Fostering change, empowering faculty: comments on the NURSLITT study and the five-year rule.

The five-year rule must die. Despite an extensive literature search, the origins of the five-year rule remain unknown. In an era when the nursing profession is so focused on evidence-based practice, any approach that arbitrarily limits literature searches to articles published in the previous five years lacks scientific basis.

Exploring the Use of Common Strict Search Criteria in Nursing Literature Searches.

Background: Health sciences librarians and nursing journal contributors have expressed concern about the impact of using strict parameters when searching the literature.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the use of strict search criteria (eg, 5-year rule, "nurse as author") by direct care nurses and nursing students.

Methods: Fourteen online focus groups were conducted with 54 participants: direct care nurses, health sciences librarians, nursing faculty, and nursing students.