NU4S01: A Search Of The Literature Was Conducted To Gather Research Surrounding: Literature Review Research Paper, UCD, Ireland

A search of the literature was conducted to gather research surrounding the chosen topic. Five electronic databases were utilized, which included Academic Search Complete, AMED, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Proquest. Refining the research question before beginning the literature search was important to ensure findings were accurate, precise, and relevant (Jaffe & Cowell 2014).

Search strings were created from the research question following preliminary trial-and-error searches. These search strings were combined using the Boolean operators ‘AND’ or ‘OR’, and consisted of “pressure ulcer” (or “pressure sore” or “bedsore” or “decubitus ulcer”), “prevention”, “nursing” (or “nurse’s role” or “nurse”), and “acute hospital” (or “hospital” or “acute setting” or “acute hospital setting”).

A time limit of ten years was applied to ensure retrieval of up-to-date research. Searches were limited to “peer-reviewed”, to ensure that all literature retrieved was of the highest quality and was reliable and valid (Gerrish & Lacey 2010). A second search of the literature was undertaken using the search strings “risk assessment”, “relief of pressure” (or “pressure relief” or “pressure relieving” or “pressure reducing”), “repositioning” and “education”. Various websites were also accessed to ensure all relevant literature was found.

These included The Health Service Executive (hse.ie), The World Health Organisation (who.int), The European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (epuap.org), The Department of Health (health.gov.ie), and The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (npuap.org). Reference lists of relevant literature and literature reviews were screened to ensure all noteworthy literature was included in the review.