Evidence-Based Nursing Research: Databases

There are several strategies you can use to find the best available evidence.

• Search in several different databases. Each database includes different resources. You may find relevant resources in one database that is not included in another database.
• Try a variety of different keywords or search terms. Your PICO question defines the parameters of your search but the words you use in your PICO question may not be the best search terms. You can try searching for synonyms or use a database's thesaurus to find better search terms.
• Evaluate the quality, currency, relevance, and strength of your search results. There are many tools built into the databases that you can use to refine your search.