Research Guides: Physical Therapist Assistant: Searching CINAHL Ultimate and PubMed

CINAHL Ultimate In-Class Activity Fall semester activity

Instructions for Searching CINAHL Ultimate

You will work in groups at your table (3-4 students) - same groups as the PICO activity
Click the link below to open the Google Slides
Find your table number within the slides
Based on your PICO question, identify key terms, build a search, use CINAHL Subject Headings
Search CINAHL

Searching for Physical Agent used in Physical Therapy Article Winter semester activity

Physical Agents discussed in class:

Thermotherapy
Cryotherapy: cold/ice packs, ice massage, cold baths, vapor coolant sprays.
Superficial and deep heat (local application): hot packs, paraffin, infrared, fluidotherapy, diathermy, ultrasound
Systemic heat: large whirlpool, Hubbard tank
Ultraviolet radiation
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
Functional neuromuscular electrical stimulation
Ultrasound
Phonophoresis
Mechanical traction
Vasopneumatic compression
Light therapy
Photobiomodulation/laser therapy

PTA 200 Search Activity
February 2025

Best Research Databases

Watch How to Access CINAHL Ultimate 00:02:04 minutes

CINAHL Ultimate This link opens in a new window
CINAHL is the world's most comprehensive source of full text for nursing & allied health journals including dental, radiography, physical therapy, pharmacy technology, and other allied health fields.
Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine This link opens in a new window
Find authoritative content in physical therapy and sports medicine relevant to researchers and practitioners.
PubMed Central This link opens in a new window
A full-text archive of biomedical and life science journals at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine.

Pubmed
Developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine, PubMed is a journal citation service for biomedical literature, including MEDLINE and more.

Source is free on the NIH site. The article citations do not link back to the WCC Library collection.

Research Tip: CINAHL Ultimate

CINAHL® Ultimate Database is a full-text research database for allied health and nursing studies. This comprehensive research tool contains more than 1,800 leading global journals and magazines, many of which are peer-reviewed, as well as full-text quick lessons, evidence-based care sheets, continuing education modules, and more than 100 instructional nursing videos.

7 Steps to the Perfect PICO Search
Us this guide to help you build a search in CINAHL.

CINAHL Ultimate This link opens in a new window
CINAHL is the world's most comprehensive source of full text for nursing & allied health journals including dental, radiography, physical therapy, pharmacy technology, and other allied health fields.

Research Tip: PubMed

PubMed® comprises more than 35 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher websites. You can use the limiter Free Full-Text.

NOTE: PubMed is not a WCC Database, but it is free to everyone and available from the National Library of Medicine.

Using PubMed in Evidence-Based Practice Training Course
Optional tutorial but of great benefit to nursing students.
PubMed User Guide
PubMed User Guide for additional help with searching by limiters.

00:02:39 minutes PubMed Simple Subject Search

PubMed
Link to PubMed

Print and Ejournal Subscriptions at WCC

Print journal subscriptions at the Library that are indexed and full-text in the CINAHL Ultimate:

APTA Magazine
Formerly PT: Magazine of Physical Therapy
Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy
American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal
Formerly Physical Therapy