Go to CINAHL Plus and click on the link for CINAHL Subject Headings at the top of the page. CINAHL Subject Headings is the controlled vocabulary for CINAHL and can be searched like MeSH. Paste the MeSH terms from your PubMed search into CINAHL Subject Headings (minus the quotation marks and field tags) to find the CINAHL Subject Headings equivalents.
Click on the lefthand check box to include the term in your search. If available, click the checkbox in the "Explode (+)" column to include the more narrow terms under the Subject Heading term. Then click "Search Database".
An example of a formatted CINAHL Subject Heading term is (MH "Nurse+"). Check all synonyms you have listed for any unique CINAHL Subject Headings entries.
Use the keywords from your PubMed search (plus any additional keywords found in Embase) as keywords for your CINAHL search. Format the keywords in your CINAHL search by removing any brackets after the keywords. Then copy/paste your keyword string into a search bar, and use the righthand dropdown menu to change the selection from "Select a Field (optional)" to "TI Title". Copy/paste your keyword string into the second search bar and use the righthand dropdown menu to change the selection from "Select a Field (optional)" to "AB Abstract".
Use the lefthand dropdown menu on the second line to change from "AND" to "OR".
Use an asterisk (*) for truncation.
Note: CINAHL allows truncation within quoted phrases (e.g. TI "screen*").
Use the same arrangement of Boolean operators that you used in PubMed and Embase to combine your terms and concepts in CINAHL.
Next to the "Advanced Search" link, click on the "Search History" link. Combine your CINAHL Subject Heading search with the keyword search for each concept using the "Search with OR" option. Once you have combined all your concepts individually, combine your searches using the "Search with AND" option.
If you used any additional synonyms in your Embase search, make sure to add those to your PubMed search. Remember, each of your searches should look similar - having the same keywords and just different syntax and controlled vocabulary.
For instance, if your PubMed search was:
"Sepsis"[Mesh] OR sepsis[tiab] OR "septic shock"[tiab] OR "pyemia"[tiab] OR "Septicemia"[tiab] OR "septic disease"[tiab]
and your Embase search was
'sepsis'/exp OR 'sepsis':ti,ab,kw OR 'septic shock':ti,ab,kw OR 'pyemia':ti,ab,kw OR 'septicemia':ti,ab,kw OR 'septic disease':ti,ab,kw
but your CINAHL search was
(MH "Sepsis+") OR TI ( "sepsis" OR "septic shock" OR "pyemia" OR "septicemia" OR "septic disease" OR "Blood poisoning" ) OR AB ( "sepsis" OR "septic shock" OR "pyemia" OR "septicemia" OR "septic disease" OR "Blood poisoning" )
make sure to put "blood poisoning"[tiab] into your PubMed search strategy and 'blood poisoning':ti,ab,kw into your Embase search strategy.
Keep records of the following in your Search Strategy Template document :
