The focus on material from and relevant to Britain is a helpful way to focus a search and make it more relevant to UK nursing and midwifery practice. It can help to search here if the results from somewhere such as LibrarySearch are overwhelming.

Although the database focuses on nursing and midwifery, it can also be useful for students of other related subjects and professions. These include operating department practice, paramedic science and (for some topics) public health.

British Nursing Index provides functions to make your search more effective. For example, you can limit your results by date, location or language. If you find a very large number of results, you can also limit by the type of article or even the organisations mentioned within it.

It is an “indexing” database – this means that it does not include the full articles, but is intended as a way to help students, researchers and professionals identify relevant information. It does, however, include links to help you access any articles which the university has access to. 

• 1. Go to LibrarySearch 
     
     
  2. Log in using your CCCU username and password. If you are away from campus, or connecting with your own device over Wi-Fi, you will need to include @canterbury.ac.uk after your CCCU username.
     
     
  3. Select Find Databases A-Z, then click on B, finally click on the link to British Nursing Index to open it in a new tab.

The Basic Search screen allows you to enter words relating to the topic you are interested in. It is a good idea to make sure you are fairly specific in your search – for example, a search for hydration finds over 5,000 articles, whereas a search for oral hydration dementia covers a much more focused topic and finds around 300 articles.

Using the Advanced Search screen, you can develop your search further. One of the extra features here, is that you can use a drop-down box to specify where the words should appear in the article. By default, British Nursing Index searches every word of the article. If you select the option “Anywhere except full text” on the Advanced Search screen, then the database will search just the key sections (such as the title and abstract), which will reduce the number of results you find.

Try searching British Nursing Index by following the steps outlined below. You’ll practice using some of the most common functions and be ready to search for information for your assignments.

1. Search for the topic mindfulness and nurses. How many results do you find?

2. Using the left-hand panel, limit your search results to those published between 2015 and the current day. How many results do you find?

3. Using the left-hand panel, limit your search results to peer reviewed items. How many results do you find now?

4. Try using the Advanced Search screen for the same topic. Try reducing the number of results by selecting Anywhere except full text from the drop-down menus (they normally show the option of Anywhere).

5. Find an interesting article from your results list and see if you can access the full-text of the article by using the Full Text Finder at CCCU links.

6. Reflect on the type of information appearing in your search. How will you use this information in your assignments? How could you make your search more specific?

After you access British Nursing Index, there is an Accessibility link at the bottom right of the page. Alternatively, you can go directly to the Proquest Platform Accessibility Statement. 

Your Learning and Research Librarian will be able to help you make the best use of online resources. For detailed guidance, book a tutorial via the Learning Skills Hub.