Bibliometric analysis of scientific articles on evidence-based nursing of burn in the mainland of China

Abstract

To analyze the current research status of evidence-based nursing of burn in the mainland of China, in order to provide basis for the improvement of scientificity of burn nursing practice. Chinese scientific articles on evidence-based nursing of burn in the mainland of China published from January 1997 to December 2015 were retrieved from Chinese Biology Medicine disc, Chinese Journals Full-text Database, Wanfang Database, and VIP Database. From the results retrieved, date with regard to publication year, region of affiliation of the first author, journal distribution, literature type, literature quality assessment, topic of evidence-based research, fund program support, implementation of evidence-based practice steps, and language and quantity of reference. Data were processed with Microsoft Excel software. A total of 50 articles conforming to the criteria were retrieved. (1) Articles about evidence-based nursing of burn arose in 2004. Compared with that in the previous year, there was no obvious increase in the number of relevant articles in each year from 2004 to 2011. The number of literature in 2012 was obviously increased than that in each year from 2004 to 2011, while the number of literature in each year from 2012 to 2015 was not obviously increased compared with that in the previous year. (2) The regions of affiliation of the first author were distributed in 13 provinces, 3 minority autonomous regions, and 3 municipalities, with the largest distribution in East China, and Northwest China and Southwest China in the follow. (3) The articles were published in 32 domestic journals, with 9 (28.12%) nursing journals, 5 (15.62%) burn medical related journals, and 18 (56.25%) other journals. Twenty (40%) articles were published in Source Journal for Chinese Scientific and Technical Papers. (4) Regarding the literature type, 31 (62%) articles dealt with clinical experiences, 17 (34%) articles dealt with scientific research, and 2 (4%) articles dealt with case report. (5) There were 21 quantitative study articles and 29 narrative study articles, all with low quality. (6) The topics of evidence-based research in these articles were mainly burn rehabilitation, burn nursing technology, pediatric burn, inhalation injury and airway management, and complications of burn injury. Only one study was supported by fund program. (7) Only one article described complete evidence-based practice steps. (8) The literature cited 57 English articles as references, with an average of 1.14, and 316 Chinese articles, with an average of 6.32. The concept of evidence-based nursing of burn has been initially formed in the mainland of China. The number of relevant articles is on the rise, but the quality needs to be further improved. There is an urgent need to improve nurses' understanding of evidence-based nursing and their command of the method of evidence-based practice through on-job training, so as to improve the scientificity and effectiveness of burn nursing.