| Student Number | Describe_area_of_interest | PICOT_appropriate_used | Foreground_Background | Dbase_Search_Statement | Databases_used | Search_result_revision | Primary_Secondary | Was_Tutorial_Helpful | Suggestions_for_additions |
| Student #1 | Geriatrics & Depression | Not foreground; multifaceted question | Said foreground/is background | ger and dep/used Boolean | CINAHL | search yielded many results/did not revise | primary | yes, I had a good background of info but this is definitely helpful for nursing | At this point, nothing. The tutorial is very comprehensive and user-friendly. |
| Student #2 | Did not fill in | Yes, used pretty well | foreground | good | Ebscohost | Only a few sources which were available online. Nursing sources limited, more legal | primary & secondary | Not really | Citing using APA format, most papers use MLA so it is a little different. How to find nursing journals specifically. Show us where the journals are located in the library--don't just tell us. How do we know what is in all of them, there are so many. |
| Student #3 | Which nursing intervention is more effective in preventing patient falls: increasing patient education or increasing nursing staff | Yes, used PICOT effectively | foreground | did not consult nursing thesauri for terms/used natural language terms/did not separate out concepts/terms | Healthsource Nursing/Academic Edition, CINAHL, Google | I needed to revise the initial search term--patient falling to patient falls. I had a good response in Healthsource, but a better result was found in CINAHL with patient falls | primary sources (journal articles) | Very helpful--the class in library and website were both very helpful. Thanks : D | Originally, I had a background question with which I had trouble filling in PICOT. Possibly give an example with one background and one foreground question. Otherwise it's very helpful as is. |
| Student #4 | Geriatrics. Nursing intervention and the prevention of pressure ulcers. | Good try. did not include two clinical interventions | background, but could be foreground if reframed | needs to separate 'prevention' from 'pressure ulcers' | CINAHL & Medline | CINAHL: 'preventing pressure ulcers' resulted in 50 findings. Medline: 'skin integrity' resulted in 279 findings. | primary sources | Yes. | It would have been nice to have computers available right away after the tutorial, while you could still ask questions. The library computer lab is very busy so it took time to navigate at home, unable to get help. Medline 'pressure ulcers' resulted in 1761 results. I narrowed search by looking for PDF files only. |
| Student #5 | Prevention of nosocomial infection/handwashing vs. not washing hands | Partially correct; didn't understand what 'P' stands for | foreground | correct | CINAHL | nosocomial infection and handwashing-170 results | primary | Yes. | (Add module on) APA formatting |
| Student #6 | Diabetic clients with swelling of legs and feet and associated care | not correct (did not formulate a true clinical question) | background | not correct--'diabetes and swelling' | CINAHL, PubMed? | 6 articles, yes | secondary | Yes. | Know how to get full text. |
| Student #7 | Understanding antibiotic resistence and how it can be controlled to prevent infection | not correct-not a foreground question as phrased now | background | used DE field specifier in search--WOW! 'DE (Infection Control) and DE (drug resistance, microbial)' | CINAHL | 12 results--started with just 'infection control' then added 'drug resistance, microbial' from suggested CINAHL headings | secondary, all from nursing journals | Yes | Tips for how to organize the information obtained to put it into a research paper. |
| Student #8 | Infection control-preventative programs | pretty good | foreground (?) | Infection control (should have included more) | CINAHL, Ebsco | It yielded many articles & journals that were specific to a certain infection | primary | Yes. | (Add) more on the guidelines to use PICOT |
| Student #9 | Patient safety | not quite-& not a foreground question as stated | foreground | OK | CINAHL | uncontrolled(??) | secondary | Yes. | Every bit of information was more than useful |
| Student #10 | Nosocomial infections & prevention | Not really, didn't understand PICOT | left blank | OK | JSTOR, Ebsco, dbases under Nursing, health and medicine dbase list | 'It yielded many journals over the past 5 years which I then began to pick through for the best journal for my assignment' | 'I used primary source articles and a primary source book' | No, I found it difficult and did not find any journals I needed | I actually had a hard time finding journals using the Nursing, Health and Medicine link and preferred to use JSTOR. JSTOR pulled up more options for me and then I could look for articles in the medical field, such as the Learning Zone article that I found. At the bottom of the page it says Nursing Standard letting me know it is of medical content that is true. |
| Student #11 | Preventing the spread of MRSA/nosocomial infection | nice try--just stated the problem generally--not framed as a clinical question | 'foreground question' | 'MRSA/nosocomial infections' | CINAHL/used journals | Yes, to make less searches (sic) come up (needed to limit search) | primary and secondary sources | yes | Very helpful and beneficial |
| Student #12 | left blank | PICOT applied well: In older adults does nutritional assessment require different approach special (sic) for this age group, resulting in better understanding of their nutritional status | 'Background' would have to tweak to make truly foreground | pretty good; used and; gave two variants | CINAHL, Academic Search Premier | '40 articles with full linked text. Yes, I revised it to broaden the subject' | Secondary, which summarize and evaluate primary information studies | Yes, I found useful tools such as search strategies | left blank |
| Student #13 | The importance of hand hygiene compliance for health workers | Good, the info entered here indicates that question is foreground. Which technique is better for decreasing number of infections in neonatal patients, alcohol-based hand antiseptic or handwashing? | 'foreground' | Pretty good, used Boolean AND/OR well, but did not include antiseptic method | EBSCOhost?, CINAHL | left blank | primary sources | Yes. | left blank |
| Student #14 | Infection control: alchohol-based rub vs. soap and water. | Used picot well." | foreground | pretty good, but didn't consult CINAHL headings | CINAHL | '67 articles on first search; 6 articles on second' | 'secondary sources--new information on topic' | Yes. | left blank |
| Student #15 | 'Handwashing and practice of long nails' | Good, but question too complex as articulated; need to separate out handwashing variable from long nails variable. | foreground | OK, good try | CINAHL, EBSCO, Healthsource Nursing: Academic Edition | 'I had to refine my search because I was getting off-topic, things like nail care, particular diseases of the nail.' | 'Case studies I have are primary. I have secondary sources such as the CDC (gov't and legal issues).' | Yes | 'Nothing, it's just practice and getting used to how to research.' |
| Student #16 | 'How has HIPPA changed our healthcare system?' | Tried to use PICOT, but not a foreground question. | 'Background question. I am looking for general knowledge about concept. I am not comparing treatments, groups, etc.' | 'I first used just 'HIPPA'. I had very few results, so then typed 'patient privacy' and then 'patient confidentiality.' With patient confidentiality I had 5 times the articles.'" | EBSCOhost?, CINAHL | My first one only yielded 12 articles, but after revisions, I found 52 items. | 'I consider the articles that were used for this paper to be secondary sources.' | 'Yes, I would have been lost when it came time to write a paper.' | left blank |
| Student #17 | 'What are the causes of malnutrition in geriatric patients' | nice try | 'My question is a background question.' (correct) | 'Instead of 'malnutrition in the geriatric population' I used 'malnutrition geriatrics' which yielded a larger search and narrowed down the search criteria | CINAHL | 'The search yielded 1 article using search terms: malnutrition geriatrics. The second search yielded 256 articles using search terms: malnutrition.' | 'Articles used to write this paper are secondary sources.' | No. | 'I would like to see added to the tutorial better ways to yield the best articles based on the question being researched.' |
| Student #18 | 'Nosocomial infections, infections a patient acquires while admitted into a hospital' | Nice try. Could be a foreground question, but not articulated that way. | 'foreground question' | Good try (used Boolean/nesting techniques, but did not consult CINAHL headings) | CINAHL | 'I received a lot of information on nosocomial infections, although I did narrow my search down from (MRSA methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus=a type of infection) only to nosocomial infection. | 'primary' | 'I didn't use it, I did my research right after the library demonstration. | 'I didn't use the tutorial because I did my research right after the library demonstration so I had remembered what she said.' (But didn't really complete the asst. correctly) |
| Student #19 | 'I am interested in the appropriate use of physical restraints and relative patient safety' | Excellent; complex question | foreground | OK, used Boolean well, limited herself to simple searches using AND, does not appear to have consulted CINAHL headings | CINAHL | 'The later search vocabulary yielded only 6 articles! Revision was needed so I left out ethics and yielded 90 articles closer to my topic. | 'The articles are secondary sources (though they should be primary when asking a foreground question).' | Yes! | 'The PICOT section is too vague. I had difficulty formulating main concepts. I would have liked to see specific examples of PICOT instead of general questions.' |
| Student #20 | 'Geriatrics--touch, importance of in treatment' | Excellent, PICOT completed to reflect a foreground question: How does touch/non-verbal communication compare to verbal communication in aiding the patient/nurse relationship and effectiveness of treatment. | 'Foreground question because I am suggesting that one way (touch) is better then another (verbal).' | 'started with (elderly) and (touch) refined down to specifically geriatric nursing--(elderly) & (touch)', didn't consult CINAHL headings. needs to separate out geriatric from nursing | Medline: 10 items found; Healthsource Nursing Academic: 30 items; CINAHL: 23 | 'Yes--was too broad. Narrowed from 172 to 10.' | 'Both were used--primary secondary sources--journal articles' | Yes--I wouldn't have known where to start. | A brief description of what each database/resource contains so you know where the best place to look would be. |
| Student #21 | 'How to cut down on the number of patient falls.' | Pretty good, only implicitly noted comparison between two strategies for preventing falls | 'Foreground because I used PICOT and my sources are journal articles.' | '(Patient falls) and (prevention)'; used simple Boolean search; should have separated out population from problem. | CINAHL | 'I first put in patient falls prevention, but then CINAHL gave me the option to search (patient falls) and (prevention).' | 'The articles that I used for this paper are primary sources--all 3 are journal articles.' | Yes, it was very helpful. | I really liked how they help you decide how to make your questions into a database statement--that has always been the hardest part for me. I can't think of anything else to add. |
| Student #22 | 'Infection control: which patients are more at risk for nosocomial infections and why?' | Filled out appropriately, but bgd. question | 'Background' | Good. Used Boolean and nesting | Health Reference Academic, Academic Search Premier, Health Source Nursing: Academic | 'My search yielded many articles on infection control with specific risk factors and infections.' (successful) | secondary | Yes. | left blank |
| Student #23 | 'Infection control + nosocomial + hand hygiene' | Pretty good, but background question | Background | incorrect, wrote a natural language statement | 'Ebscohost' (which database) | 'A lot of hits too numerous to review. Yes. (Revised to) Nosocomial infection in relation to hand hygiene.' | 'They are secondary sources' | yes. | A pre-written paper formatted with information that was required, to use as a guide. |
| Student #24 | 'Nursing process--planning care for patients. The importance of nurses using the nursing process.' | Filled out PICOT, but is a very broad background question | Foreground question | Good job, but did not consult CINAHL headings | CINAHL | 'Nursing process views, I needed to combine most of my search terms.' | Primary sources (?) | Yes, very helpful. | 'All the information are (sic) helpful and needed good website in researching.' |
| Student #25 | 'Improving nutrition and nutritional status of geriatric patients.' | OK, but is a background question. | left blank | Pretty good, but did not consult CINAHL headings. | Ebsco (but which database?) | 'Multiple other terms worked better broadening term to simply improving patient nutrition.' | 'Secondary' (correct) | 'Yes, great way to find current articles and info.' | left blank |
| Student #26 | 'Handwashing helps prevent the spread of infection. What is the most effective method nurses can use to wash their hands?' | Nice try | Technically a foreground question, but range of techniques for washing hands not given | OK, but did not consult CINAHL headings, only gave a 'natural language' statement of main concepts | CINAHL | 'I revised my terms to infection control and DE 'handwashing''--great that student did use headings in revising search! | primary | Yes. | left blank |
| Student #27 | 'The current nursing shortage' | Good: translated a background question into a foreground question and applied PICOT well | left blank | good; used Boolean and nesting well | CINAHL | My search was successful and I was able to find sufficient material for my paper. | secondary (could be primary as well) | Somewhat (helpful) | 'APA reference material' should be added |
| Student #28 | 'Skin integrity and breakdown. Prevention of pressure ulcers.' | PICOT filled out correctly in some areas, incorrectly in others | 'foreground' (really background in nature) | Pretty good Boolean search using AND | CINAHL | '63 articles. I had originally started with a search involving wheelchair pressure ulcers, but I had to broaden my search' | The articles used were primary sources | Yes. | 'Nothing, the best way to get the hang of it was to just go on there and explore.' |
| Student #29 | 'Narcosomial infections, how they are caused, how they can be prevented and what the effect of infections are on the hospital' | Nice try, not a foreground question | Incorrect, not a foreground question, a background question--need bgd. info on this type of infection | good, used Boolean well, used different keyword terms | CINAHL | 'My first few searches yielded minimal information. After I reworded I had better luck' | 'I used two primary articles and one secondary source' | Yes. | Left blank |
| Student #30 | 'HIPPA & patient confidentiality' | Nice try, not a foreground question--but filling out this form does help them analyze and better understand their question | Correct. 'Background question.' | Incorrect, did not try to use Boolean operators, used natural language statement | CINAHL | '34 hits, no I didn't need to revise my terms.' | primary articles | 'It was alright.' | 'PICOT is kind of pointless in my opinion--maybe just another way to come up with a research question'. |
| Student #31 | 'Hand hygiene. Prevention of nosocomial infection.' | Good try, not a foreground question | Correct. 'Background' question | Good, used Boolean | 'Ebscohost, Cinahl was searched from Sept. 2001-Sept. 2006 and (?) articles were retrieved.' | 'Yes, most of the articles were from the UK. I narrowed it down to the US for comparison.' | 'Secondary-articles online.' | 'Yes, however I still need practice' | Suggestion on related topics and more help on how to pick out key points |
| Student #32 | 'Occupationally acquired HIV.' | Good try, not a foreground question | Incorrect. Asked a background question. | Good, used Boolean | CINAHL | Just answered 'No,' did not specify what search yielded. | Primary sources | 'Yes.' | 'More full text PDF files.' |
| Student #33 | 'Infection control.' | Good try, not a foreground question | Foreground question | Used Boolean | CINAHL (EBSCO) | 'Yes I needed to revise my search terms. At first I got over 1000 articles.' | 'The articles that I used were primary sources.' | 'Yes I found the tutorial very helpful.' | I thought the tutorial was fine the way it was. I am the type of student who needs to get on the computer and try it for myself. If there were a room of computers that the students could use that may be helpful. That way the students could follow along with the instructor on the computer.' |
| Student #34 | 'Infection control-handwashing and sanitizers.' | Good job, but really a background question | Foreground | Used Boolean, but forgot to include term 'infection control' | Academic Search Premier (Ebsco), Medline 1966-present | '11 articles from Academic Search Premier and 1 article from Medline. I did not need to revise my search terms.' | 'Primary sources' | 'Slightly helpful.' | The tutorial could of been better if we could of been on the computers while she was explaining because it is hard to learn without actually doing it. Having small groups at separate times also may have been helpful. If computers are not available for the tutorial a follow-up tutorial after using the computers on our own and coming up with questions also may have been helpful.' |
| Student #35 | 'MRSA.' 'Why it is important in nursing?' (MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) | Good try, is a background question | 'Background question' | Noted down keywords, but did not use Boolean | 'CINAHL, medical research' | Left blank | 'Secondary sources. But my conclusion is primary.' | 'Yes.' "put cross through | no comments" |
| Student #36 | 'Infection control generally' | good try, but not a foreground question | Foreground | Used Boolean but forgot to add 'infection control' | Google, CINAHL, Ebscohost | 'multiple articles' | Secondary | 'Yes, very helpful' | 'Online APA instructions and/or an online APA formatting tutorial course' |
| Student #37 | Infection control | Good try, but is a background question/topic | Background question | Did not use Boolean, just listed keyword/phrases | EBSCO, Academic Search Premier | 'Search yielded appropriate info that I was looking for. I did not have to revise terms' | 'They are primary sources mostly medical journals except one.' | 'Yes.' | 'I don't know.' |
| Student #38 | 'Patient safety-current interventions' | Good try, but is a background question | 'A background question' | pretty good, didn't use Boolean, indicated which limiters used | CINAHL | 'Yes, when I put 'in hospital' nothing showed up, so I just searched without it.' | 'Secondary sources because they were not first-hand experience sources' | 'Yes.' | 'I thought the tutorial was great and very helpful, I would add more nursing databases, although CINAHL is very useful.' |
| Student #39 | 'What are the nurse's roles and responsibilities in the prevention of infection.' | Nice work, but it's a background topic. | Background: It asks for general knowledge of each clinical concept. | 'Standard practice for infection control' 'infection control'--did not use Boolean | CINAHL | '3 nursing journals and a list of guidelines for infection control by the CDC.' | 'Secondary: The articles draw conclusions on or present our current state of knowledge in a subject.' | 'Yes--helped me understand CINAHL.' | 'Everything I need is on it.' |
| Student #40 | 'Infection control--nosocomial infection' | Good try, but it is a background question | 'Foreground question' | 'Good brainstorming for keywords, but did not use Boolean correctly.' | CINAHL, PubMed? | 'I yielded between 33-1957 articles. I just searched different terms.' (JI need to add section on manageable results set | 'Secondary sources online' | 'Yes, it is helpful. My formats more organized.' | 'I found the explanation of the process but more examples would be helpful if you haven't used the PICOT before.' |
| Student #41 | 'Infection control among hospitalized patients' | Good try, but a background question' | 'Background question' | Good try, but did not use Boolean/not ready to put in dbase | CINAHL | 'Standard principles for preventing and controlling infection. I did my search once no need to revise my search terms.' | Secondary source | 'Yes.' | 'I think the resources there are useful and helpful.' |
| Student #42 | 'Infection control and hand hygiene.' | Good try, but a background question | 'Foreground' | Very good--'Infection control and hand hygiene, 2001-2006 articles only, full online articles only' | CINAHL | '20 articles, they yield information about hand hygiene, compliance, products, limiting factors, & results on non-compliance.' | 'Primary' | 'Yes, it helped organize my topics.' | 'The tutorial could probably have an interactive PICOT port added to it. So you get an idea of your own work.' |
| Student #43 | 'Patient safety. Health care associated infections.' | Good try, but a bgd question | 'Foreground' | Good brainstorming, but no use of Boolean. 'Handwashing, hygiene, healthcare patient safety' | 'Western University website 'Library database search' | 'My search yielded many articles by typing in just hygiene. However I narrowed my search to a more specific topic.' | 'A few were secondary sources while the other two were primary sources. | 'The tutorial was extremely helpful.' | 'It would be nice to have a well explained APA format just for nursing students.' |
| Student #44 | 'I'm interested in infection control and finding new ways of prevention and convenience.' | Used PICOT well, transformed the bgd. question above into a true foreground question (see form) | left blank | OK--terms: 'infection control''handwashing' Did not use Boolean, did not note alternative terms. | CINAHL | 'My search yielded many journal articles about different ways and standards to infection control. I had to click on 'link to full article' and revised my term of 'infection control' to 'hand washing'. This led to more specific articles about handwashing and alcohol gels.' | 'Some are primary and some are secondary. The primary ones were studies conducted on their own about the effectiveness of hand gels, while the others were educational articles and summaries on the topic.' | 'Yes.' | 'None that I could think of now.' |
| Student #45 | 'Handwashing and nosocomial infections' | Good try but not a foregrnd question | Foreground | Did not use Boolean, used a natural language statement | CINAHL, EBSCO, PubMed? | 'Had to revise to search 'preventing nosocomial infections' | 'Primary' | 'Yes.' | 'More accessibility to medical journals.' |
| Student #46 | 'Handwashing as a tool for infection control.' | Nice try, but did really have a clinical question to work with | 'foreground' | left blank | Ebscohost-CINAHL | 'About 1529 results. Yes, because I searched using hand hygiene so I limited my search using the keyword handwashing then I had 458 results.' | 'Secondary resources' | 'Very helpful' | left blank |
| Student #47 | 'Are recalls of pacemakers and cardioverter-defibrillators of concern? | Good try, but not a foreground question | Left blank | VERY good-used Boolean AND and nesting! | CINAHL, PubMed? | Did not answer the question... | 'Primary sources' | 'Didn't use it'--!! | Left blank |
| Student #48 | 'Infection control, handwashing, technologies' | Not foreground question | 'Foreground' | OK--'handwashing or infection control' | CINAHL (EBSCOhost?) | 'Too many articles (345)--I did scroll through many pages when I tried to revise or narrow my search terms--sometimes I got nothing' (good, recognized that 345 too lg. a number | 'I used both primary (2) papers (sources), 3 secondary sources and 1 textbook' | 'Yes and No--yes it was helpful to hear-but very foreign and I felt lost when terminology was used I didn't know.' | 'It would be a lot easier if we had a 'fake' paper to review with margins, articles references, citations, title page, etc. It was very hard for me to follow APA book-But I think if I had a clear 'fake' to look at, it would have made this process less stressful. If we are supposed to be 'learning' how to do this, a model would have taken out a lot of confusion.' |
| Student #49 | 'Geriatrics. Nutrition in the elderly population. | Good try, but a background question | Left blank | Good, used Boolean, wrote several search statements | CINAHL, Library, Science Direct | Did not give enough info--'Articles. Yes.' | 'All the articles are secondary sources.' | 'Yes.' | 'I cannot think of anything at this point.' |
| Student #50 | 'The nursing shortage: How severe is the nursing shortage, how does it impact the health care system, and what can be done to battle it?' | Good try, but not really a foreground question | She noted that question is both foreground and background (really just bgd) | Good job--used Boolean, developed several search statements | CINAHL & PubMed? | 'The search yielded 169 related articles. The search terms did not need to be revised.' | '...a combination of primary & secondary sources.' | 'The tutorial was helpful.' | 'More guidance on how to determine if the library possesses a particular journal found on a search database.' |
| Student #51 | 'I am interested in geriatric patients and their mental state, especially depression.' | Good work, except not a foreground question. | 'Background question' (correct) | Good--used Boolean | CINAHL | 'My search yielded 18 full text articles dated from 2001-2006. I did not need to revise the search field.' | 'Most of the articles were secondary sources.' | 'I was already familiar with the Boolean search and using the database.' | Left blank |
| Student #52 | Preventing infections in hospital patients | Good try, but a bgd question | Left blank | Good, used Boolean | CINAHL | 'My search provided me with many articles and journal entries from nursing sources.' | Good--'Secondary, the articles were overviews of a broad and current subject' | Yes. | 'Nothing, it was very helpful and well organized.' |
| Student #53 | 'Infection control' | Good job--turned bgd question into a foreground question | Foreground | Didn't note several search terms/phrases, didn't use Boolean | CINAHL, Ebscohost | 'Infection control yielded many articles from nursing journals regarding nosocomial infections and good ways of infection control. I did not need to revise my search terms. | 'Primary' | 'Yes' | 'Nothing, I think the tutorial is very well developed and helpful.' |
| Student #54 | Nursing, HIPAA & confidentiality | Nice try but is bgd question | 'Foreground' | Just listed a few keywords, didn't use Boolean | CINAHL, PubMed? | 'Breaking confidentiality was changed to confidentiality' | 'Primary source it was author original work' | 'Yes, I never understood databases' | 'Each important database instructions, for PubMed? you had to put full text [sh]? in front. It took me forever to figure it out.' |
| Student #55 | 'Infection control--Handwashing' | Very good, transformed bgd question into foreground question and completed PICOT correctly. | 'Foreground' | Very good--'Regular soap and hand hygiene''Antibacterial soap and hand hygiene' | CINAHL, CDC website | 'Search yielding some articles on CINAHL; much more on CDC site. Revised terms a few times.' | 'Both' | 'Yes.' | 'It was good all around' |
| Student #56 | 'How can nurses use preventative methods in controlling healthcare acquired infection?' | Good try, but a bgd question | 'Background question | Very good, noted several search strings, two using Boolean | CINAHL, Ebsco, Journal title locator | 'My searches yielded informative journals used for this paper. No, I found articles without revising.' | 'Primary journal articles' | 'Yes, tutorial helped searching terms much easier.' | 'Find out exactly how accurate information is. I found tutorial an excellent tool for learning professional skills.' |
| Student #57 | 'Problems with the current US healthcare system.' | Good try but a bgd question. | 'Foreground question' | tough to do, because topic so general. Did not try to use Boolean. | CINAHL, Google (!!!) | 'I yielded more than enough information, so I did not need to revise my search terms.' | 'Primary' | 'Somewhat--if we had spent more time talking, it would have been better.' | Left blank |
| Student #58 | 'Infection control in health care settings' | Very good, transformed bgd question into foreground question involving handwashing strategies to prevent infection. | 'Foreground' | 'Hand care-hygiene, handwashing'--did not try to use Boolean, did not use keywords to reflect foreground question | Health Source Nursing: Nursing/Academic Edition | 'Topics on handwashing, hygiene, infection control...No, search terms were good.' | 'Primary sources' | 'Yes.' | Left blank |
| Student #59 | 'Medication errors and patient safety | Good--started out with bgd question but PICOT details indicate could be turned into foreground question | 'Background' | Used Boolean, but did not brainstorm additional keywords | CINAHL | 'N/A came up with 40' | 'Secondary' | 'Yes.' | 'Not sure yet at this time' |
| Student #60 | 'I am interested in nosocomial infections and the impact on cost and rate of increase.' | Good try, but a bgd question | 'Background question' | Brainstormed keyphrases, but did not use Boolean | CINAHL, PubMed? | 'My search yielded 47 articles through CINAHL under nosocomial infections. My search was revised under PubMed?.' (Good, manageable search results) | 'The articles used to write the paper were secondary sources.' | 'Yes.' | 'I felt that the tutorial is very easy to access and not much improvement can be made.' |
| Student #61 | 'Infection control with an emphasis on antibiotic resistance.' | Good--moving from bgd to foreground based on completion of PICOT form fill in | 'Background question' | Very good: 'Infection and control, linked full text, publication year 2001-06, abstract available. USA journal subset (these were specifications I used)' | CINAHL | 'My search yielded 165 publications. I did not revise my search terms.' | 'Primary sources' | 'Yes.' | 'Nothing at this time. I thought it was very effective in helping me to organize my writing skills.' |