Biomedical subjects

Margaret Peg Allen

Publications and source records attributed to Margaret Peg Allen.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Mapping the literature of nursing: 1996-2000.

INTRODUCTION: This project is a collaborative effort of the Task Force on Mapping the Nursing Literature of the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association. This overview summarizes eighteen studies covering general nursing and sixteen specialties. METHOD: Following a common protocol, citations from source journals were analyzed for a three-year period within the years 1996 to 2000. Analysis included cited formats, age, and ranking of the frequency of cited journal titles. Highly cited journals were analyzed for coverage in twelve health sciences and academic databases. RESULTS: Journals were the most frequently cited format, followed by books. More than 60% of the cited resources were published in the previous seven years. Bradford's law was validated, with a small core of cited journals accounting for a third of the citations. Medical and science databases provided the most comprehensive access for biomedical titles, while CINAHL and PubMed provided the best access for nursing journals. DISCUSSION: Beyond a heavily cited core, nursing journal citations are widely dispersed among a variety of sources and disciplines, with corresponding access via a variety of bibliographic tools. Results underscore the interdisciplinary nature of the nursing profession. CONCLUSION: For comprehensive searches, nurses need to search multiple databases. Libraries need to provide access to databases beyond PubMed, including CINAHL and academic databases. Database vendors should improve their coverage of nursing, biomedical, and psychosocial titles identified in these studies. Additional research is needed to update these studies and analyze nursing specialties not covered.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

PubMed2006

Mapping the literature of nursing education.

OBJECTIVES: As part of a project to map the literature of nursing, sponsored by the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association, this study identifies core journals cited in nursing education journals and the indexing services that cover the cited journals. METHODS: Three nursing education source journals were subjected to a citation analysis of articles from 1997 to 1999, followed by an analysis of database access to the most frequently cited journal titles. RESULTS: Cited formats included journals (62.4%), books (31.3%), government documents (1.4%), Internet (0.3%), and miscellaneous (4.6%). Cited references were relatively older than other studies, with just 58.6% published in the 1990s. One-third of the citations were found in a core of just 6 journal titles; one-third were dispersed among a middle zone of 53 titles; the remaining third were scattered in a larger zone of 762 titles. Indexing coverage for the core titles was most comprehensive in CINAHL, followed by PubMed/MEDLINE and Social Sciences Citation Index. CONCLUSIONS: Citation patterns in nursing education show more reliance on nursing and education literature than biomedicine. Literature searches need to include CINAHL and PubMed/MEDLINE, as well as education and social sciences databases. Likewise, library collections need to include education and social sciences resources to complement works developed for nurse educators.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

PubMed2006

Mapping the general literature of American nursing.

OBJECTIVES: As part of a project to map the literature of nursing, sponsored by the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association, this study identifies core journals cited by general or "popular" US nursing journals and the indexing services that cover the cited journals. METHODS: Three journals were selected for analysis: American Journal of Nursing, Nursing 96-98, and RN. The source journals were subjected to a citation analysis of articles from 1996 to 1998, followed by an analysis of database access to the most frequently cited journal titles. RESULTS: Cited formats included journals (63.7%), books (26.6%), government documents (3.0%), Internet (0.5%), and miscellaneous (6.2%). Cited references were relatively current; most (86.6%) were published in the current decade. One-third of the citations were found in a core of 24 journal titles; one-third were dispersed among a middle zone of 94 titles; and the remaining third were scattered in a larger zone of 694 titles. Indexing coverage for the core titles was most comprehensive in PubMed/MEDLINE, followed by CINAHL and Science Citation Index. CONCLUSIONS: Results support the popular (not scholarly) nature of these titles. While not a good source for original research, they fulfill a key role of disseminating nursing knowledge with their relevantly current citations to a broad variety of sources.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

PubMed2005

Continuing education as a catalyst for inter-professional collaboration.

Do nurses have access to the tools and resources they need for evidence-based practice? Are librarians prepared to work with nurses to provide access to appropriate resources and services, and teach the needed information literacy skills? The authors work with professional library and nursing organizations to present interdisciplinary continuing education to improve the information literacy of nurses and the ability of librarians to provide resources and services that meet nurses' information needs. This article reviews behavioral and practice changes reported by nurses and librarian participants in symposia on evidence-based nursing in March 2001 and May 2003.

Computer Literacy↗