Health: CINAHL Searching

CINAHL uses some subject headings that include acronyms at the end of the heading, such as Animal Assisted Therapy (Iowa NOC), Sensory-Perceptual Alterations (NANDA), or Risk Identification (Iowa NOC). These acronyms refer to nursing classification systems. When searching CINAHL for a topic, it is recommended that a more general subject heading be used. Only use the nursing classification subject headings if you are looking for records that specifically mention the classification.

NANDA. North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (added to CINAHL in 1989)

Iowa NIC. Nursing Interventions Classification from the Iowa Intervention Project (added to CINAHL in 1994)

Saba HHCC. Saba Home Health Care Classification (added to CINAHL in 1995)

Iowa NOC. Nursing Outcomes Classification from the Iowa Intervention Project (added to CINAHL in 1999).  Records are indexed with IOWA NOC terms only if the document states its use or inclusion.

Clinical Queries, designed for clinician use, allow users to limit searches with specific search strategies, to aid in retrieving scientifically sound and clinically relevant study reports indexed in CINAHL databases. Searches can be refined using specific search strategies designed to produce results in five research areas:

• Therapy - High Sensitivity
• Prognosis
• Review
• Qualitative
• Causation (Etiology)

As research may require different emphasis, three strategies are provided for each area.

• High Sensitivity is the broadest search, to include ALL relevant material. It may also include less relevant materials.
• High Specificity is the most targeted search to include only the most relevant result set, may miss some relevant materials.
• Best Balance retrieves the best balance between Sensitivity and Specificity.

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