1. Brainstorm keywords and synonyms
consider:
Synonyms (popular and medical/nursing terminology):
hypertension OR “high blood pressure”
“heart attack” OR “cardiac arrest”
Antonyms: example: seizure; anti-seizure
Word variations: nurse, nurses, nursing, (nurs*)
Put quotations around your terms for exact searches (examples: “patient confidentiality”, “dosage calculations”)
2.Use AND/OR/NOT between concepts
- “high blood pressure” OR hypertension (either/any)
- hypertension AND women AND treatment (all)
- diabetes NOT gestational (remove from results)
3. Use Limits to reduce results:
- limit to full text
- add more keywords or use more specific keywords
- limit search terms to the article title or subject
- limit or sort by date
