CINAHL Subject Headings: A Variety of Ways to Approach a Topic

CINAHL often has a number of related subject headings that can be used to increase your retrieval of a topic. There are terms for diseases or conditions, terms for patients with certain diseases or conditions, and terms for nursing specialties devoted to the care of patients with certain diseases or conditions. There may also be terms for symptoms in particular patient populations, therapeutic options for particular patients, educational interventions directed as particular groups, and others. It may be necessary to use several of these related terms to retrieve relevant materials.

Example of the variety of CINAHL Subject Headings available in the broad area of oncology/cancer :

• Terms for "Diseases": Neoplasms and all the narrower, more specific subject headings below it in the tree structure, such as Breast Neoplasms, Leukemia, etc.
  
• Term for "Patients": Cancer Patients
  
• Terms for "Nursing Specialties": Oncologic Nursing and the narrower term Pediatric Oncology Nursing
  
• Term for "Patient Care": Oncologic Care
  
• Terms for "Signs and Symptoms": Cancer Pain, Cancer Fatigue
  
• Term for "Therapeutics": Cancer Chemotherapy
  
• Term for "Health Facilities": Cancer Care Facilities
  

Search tips:

• If you find a few good citations on your topic, look at the "Complete Reference" to see what subject headings have been assigned. Then go back and add any relevant subject headings to your search strategy.
• Read the "Scope Note" for a term to find out when that term became a subject heading and to see other possible terms that might be available for your search.