MeSH Terms vs Keywords for a Nursing Literature Search
MeSH terms describe concepts through a controlled vocabulary. Keywords search the wording used in records. A nursing literature search often benefits from both, because a concept can appear under different words and some records may not yet have the indexing you expect.
Start with the task
NLM's MeSH introduction explains the vocabulary; the PubMed guide describes search behaviour.
Start with a relevant record
Find a paper close to your assignment question. Compare its title and abstract wording with its assigned subject headings. Open the heading in the MeSH browser and read the scope information before using it.
Do not assume that a familiar phrase is the official heading or that every narrower term is relevant. A broad heading can retrieve a different population or purpose from the one your rationale concerns.
Build two routes to the concept
In an invented search about understanding discharge information, authors may use several expressions for understanding. The planning task is to list those expressions and identify any applicable indexed concepts.
Keep the keyword route and the controlled-vocabulary route visible in your search notes. Test them separately before combining them. This reveals whether one route retrieves useful records the other misses.
Database vocabularies differ. A MeSH term copied into another database may not function as that database's subject heading.
Check the result, not just the syntax
Inspect a few retrieved papers for population, setting, and actual outcome. A technically correct search can still answer the wrong question. If you change the concept, update the rationale question as well as the query.
When adding evidence to Nursevi, retain the paper's actual finding and limitation. Finding a record through a subject heading does not establish that its intervention applies to the supplied case.
Use the care-plan evidence-source guide for source selection after discovery.