1
Search Strategies
Seven databases served as the source of research citations and abstracts of the published scientific literature directly applicable to military nursing, as shown in Table 1-1. Each database served as a unique source of relevant information, with distinct and discrete emphasis for the study. For the databases MedLINE, Current Information in Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Health Services/Technology Assessment Research (H-STAR), PsycInfo, and National Technical Information Service (NTIS), the following search strategy was used:
Descriptor [nursing] and any of the following terms, anywhere in the record:
[aerospace or air evacuation or air force or armed forces or army or champus or combat or deployment or depmed or desert shield or desert storm or echelons of care or field hospital or field nursing or flight or gulf war or medevac or military or military dependent or national guard or naval-medicine or navy or post-traumatic or readiness or recruit or reserves or retiree or service member or telemedicine or transport or tricare or Vietnam]
The search strategy for Technical Reports in the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Defense Research On-line System (DROLS) and Dissertation Abstracts used the descriptor term [nursing] and the free text term [military] only.
TABLE 1-1 Databases Searched for Published Research Relevant to Military Nursing
Database |
Years Searched |
MedLINE |
1966–1995 |
Current Information in Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) |
1983–1995 |
Health Services/Technology Assessment Research (H-STAR) |
1975–1995 |
PsycInfo |
1967–1995 |
National Technical Information Service (NTIS) |
1964–1995 |
Technical Reports (TR) in Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Defense Research On-line System (DROLS) |
1985–1995 |
Dissertation Abstracts |
1977–1995 |
These search strategies intentionally limited the search to articles that deal with nursing care of military populations or other nursing topics with a military focus or otherwise highly relevant to the military. Information covered in the search of published works was, in many cases, different from areas of research funded by the TriService Nursing Research Program. The committee recognizes that if some of the funded studies had already resulted in publications, several might not have been uncovered using the specified search strategies, especially those that did not use military study populations. Some references relating to military nursing, but not found using the specified search strategy, are cited in Chapter 1 of the accompanying report, Program for Research in Military Nursing: Progress and Future Direction (IOM, 1996).
In addition to the above sources of research articles, each of the three military services has theses and dissertations on file at selected repositories. For instance, there are 192 Navy Nurse Corps theses and dissertations on file at the Stitt Medical Library in Bethesda, Maryland (see Chapter 4). The Air Force's Air University Library at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, has approximately 100 theses covering nursing research conducted by members of the Air Force. Although the Army does not require a formal filing of dissertations, there are scores of dissertations on file at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center library in Washington, D.C., as well.
The published literature contains many non-research articles relating to the history of military nursing, anecdotal reports of challenging aspects of nursing care, and articles that address recruitment and job satisfaction. The titles, abstracts, and articles themselves may stimulate identification of potentially fruitful areas for military nursing research. To this end, selected titles are included in this bibliography, by type of article.