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NUR399F90 Pain Management & Palliative Care: Terminology & Background Information

Resources for finding information on pain management and palliative care, including cultural aspects.

Terminology

Databases have controlled vocabularies and in order to find scholarly articles on your topic, you need to use the same vocabulary as the database.  Look for a link to thesaurus, subject headings, etc.

Here are some keywords and phrases you could use:

Use AND to connect your search terms, depending on your topic:

  • Cultures:  Narrow to a specific culture (Native American, Chinese, Asian American, etc.); try "cultural diversity"
  • Religion:  Narrow to a specific religion (Muslim, Jewish, Islamic, etc.)
  • Ethnic:  Narrow to a specific ethnic group (Hispanic, Latino, etc.)
  • Diseases:  Narrow to a specific one (Alzheimer's, dementia, etc.)

Example:   "palliative care" AND "Asian American*"

Reminders:  Use quotes when searching phrases except in PubMed
                      Use an asterisk (*) to capture all forms of a word (American* will
                      yield American AND Americans)

Both palliative care and hospice care provide comfort. But palliative care can begin at diagnosis, and at the same time as treatment. Hospice care begins after treatment of the disease is stopped and when it is clear that the person is not going to survive the illness.  Hospice care is usually offered only when the person is expected to live 6 months or less.

Find Background Information

This list of subject-specific encyclopedias may provide background information on your topics.