Research databases with journals and articles on the nurse-patient ratio
Description: Wiley Online Library is a collection of online research journals and books. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell, the online publishing business arm of John Wiley and Sons, Inc. The site is not named as a database, but it qualifies as such because it contains over 4 million articles from 1500 peer-reviewed journals and over 10000 online books. Among these multi-disciplinary research, works are a category of works on life sciences, medicine, nursing, dentistry, and healthcare. Access to resources on this site is free for most of the journals and articles, but access to some works is restricted to those with individual or institutional authentication. The database is easy and convenient to use because it allows the user to search scholarly works by keywords, browse for specific works on specific topics and sort the research works by date.
This database is relevant to my topic because it contains evidence-based research on the impact of nursing workload on the quality of service offered and the effect of nurse-patient ratio on patient waiting time in emergency cases.
TRIP Database
Description: TRIP is an acronym that stands for ‘Turning Research into Practice.’ The TRIP database is a free access database that is developed and run by TRIP Database Limited. It is a clinical search engine that links the user to several evidence-based articles from peer-reviewed journals. It uses a dual indexing system that enables more refined and flexible search results. The database also has a sorting feature that allows users to sort works based on their rank on reliability.
The database is relevant to my topic because it contains articles from numerous journals on the nurse-to-patient ratio in neo-natal Intensive Care Units (ICUs). It also has journal articles covering the effects of overcrowding and nurse understaffing on the spread of infections among patients in hospital wards due to improper hygiene.
NHS Evidence
Description: NHS evidence is a search-engine type database owned by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The database offers free access to evidence-based articles in journals held on the database and articles on the NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED), which is its sister database, also owned and operated by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. NHS Evidence also indexes journals and articles from other websites and databases that publish evidence-based medical research. The database’s search feature allows the journal article results to be sorted by relevance.
The database is relevant to my topic because it contains journal articles and studies on the cost-benefit aspect of improving nurse to patient ratio and the clinical significance of having more nurses in the ICUs to reduce patient complications.
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Description: The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is a search-engine-based database that utilizes the ‘Google search’ indexing and searches feature to access scholarly journals in the database and on the web. It is owned by the University of Iowa. It is not named as a database, but it qualifies as such because it contains a collection of journals and articles on medical studies retrievable from the system through the search function. The database also indexes journals and scholarly articles from other websites and databases.
This database is relevant to my research topic because it contains scholarly articles on patient acuity in relation to nurse staffing, the need for diverse staffing to achieve patient satisfaction, and the risks of understaffing of nursing personnel in health facilities. These works provide an insight into the issue of the nurse-patient ratio through the perspectives of professionals.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Description: This is a database owned by The Cochrane Collaboration, a not-for-profit international network of healthcare professionals. The database offers free access to some journals and other content, but it requires an individual or institutional authentication for full access to the full text of the systematic reviews. The 2012 version (issue 6) contains 2194 protocols and 5102 published reviews. Research work in the database can be searched through a search function on the homepage that sorts information by relevance.
This database is relevant to my topic because it contains several journal articles that address the issue of nurse staffing models and the effect of the various models on patient relations. This is an important aspect that needs to be considered in order to identify the optimal nurse-to-patient ratio.
PDR Health
Description: The full name of the database is Physicians’ Desk Reference Health. It is published by Everyday Health Inc, owned by the PDR Professional Network, LLC. The database contains articles, journals, and external links to evidence-based articles and scholarly works on the medical field and related studies. The database was created for the purpose of providing reference aid to medical practitioners in the United States. It mostly disseminates information on drugs and prescriptions, diseases, and medical conditions. Scholarly works can be accessed on this database through a custom search function that lists results on the basis of relevance. The database also offers information to consumers of medical services through its patient resources.
This database is relevant to my research topic because it contains scholarly articles on the relationship between nurse-to-patient ratios and the survival of patients in nursing homes. The information provided to consumers on why they should consider knowing the nurse-to-patient ratios in their hospitals is also relevant. The articles are also written in plain English because they target consumers with no medical knowledge. This makes the database easy to use.
Biomed Central (BMC)
Description: Biomed Central is an open access publishing database with 239 peer-reviewed journals on science, technology, medicine, and related areas. The database is owned and run by Biomed central Limited, which is a part of the Springer Science-Business Media, which also owns and operates the Springer Open database. The database relies on principles of open access, with its goal being to ensure the availability of reliable medical information to users. Journals on this database are indexed by other databases and services, including Thompson Reuters (ISI). Scholarly works on this database may be accessed through a custom search function, advanced search, or browsing by category.
This database is relevant to my topic of research because it contains information on immigrant nurses in Israel and the USA and how they impact the supply of nursing services. It also contains journal articles that look into the state of the nursing workforce in developing countries. Both of these factors are important in assessing the nurse-to-patient ratio worldwide.