Developing Good Search Techniques

PICOT Question: In black adult patients with DM2 and uncontrolled HbA1C does using the HER alerts compared to not using the HER alerts affect HbA1c within 12 months

The initial step that I have taken is to search for the match of the complete PICOT question. I have decided to make this search since I will manage to get direct journals which relates with the topic. Additionally, it is not a wonder to find that the same question could have been included as a discussion question in one of the various journals that have been provided. This can be advantageous since I may end up getting the responses of the question without struggling too much in terms of searching for the necessary articles.

After reviewing the article titles and a few of the abstracts, my search terms yielded potentially useful research articles. This is due to the fact that most of the had details which entails the investigation of the levels of plasma HbA1c, levels of serum sex hormones in men and women and serum insulin resistance especially among patients who have been diagnosed with type diabetes mellitus.

I also used Boolean operators in order to enhance my search. Some of the Boolean operators that I used are not limited to AND & NOT. The use of these operators helped in yielding more focused and productive results, and this saved me effort and time in the searching process, especially by eliminating inappropriate hits that needs to be scanned before being discarded. I used the Boolean operator ‘AND’ to search for the relationship between type II diabetes Mellitus and the uncontrolled HbA1c. In addition to this, I have also search for MeSH terms such as DM2, EHR, and HbA1c in order to gain deeper contemplation of what these terms mean. This enabled me to understand the PICOT question in a better way, to such an extent that it was easier for me to decode the research articles which perfectly relates to the phenomenon under study. Moreover, the use of both the Boolean operators and MeSH terms increases the number of articles retrieved. The method that I used in order to track my search in in two folds. First, the medline database has been designed in such a way that it keeps a history of various items that have been search in a day, and this allowed me to easily return to my previous search. Secondly, in order to get the abstract of various research articles that I perceive to be important in terms of having information relating to what I have searched, I have been opening them in a new tab. The manner in which the Medline database is designed is very helpful especially when it comes to searching for the relevant research articles. One does not have to keep on typing for something that he or she had previously searched, since the database keeps history of searches made. One of the alternative methods that I may consider to use to avoid retracing my steps is having a link to the Medline database. This is due to the fact that it was challenging for me to first track this database in order to continue with my search of articles relating to the PICOT question. Another database that I may consider using is the use of a Google scholar, and this is due to the fact that this database has a combination of various resources including books and research articles.

References

Al-Fartosy and Muhammed, (2017). Study the Biochemical Correlation of Insulin Resistance with HbA1c and Sex Hormones in NIDDM Patients/Meisan-Iraq. Journal of Diabetes Mellitus Vol.7 No.4. DOI: 10.4236/jdm.2017.74025

Rhee, M. K., Ziemer, D.C., Kolm C., & Philips, L. S., (2008). Use of a Uniform Treatment Algorithm abolishes racial disparities in Glycemic control. The Diabetes Educator, 34, 655-663.

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