Library Tips for NURS 304

I. Find Overviews on Infectious Diseases

Use an Electronic or Print Infectious Diseases Textbook

Medical textbooks will provide a basic overview of disease states typically including the history of the disease, the etiologic organism involved, incidence and prevalence, modes of transmission, clinical signs and symptoms, diagnostic criteria, therapies, prognosis, and preventive measures.

Although information in credible textbooks represents accumulated knowledge on a topic, it is not based strictly on evidence-based information. It can include expert opinion and unproven yet accepted common lore.

Print Infectious Diseases textbooks at the UW.

Electronic Infectious Diseases textbooks at the UW.

II. Find Journal Articles on Infectious Diseases

To watch the instructional video clips (), the Flash player is required.

PubMed

Use the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) Database (Watch Video)

MeSH terms are the official terms used to represent a concept. For example, the MeSH term " Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis " represents other similar terms used by authors such as 'hay fever' or 'pollen allergies' and 'Pollinosis'.

Click on the Subject Heading in the MeSH database to view subheadings associated with the term. Select the desired subheadings such as diagnosis, drug therapy, immunology, physiopathology, transmision, etc.

Click on the Restrict Search to Major Topic headings only box in order to limit the results to articles in which your topic is a major topic of the article.

To send this search from MeSH to PubMed, select Send to Search Box with AND, then click PubMed Search.

Narrow the Results Using Limits (Watch Video)

Click on the Limits tab above the Search Results to select your limits such as Human and English. Select the Type of Article Review to limit results to articles that give general reviews of the current literature at the time.

CINAHL Plus: Nursing and Allied Health

Use CINAHL Headings

CINAHL Headings use some of the same terms as MeSH and also have special subject heading terms for Nursing and Allied Health.

Browse the CINAHL Headings to find your topic. Click on the Subject Heading term to view subheadings associated with the term. Select the desired subheadings.

Click the On Search: Major Concept box, to limit results to documents in which your topic is a major topic of the article.

Limit to Publication Type

Select options from the Refine Search such as Review (Publication Type), English (Language).

III. Locate Full Text Copies of Journal Articles

Click on the purple icons within PubMed (and eventually CINAHL Plus) to determine if the UW subscribes to the journal electronically or in print (Watch PubMed Video)
double check HealthLinks: eJournals for electronic journals
double check UW Libraries Catalog for print journals

IV. Create Citations in APA Style

Follow these examples of APA formatted citations to create your own.

APA Style Guide

Library Liaisons to the UW School of Nursing

Janet Schnall, MS, AHIP
schnall@u.washington.edu
Joanne Rich, MLIS, BS(Pharm)
jrich@u.washington.edu
Amy Harper, MLS
alharper@u.washington.edu