice.
History of Nursing Research Guide This guide provides resources when doing research pertaining to the history of nursing.
Systematic Review Research Guide This guide is intended to provide resource to assist with understanding what is expected when doing a systematic review, as well as resources to do the comprehensive searches that are required.
Test, Surveys and Measures Research Guide This guide is intended to assist in finding various tests, surveys and measurement tools.
Data and Statistics Research Guide This guide is intended to help you access resources to find statistics or data sets that may be needed for projects or research.

Literature Databases & Information Resources

Databases

Health Sciences Related Databases:

PubMed/MEDLINE The primary database of information in the biomedical and health sciences fields.
Ovid MEDLINE Interface for searching MEDLINE that offers enhanced features for more powerful and precise search strategies. ADJ - searches for words adjacent to each other and only separated by a single space [Example: blood pressure or blood ADJ pressure] ADJn - searches for terms that are a specified number (n) spaces away from each other [Example: physician adj5 relationship]
CINAHL Comprehensive nursing & allied health research database, providing full text for more than 1,300 journals indexed in CINAHL. This authoritative file contains full text for many of the most used journals in the CINAHL index. Full-text coverage dating back to 1937.
Embase (via Ovid) Biomedicine and pharmacology citation database (1974 - present) with an international scope. Recommended for use in systematic reviews, and for finding drug and medical device information Able to do complex searches. ADJ - searches for words adjacent to each other and only separated by a single space [Example: blood pressure or blood ADJ pressure] ADJn - searches for terms that are a specified number (n) spaces away from each other [Example: physician adj5 relationship]
Psychiatry Online - (Contains DSM-5) PsychiatryOnline is a portal with entry points into a variety of resources from the American Psychiatry Association. Among them are the DSM-5; DSM-IV-TR; DSM-IV-TR Handbook of Differential Diagnosis; and Cases from DSM-IV-TR Casebook and its Treatment Companion.
PsycINFO PsycINFO has scholarly psychology material including empirical research and peer reviewed journal articles and covers psychological aspects of education.
Cochrane Library Database of systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare. Includes Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, Controlled Trials Register, and Review Methodology.
Web of Science Citation databases including Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index, and Social Sciences Citation Index for searches by cited reference, topic, and author.
ECRI Guidelines Trust™ This resource provides access to clinical practice guideline briefs and scorecards that provide ratings as to how the guidelines meet the Institute of Medicine (IOM) standards for trustworthiness. The ECRI is the organization that assisted the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) in maintaining the National Guidelines Clearinghouse before it was shut down.
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection Indexing, abstracts, and full text providing comprehensive coverage of topics related to emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry and psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods.
AMED - Allied and Complementary Medicine Citations and abstracts to journal articles in complementary medicine, palliative care, occupational therapy, rehabilitation and other professions allied to medicine. (1985 - present)
Biological Sciences Abstracts of a wide variety of research in biomedicine, biotechnology, zoology, and ecology, and some aspects of agriculture and veterinary science. (1982 - present)
Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library (VHINL) Database This database includes the Registry of Nursing Research sponsored by Sigma Theta Tau International, the International Honor Society of Nursing
TRIP (Turning Research into Practice) Medical Database The TRIP Database performs a simple search in more than 60 databases related to evidence-based resources, allowing rapid identification of the highest quality clinical evidence for clinical practice. You can easily restrict your search to a given level of evidence in the hierarchy.
Access Pharmacy AccessPharmacy gives pharmacy students instant access to videos, games, Q&A, and leading pharmacy textbooks that will establish an important foundation for learning, and allows practicing pharmacists to get information instantly about drugs, herbs and supplements, and consult features and editorials concerning the vast array of current pharmacy publications.
Access Medicine ( limit 5 users at a time)

Point of Care Tools:

Visual DX VisualDx is a clinical decision support system that allows validation of a medical diagnosis based on visual conditions. It contains over 25,000 medical images detailing variation in age, stage, and skin type. Provided by the VCU Health System.

Creating a VisualDx Personal Account
A personal account is needed in order to access the resource through the app.

ePSS (Electronic Preventive Services Selector) The ePSS is an application designed to help primary care clinicians identify clinical preventive services that are appropriate for their patients. Use the tool to search and browse U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations on the web or on your PDA or mobile device.
STAT!Ref ; Electronic Medical Library (Limit of 5 users at a time) Full-text cross-searchable reference books for the health professional. Includes AHFS Drug Information® and DrugPoints® System. Only 5 users at a time of each STAT!Ref resource.
Natural Medicines [formerly Natural Standard] (complementary and alternative medicine) Evidence-based, peer-reviewed information on complementary and alternative medicine treatments. Includes podcasts on a variety of related topics.
Drug Shortages
Includes over 300 shortage bulletins on drugs, biologics, devices, and specific dose forms, as well as recommendations for alternative therapies.
Up To Date Clinical information tool providing reviewed clinical reference material. Includes pharmaceutical information, patient handouts, graphics. Available on- and off-campus. Provided by the VCU Health System.

Up to Date Remote Access Directions This document provides the directions needed to access Up to Date off campus.

Business, Education and Other Discipline Databases:

ABI Inform Complete (Business) Abstracts, full-text journals and periodicals on business, finance, and management topics. Includes all content in ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Dateline, and ABI/INFORM Trade and Industry. Includes full-text access to The Wall Street Journal.
Business Source Complete Bibliographic and full-text content from scholarly business journals and other sources including peer-reviewed business publications. Indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886.
Education Research Complete Comprehensive database of core education journals. A necessary complement to ERIC, especially for newer articles.
ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) Premier database for education research. Includes journal articles, conference papers, reports, curriculum materials, and more.
SocINDEX (Sociology) Criminology, demography, ethnic, racial, gender studies, marriage and family, social psychology, substance abuse, addictions, violence,
Sociological Abstracts Sociology and related fields including social psychology. Covers crime, culture, ethnic relations, gender, health and medicine, marriage and family, religion, sports, sociological theory, history of sociology.
Social Work Abstracts Indexing and abstracts for journals dealing with all aspects of the social work field, including theory and practice, areas of service, and social issues and problems. Produced by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).
Social Work Reference Center Provides evidence-based information and current best practices. Includes clinical assessment tools, practice guidelines, drug information, continuing education modules, and patient education information.
Academic Search Complete Comprehensive scholarly multi-disciplinary full-text database. Includes over 5,500 full-text periodicals and indexing/abstracting for over 9,500 journals. Covers science, social sciences, mathematics, engineering, and many other subjects. (1887 - present)
Dissertations and Theses Full Text (Proquest) Coverage: (1637 - present) Full text for most dissertations from 1997 to the present. Includes full text for some earlier dissertations, along with over 2.4 million dissertations and theses citations from around the world.
VCU Scholars Compass (Institutional Repository) Its goal is to provide wide and stable access to the exemplary work of VCU’s faculty, researchers, students, and staff.

Other Useful Tools and Resources

Covidence [Systematic/Scoping Review Tool] (Pilot access provided until Dec 2025) Covidence is a collaborative tool that streamlines systematic review workflows for screening, data extraction, and quality assessment. See instructions for requesting an account. Requesting an Account - https://guides.library.vcu.edu/covidence
Sage Research Methods SAGE Research Methods is the ultimate methods library with more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences, including the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher. The site is designed to guide users to the content they need to learn a little or a lot about their method. The Methods Map can help those less familiar with research methods to find the best technique to use in their research. Built upon SAGE’s legacy of methods publishing, SAGE Research Methods is the essential online tool for researchers.
JAMAevidence Evidence-based medicine resource that includes Users' Guides to the Medical Literature, The Rational Clinical Examination, JAMA Guide to Statistics and Methods, and Care at the Close of Life. Also includes critical appraisal guides and calculators.
Anatomy TV Interactive 3D models of human anatomy. This database works most effectively with Internet Explorer.
Simply Analytics Web-based mapping application that lets users create interactive maps, charts, and reports using demographic, business, and marketing data.
JCR (Journal Citation Reports) on InCites - Place to Find Impact Factor for Journals Provides citation data and impact factors on thousands of journals.
MedlinePlus MedlinePlus is the National Library of Medicine's web site for consumer health information. The site offers authoritative, up-to-date health information.
Google Scholar Scholarly literature crawled by Google.
MeSH on Demand Tool identifies MeSH Terms in your text using the NLM Medical Text Indexer (MTI) program. After processing, MeSH on Demand returns a list of MeSH Terms relevant to your text.
Yale MeSH Analyzer Tool to identify potential new search terms or phrases from a set of relevant known articles. Video Tutorial: http://library.medicine.yale.edu/tutorials/1559
PubMed - PubReminer