| Course | NU800 DNP Project Proposal |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 3 |
| Paper type | Search strategy report |
| Length | About 870 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU800 Unit 3
The String That Found Transplant Clinics: A Search Strategy Report for a Glucocorticoid Hyperglycemia Project, With the Failed Search Kept on the Page, the Setting Block That Replaced It and a Reason for Every Exclusion
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU800: DNP Project Proposal
Unit 3 Search Strategy Report
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Search counts are bracketed placeholders; database names, subject headings and the included sources are real.
The Question Behind the Search
The PICOT question asks whether timed afternoon checks with a rule for escalating high readings, compared with usual care, reduces hyperglycemic patient-days among adults on medical units receiving high-dose glucocorticoids. Three elements became search concepts: the setting and population, hospitalized adults on glucocorticoids; the problem, hyperglycemia; and the intervention, monitoring and insulin management. The comparison and time elements were left to screening, since searching for them narrows results without improving relevance.
The First Search and Why It Failed
The first string combined steroid-induced diabetes with inpatient and insulin as free text. In MEDLINE it returned [roughly 340] records. Screening the first [100] showed the problem: most concerned new-onset diabetes after kidney or liver transplantation, outpatients with rheumatologic or pulmonary disease on long-term prednisone, or single perioperative doses of dexamethasone given to prevent nausea. The phrase steroid-induced diabetes is used most often for chronic, outpatient conditions, while the hospital problem is usually described as hyperglycemia. The search was answering a different question.
The Revised Strategy
The Johns Hopkins model recommends building a search from the elements of the practice question, choosing databases suited to nursing and medicine, and recording each decision so the search can be repeated (Dang et al., 2021). The revised strategy follows that advice.
Four concept blocks replaced the first string, searched in MEDLINE through PubMed and in CINAHL, with the Cochrane Library checked for reviews.
The setting block combined the subject headings Inpatients and Hospitalization, and in CINAHL the heading Inpatients, with free-text terms inpatient*, hospitali*, ward* and non-critical care. The glucocorticoid block combined the heading Glucocorticoids with its adverse effects subheading and free-text terms glucocorticoid*, corticosteroid*, steroid*, prednisone, prednisolone, methylprednisolone and dexamethasone. The hyperglycemia block combined the heading Hyperglycemia with Blood Glucose and free-text terms hyperglyc* and glucose. The intervention block combined Insulin, Insulin, Isophane and Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring with free-text terms NPH, basal, protocol*, monitor* and point-of-care. Blocks were joined with AND, and synonyms within a block with OR.
Limits were adults, English and publication from 2005 onward, since inpatient glucose management changed substantially after the mid-2000s. Guidelines from the American Diabetes Association, the Endocrine Society and the Joint British Diabetes Societies were located by hand, because professional guidance is often indexed poorly; the ADA hospital standards, for example, are published as a journal supplement updated each year (American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee, 2024).
The setting block did more than any other change, because it turned a search about people on steroids into a search about patients on a ward.
Exclusions and Their Reasons
Four exclusions were set in advance. Studies of children were excluded because steroid dosing and glucose targets differ. Studies in intensive care units were excluded because patients there are usually on insulin infusions, which the project's population rules out. Studies of transplant recipients and outpatients were excluded because their exposure is chronic rather than acute. And studies of a single perioperative dexamethasone dose were excluded because a one-time dose to prevent nausea produces a brief, different glucose effect from daily high-dose treatment.
The Flow of Records
Following the PRISMA 2020 approach to reporting how records move through a review (Page et al., 2021), the searches identified [412] records, [226] from MEDLINE, [168] from CINAHL and [18] from the Cochrane Library. After removing [97] duplicates, [315] titles and abstracts were screened, and [271] were excluded as off-topic or meeting an exclusion. Of [44] full texts assessed, [36] were excluded: [14] were outpatient or transplant studies, [9] were set in intensive care, [7] reported no glucose outcome, [4] were single-dose perioperative studies and [2] were in children. [Four] studies, [three] guidelines and [one] narrative review were included, [eight] sources in all.
What the Search Found and Did Not Find
The included sources cover how common steroid hyperglycemia is in hospitalized patients, why its timing follows the steroid dose, and how insulin regimens compare. The search found no study that tested nurse-driven afternoon monitoring as a single intervention, which is itself a finding: the project will translate guidance and indirect evidence rather than replicate a tested protocol.
How the Search Will Be Kept Current
Because the project runs for more than a year from proposal to evaluation, the MEDLINE search was saved with an alert that sends new records matching all four blocks each month. Any new trial or guideline will be screened against the same criteria and, if included, added to the evidence table with a note on when it was found. The ADA standards are revised each January, so the hospital section will be checked again before implementation begins.
Limits of the Search
Only English-language studies were included, and gray literature beyond the three guidelines was not searched systematically. Some quality improvement reports may exist only as conference abstracts, which were not captured.
References
American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee. (2024). 16. Diabetes care in the hospital: Standards of care in diabetes 2024. Diabetes Care, 47(Suppl. 1), S295-S306. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc24-S016
Dang, D., Dearholt, S. L., Bissett, K., Ascenzi, J., & Whalen, M. (2021). Johns Hopkins evidence-based practice for nurses and healthcare professionals: Model and guidelines (4th ed.). Sigma Theta Tau International.
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M., Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S., . . . Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, Article n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
What the NU800 Unit 3 assignment asks for
The Unit 3 assignment asks you to design and report a literature search for your PICOT question. Most versions want the question restated, the concepts chosen, databases and subject headings, free-text terms, limits, inclusion and exclusion criteria with reasons, a flow of records and a note on limits. Around four pages with two tables and a diagram is common. Faculty reward reports that show how the strategy was developed, including any string that failed, give a reason for every exclusion, and report numbers at each stage. Work with a librarian if your program offers one, and save your searches with alerts, since a proposal may wait months before implementation and new evidence can appear.
How the NU 800 Unit 3 example is put together
The report opens by explaining which PICOT elements became search concepts. It then describes the first string and why it failed, retrieving chronic, outpatient and transplant studies. The revised strategy follows, block by block, with subject headings and truncated terms, limits and hand searching for guidelines, and the highlighted sentence credits the setting block. Four exclusions are given with clinical reasons, from children to single perioperative doses. The flow of records runs from identification through duplicates, screening and full-text exclusions with reasons to eight included sources. Sections describe what was found and not found, how the search will be kept current, and the limits of the search.
Where the points sit in the NU800 Unit 3 rubric
Search strategy reports are commonly assessed on the link to the question, the strategy, transparency, criteria and reporting. The link earns credit when concepts are drawn from the PICOT elements. The strategy is judged on appropriate databases, subject headings and synonyms. Transparency rewards a report of how the strategy developed, including failures. Criteria are credited when inclusions and exclusions are stated with reasons. Reporting scores well when numbers are given at each stage in a recognized format, such as a PRISMA-style flow. A note on keeping the search current and on its limits often lifts the grade, since it shows the search is part of a living proposal.
NU800 Unit 3 help from the desk
A frequent weakness is reporting only the final string, which hides why it looks the way it does. Another is searching every PICOT element, which narrows results too far. Some reports list exclusions without reasons, so the reader cannot judge them. Others omit numbers at each stage. Many rely on free text alone, missing subject headings, or on headings alone, missing new terms. And gray literature, especially practice guidelines, is often left out. Keep your failed string, search the concepts that matter, give every exclusion a reason, report the flow of records, and set an alert so new studies reach you before implementation. Finally, ask a colleague to run your final string independently; if they retrieve different numbers, your report is not yet reproducible.
Get an NU800 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
Your PICOT question, any strings already tried, failed ones included, the databases your library licenses and the Unit 3 instructions with rubric are enough to begin. A free first custom sample, returned within 24-48h, sets out concept blocks, logged strings, reasoned exclusions and a flow diagram built for that question, with brackets wherever a count must come from your own run. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More NU800 papers and DNP samples
- NU800 Unit 1: Problem Statement, Steroid Glucose
- NU800 Unit 2: PICOT Worksheet, Steroid Hyperglycemia
- NU800 Unit 4: Evidence Table
- NU800 Unit 5: Evidence Synthesis
- NU800 Unit 6: Framework Selection Paper
- NU800 Unit 7: Methods Section Draft
- NU800 Unit 8: Evaluation Plan
- NU800 Unit 9: Discussion Board Post
- NU800 Unit 10: Full Proposal Draft
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- NU743 Unit 3: Discussion Post, PECARN and Observation
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NU800 Unit 3 questions, answered
Does the search need gray literature?
Many sections expect at least some, since practice guidance often sits outside journals. For inpatient glucose management, the American Diabetes Association's annual hospital care standards and a hospital medicine society implementation guide are obvious sources. The sample searches both and admits the narrowness in its limitations paragraph. Add whatever your section names; the report format stays the same.
Where can I find a free NU800 Unit 3 sample paper?
The complete NU800 Unit 3 search strategy report appears on this page, with the question, a failed string and why it failed, four concept blocks, exclusions with reasons, a flow of records, what was found and not found, and limits, plus three references. A report for your own search can be drafted.
Why did the first string fail in NU800 Unit 3?
The phrase steroid-induced diabetes is used mostly for chronic, outpatient and transplant settings, so it retrieved studies about a different problem. Hospital studies usually describe the issue as hyperglycemia in inpatients receiving glucocorticoids.
Why exclude single perioperative doses in NU800 Unit 3?
A single dose of dexamethasone given to prevent nausea produces a brief glucose rise quite different from daily high-dose treatment, so studies of it would not answer the project's question.
Should failed searches be reported in NU800 Unit 3?
Often yes, when they changed the strategy. A committee reading only the final string cannot tell why it is built as it is, while the failed version shows what was learned and why the setting block was added.