Literature Search

Identify a clinical issue of your choice (what interests you)

e.g., taking temperatures in children

Identify the problem (problem statement)

e.g., there are multiple devices for measuring temperatures in children; hence, selecting the most accurate device can be a challenge

Create a question for study

e.g., in children aged 2- to 5-years, how do temperature measurements with a digital thermometer device compared to the Tempadot or glass thermometer devices affect the accuracy of the temperature measurement?

Select key search terms

e.g., temperature measurement, temperature device, digital thermometer, glass thermometer, Tempadot.  Boolean operators used were AND and OR. 

Identify at least three search engines

e.g., CINAHL, PubMed, Cocharane

Total number of publications initially retrieved

e.g., 10,456

Refine the search with inclusion/exclusion criteria

Inclusion: Children aged 2- to 5-years, publications in the last five years, published in English

Exclusion: Children under 2-years or older than 5-years of age, publications older than five years, not published in English

New total number of publications retrieved after refining the search

e.g., 267

Number of publications ultimately selected for the review

e.g., 12

Literature Appraisal

Appraise ONE publication from the publications selected for the lit review