Nursing

Now use Boolean operators to connect your search terms. 

Use OR to combine all the terms for the same concept: misappropriation OR theft

Use AND to combine terms from different concepts: student nurse AND diversion

Use quotation marks to search for a phrase: "professional misconduct"

Use brackets to group all terms from the same concept together

Watch the following video to learn more about Boolean operators

When you put it together: 

(privacy OR confidentiality) AND ("aged care" OR "nursing home" OR "elderly care" OR "home for the aged")

You will probably need to conduct multiple searches and alter your search terms as you go.

Suggested databases for this assessment are:

Standards, codes, and legislation

This assessment also requires you to refer to standards, codes, and legislation. These are all slightly different and have different functions. Make sure you use the most recent version, as these are sometimes updated.

Definitions

Legislation:  Laws that are passed by parliament. They are sometimes referred to as Acts. The jurisdiction is what parliament created the law. Commonwealth legislation was created by the Federal, or Australian government and applies to the whole of Australia. State legislation is created by state governments, and applies only to the state it was created in. 

Standards: Standards are documents that set out guidelines and procedures to ensure that a product or service is safe and reliable.

Codes: Codes give guidance on how to ensure standards are met. In nursing, these include codes of conduct, standards for practice, and codes of ethics.

Legal dictionaries

The legal dictionaries below can be used to find definitions of other legal terminology:

 Scope of Practice guidelines for student nurses

• Institute of Health and Wellbeing Bachelor of Nursing / Bachelor of Midwifery clinical placement guidelines
  • Linked in your Clinical Placement Moodle Shell

Nursing codes and standards

• Code of conduct for nurses (This will download a Word document)
• Registered nurse standards for practice
• Scope of practice & capabilities of nurses & midwives
• International code of ethics for nurses 
• Guidelines for mandatory notifications

Legislation

• Health Practitioner Regulation National Law 2009 (Cth) (Download from AHPRA)
• Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Regulations 2017 (Vic)
• National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards: Medication Safety Standard

Legislation websites 

• Federal Register of Legislation: This contains Commonwealth legislation, or legislation made by the Australian government. 
• Victorian Legislation: This contains legislation made by the Victorian government.
• LawLex: This contains both Commonwealth and state legislation
• See the Legislation page in the Business Law subject guide for guidance on searching these websites.

Databases

Several databases can be used to search for legislation relevant to nurses. If you know the title, type it into the search bar, or contact the library for further support using these databases.

Is this information relevant to your assignment? Is there likely to be better information? This will depend on what you are trying to find out. Often you will need to read the abstract to find out.

Is this aimed at the correct audience? Articles for this assessment should be peer reviewed. If you are not sure, you can copy and paste the title into Quicksearch to see if the purple peer review icon shows in the result:

Alternatively, you can check the journal title in Ulrichs. If it has a small black icon that looks like a book next to the title, it is peer reviewed (called refereed in Ulrichs).

However, be aware that legislation, standards and codes of practice are not peer reviewed in the same way journal articles are, but are still appropriate to use.

Who wrote it? What are their qualifications? Are the qualifications relevant to the topic? Most peer reviewed articles will have information about the authors, often at the end or hyperlinked, with their qualifications listed. 

Where do they work? Who do they work for? Generally, authors should be working for a university or a research centre of some kind. 

Are they likely to have a good understanding of this field?

Remember resources such as standards and codes of conduct are written by professional regulatory bodies such as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board, and therefore are still considered to be authoritative.

What is the study population size and characteristics? Keep in mind this is dependent on the study type, for example qualitative studies usually have smaller study populations than quantitative. 

Is there a control group? This is a group that does not receive the treatment, and allows the researchers to compare them to the group getting the treatment to see if it works.

Is there blinding? This is where the control and treatment groups do not know whether they are getting the intervention or not. 

Do the statistics make sense and match the authors' claims? 

Who funded the study? Is it a company, university or research organisation? If it is a company, do they manufacture a product being tested? 

Is there any obvious bias where the authors or their employers are likely to benefit from the study recommendations? For example, if the authors work for a particular company and recommend the use of one of their products, this could indicate a risk of bias.

Does it state what the authors' were trying to find out? The research aims or questions should be clearly stated in the beginning of the article, and the conclusions should describe what they found out.