A literature review: the role of the private sector in the production of nurses in India, Kenya, South Africa and Thailand

Table 1 Search strategy and result

Databases
Keywords	PubMed¹	Science Direct	Google Scholar²	Biomed³
1. Nurses⁴	18917	2031	22500	365
2. Private/“Private Sector”	2852	475	29600	284
3. Production	NA	181	134000	92
4. Supply/“Supply and distribution”	15764	315	33200	176
5. Demand/“Health Services Needs and Demand”	19989	753	27300	215
6. Employment	18726	488	26700	197
7. Responsiveness	NA	71	9250	35
8. Migration/“Emigration and Immigration”	5893	78	43300	107
9. Quality	NA	1615	150000	645
10. Equity	NA	64	20300	83
11. “India” OR “Kenya” OR “South Africa” OR “Thailand”	41971	199	28700	17
Total potential articles from all search engines = 657448
1. AND 11.	176	168	213	12
2. AND 12.	1	58	7	9
3. AND 12.	NA	11	0	3
4. AND 12.	26	26	2	4
5. AND 12.	16	55	0	7
6. AND 12.	11	50	0	6
7. AND 12.	NA	6	0	0
8. AND 12.	6	21	5	6
9. AND 12.	NA	110	1	9
10. AND 12.	NA	4	0	3
Total potential articles from keywords 12 to 21 after applying Boolean search strategy = 463
After excluding 257 duplicate articles, only 206 articles entered the selection process

¹In PubMed, only the Keywords after ‘/’ (or the MeSH terms) were applied. ²Confined to articles whose title contained the selected keywords. ³Confined to articles whose title, or abstract, or text, contained the keywords except for keyword number 11 (country names), which was required to be present in the title. ⁴This word was applied in all search engines since it exactly matched the MeSH term. NA, not applicable.

ISSN: 1478-4491