NURS-6002 Week 3 Discussion

Using the Walden Library

Where can you find evidence to inform your thoughts and scholarly writing? Throughout your degree program, you will use research literature to explore ideas, guide your thinking, and gain new insights. As you search the research literature, it is important to use resources that are peer-reviewed and from scholarly journals. You may already have some favorite online resources and databases that you use or have found useful in the past. For this Discussion, you explore databases available through the Walden Library.

Note: Unless otherwise noted, initial postings to Discussions are due on or before Day 3, and response postings are due on or before Day 6. You are required to participate in the Discussion on at least three different days (a different day for main post and each response). It is important to adhere to the weekly time frame to allow others ample time to respond to your posting. In addition, you are expected to respond to questions directed toward your own initial posting in a timely manner.

Solution

Main Post

APA Formatted Citation

My practice area is Family Nurse Practitioner.  The article discusses how continuity of care among primary care providers improves patient care outcomes and decreases ER visits and hospitalizations (McDonald, 2024).

McDonald, T., Ronksley, P. E., Patel, A. B., Judy, S., Green, L. A., Cook, L. L., & Lethebe, B. C. (2024). The Impact of Primary Care Clinic and Family Physician Continuity on Patient Health Outcomes: A Retrospective Analysis From Alberta, Canada. Annals of Family Medicine, 22(3), 223-229–229. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.3107Links to an external site.

Difficulties Experienced 

The difficulties I experienced while searching for this article were finding the correct database and using the right phrase to search for the article.  While working on my degrees, I found that the database I use the most is the school library.  Since I am new to this program and school, locating Walden’s Library was challenging.  After I had located the library, my next difficulty came with using the correct phrase.  When I first began looking for an article, I had a general idea of what I was looking for.  However, with general search phrases, I found articles that were general to primary care providers and not specific (Walden University, 2025b).  However, completing a general search gave me an idea of what I wanted to search for: “continuity of patient family care.”

Usefulness of Database

The Walden University Library would be a valuable database for my colleagues.  This database is helpful because you can enter specific qualities you want the article to possess.  For example, the qualities that I entered for this article are that it was peer-reviewed and written in the last five years (Walden University, 2025a).  Using these criteria ensures that the article I find is current and peer-reviewed (Walden University, 2025a).  In addition to this, you can search for specific phrases such as “continuity of patient family care.” This allows for a much narrower group of articles to look at and shows you the most relevant articles for your topic (Walden University, 2025a).

Recommendations of Database

I recommend this database because of its free access, ability to list specific qualities that the article needs to possess, and ability to use specific phrases to search for articles.  In addition, the library can also help with the American Psychological Association (2020) citation and reference requirements.

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

McDonald, T., Ronksley, P. E., Patel, A. B., Judy, S., Green, L. A., Cook, L. L., & Lethebe, B. C. (2024). The Impact of Primary Care Clinic and Family Physician Continuity on Patient Health Outcomes: A Retrospective Analysis From Alberta, Canada. Annals of Family Medicine, 22(3), 223-229–229. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.3107Links to an external site.

Walden University. (2025a). PUBH 8551 Introduction to the Walden Library: Searching & Retrieving Materials in the Databases. Retrieved from https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/c.php?g=493325&p=3375049Links to an external site.

Walden University. (2025b). Scholarly Writing. Retrieved from https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/scholarly

This question has been answered.

Order Now