When searching for the best evidence, which step does the NP student complete first?

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The main concept being tested is how to plan a literature search for best evidence in clinical practice. Establishing inclusion and exclusion criteria up front sets the scope of your search by defining exactly what studies will count as evidence for your question—covering aspects like study design, population, interventions, outcomes, publication date, language, and setting. When you know what will be included and excluded, you can tailor your search terms (PICOT keywords) to capture the right studies and screen results efficiently, reducing irrelevant hits and bias in your review.

Expanding the search with the explode option, combining searches from PICOT keywords, and using limits to narrow the topic are all important techniques, but they work best after you’ve clarified what you’re looking for. Exploding broadens terms to catch related concepts, combining keywords helps you construct a comprehensive search string, and limiting tools refine the results to your topic. If criteria aren’t defined first, these steps can pull in or miss studies in ways that derail the review.