Limits of search filter development

Authors

  • Nancy L. Wilczynski Assistant Professor and Research Manager (retired), Health Information Research Unit, CRL 125, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1
  • Cynthia Lokker Assistant Professor (part-time) and Research Associate, Health Information Research Unit, CRL 125, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1
  • Kathleen Ann McKibbon Professor, Health Information Research Unit, CRL 125, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1
  • Nicholas Hobson Computer Programmer, Health Information Research Unit, CRL 125, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1
  • R. Brian Haynes Professor, Health Information Research Unit, CRL 125, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1

Keywords:

Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy Specialty, Databases, Bibliographic, Search Engine, Terminology as Topic, Information Storage and Retrieval

Abstract

Objective: The research attempted to develop search filters for biomedical literature databases that improve retrieval of studies of clinical relevance for the nursing and rehabilitation professions.

Methods: Diagnostic testing framework compared machine-culled and practitioner-nominated search terms with a hand-tagged clinical literature database.

Results: We were unable to: (1) develop filters for nursing, likely because of the overlapping and expanding scope of practice for nurses in comparison with medical professionals, or (2) develop filters for rehabilitation, because of its broad scope and the profession’s multifaceted understanding of ‘‘health and ability.’’

Conclusions: We found limitations on search filter development for these health professions: nursing and rehabilitation.

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Published

2016-01-01

Issue

Vol. 104 No. 1 (2016): January 2016

Section

Research Communications