Module 2 post

I used PubMed, the National Guideline Clearinghouse, and Google to search for information regarding neutropenic patients and low microbial diets. Patients who are neutropenic are susceptible to infection because of their low white blood cell count. In my past clinical experience, this patient population has been ordered low microbial diets in efforts to reduce infection risk. Often time these patients have poor nutrition and getting them to eat well can be a challenge. In practice I have found policies and guidelines regarding diet orders to vary according to institution. My searches posed the question: Is there evidence to support low microbial diets reduce the risk of infection in neutropenic patients?

My search in PubMed produced three results fairly quickly. Having an understanding of the best way to search a database is helpful. Through PubMed I did not find any randomized clinical trials which had been published. I spent a longer time searching the National Guideline Clearinghouse. My first search using neutropenia AND infection control did not produce any results. I then searched the term low microbial diet and 6 results were produced. They were more general diet guidelines for cancer patients as “diet” was the term most picked up on. My Google search produced the most results. I searched the terms neutropenia AND low microbial diet. I then limited my search using Google Scholar and the timeframe since 2004. The three articles from my PubMed search resulted in the Google search. Google also retrieved many more articles on the subject. The first result was a randomized control trial done in the Netherlands. I was able to access the PDF version for free. A lot of the Google results would only provide an abstract for the article. I found Google Scholar and PubMed to be the most resourceful databases. Google is very quick and your search terms do not have to be so specific. I think the user and type of information needed dictates what is the best strategy for retrieval. For future searches I would start with Google then use PubMed or CINAHL to narrow down results and gain access to full articles. I would advise patients to use Google but would give them guidelines and tips for evaluating websites. If a patient wanted more detailed and scholarly publications then I might direct them to their local library for workshops or demonstrations on information retrieval.