The first step is to choose a topic.
Topic may be given to you.
It might be something your patient had/encountered in clinicals.
It might be something assigned for a care/teaching/patient education plan.
After you find a topic and look for background information, try coming up with a list of keywords you can use to search books, articles, and websites.
Example:
Childhood Obesity - obesity, overweight, bmi, children, pediatrics, adolescents
Hispanic - Hispanic, Latino, Mexican American
These will be words you can put together to search for your topic.
For example a search could be: Obesity AND Mexican American AND Pediatrics
If you use words to search and don't get any hits, first check the spelling of the words and then try changing the words you are using.
Once you find a topic to research, you will want to look for background information. Background information provides you with an overview of your topic. Background information provides you with a basic understanding of your topic prior to looking for articles.
A good resource to use for background research in healthcare is MedlinePlus.gov. This resource is provided by the National Library of Medicine and provides you with reputable information on a number of diseases, drugs, health topics,etc...
This resource can also be translated completely into Spanish, so is a good tool for Spanish speaking patients.
When you have an assignment always make sure you know what kinds of resources you can use and if there is a limit on how old they can be.
For this class ask you instructor what types of sources you can use and how old they can be.
