Search Terms for Hand-Off Communication
The most important part about searching for articles is identifying search terms; as the most effective terms can sometimes differ from the term used in day to day speech.
For the topic Hand-Off Communication, the following search terms will be useful:
- "Hand Off"
- Handover
- "Shift Reports"
Phrases are enclosed in quotes to direct the database to find these words together. Single words, such as handover, do not need quotes.
You search with all of these terms at once by separating them with the word OR as shown below. This directs the database to find any one of those terms in the articles in the search results. You can combine these terms with term communication, by entering this term on the second line of the advanced search:
This search will find articles that contain either the terms hand off, handover, or shift reports and also the term communication.
When searching make sure NOT to select the full text checkbox, as that option will limit your results to articles that are in CINAHL, instead of allowing you to have the option to search across all of our databases by selecting the "Check for Full Text Availability" link.