Guidelines and other resources to help conduct a systematic review:
Principles and Practice of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis by
Evidence based medicine is at the core of modern medicine. It involves the integration of individual clinical expertise with the best available clinical evidence from systematic research and patient's values and expectations. Systematic reviews offer a summary of the best available evidence. They are the most reliable and comprehensive statement about what works. Written by clinical academics from Australia, UK, USA, and Switzerland, this contributed volume introduces the readers to the principles and practice of systematic reviews and meta-analysis. It covers the various steps involved in systematic reviews including development of a focused question and the strategy for conducting a comprehensive literature search, identifying studies addressing the underlying question, assessment of heterogeneity and the risk of bias in the included studies, data extraction, and the approach to meta-analysis. Crucial issues such as selecting the model for meta-analysis, generating and interpreting forest plots, assessing the risk of publication bias, cautions in the interpretation of subgroup and sensitivity analyses, rating certainty of the evidence using GRADE guideline, and standardized reporting of meta-analysis (PRISMA) are covered in detail. Every attempt is made to keep the narrative simple and clear. Mathematical formulae are avoided as much as possible. While the focus of this book is on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials (RCTs), the gold standard of clinical research, the essentials of systematic reviews of non-RCTs, diagnostic test accuracy studies, animal studies, individual participant data meta-analysis, and network meta-analysis are also covered. Readers from all faculties of medicine will enjoy this comprehensive and reader friendly book to understand the principles and practice of systematic reviews and meta-analysis for guiding their clinical practice and research.
Systematic Reviews by
Any piece of primary research ought to be preceded by a systematic review. The key advantage of a systematic review over the traditional narrative review is its ability to identify all the available eveidence in a systematic and replicable manner. This book will describe a) the key steps to undertaking a systematic review and b) the process of undertaking a meta-analysis. The book will include step-by-step examples of how to design data extraction forms, search strategies and combine in a meta-analysis.
Finding What Works in Health Care by
Healthcare decision makers in search of reliable information that compares health interventions increasingly turn to systematic reviews for the best summary of the evidence. Systematic reviews identify, select, assess, and synthesize the findings of similar but separate studies, and can help clarify what is known and not known about the potential benefits and harms of drugs, devices, and other healthcare services. Systematic reviews can be helpful for clinicians who want to integrate research findings into their daily practices, for patients to make well-informed choices about their own care, for professional medical societies and other organizations that develop clinical practice guidelines. Too often systematic reviews are of uncertain or poor quality. There are no universally accepted standards for developing systematic reviews leading to variability in how conflicts of interest and biases are handled, how evidence is appraised, and the overall scientific rigor of the process. In Finding What Works in Health Care the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research. The standards address the entire systematic review process from the initial steps of formulating the topic and building the review team to producing a detailed final report that synthesizes what the evidence shows and where knowledge gaps remain. Finding What Works in Health Care also proposes a framework for improving the quality of the science underpinning systematic reviews. This book will serve as a vital resource for both sponsors and producers of systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research.
Systematic Reviews to Answer Health Care Questions by
Systematic Evidence Reviews to Answer Health Care Questions is your most effective, A-to-Z guide to conducting thorough, comprehensive systematic reviews. By breaking down topics and essential steps, this volume teaches you how to form key questions, select evidence, and perform illuminating review not just in predictable circumstances, but when basic rules don't apply--honing your ability to think critically and solve problems. You'll learn how to define a review's purpose and scope, develop research questions, build a team, and even manage your project to maximize efficacy. If you're looking to refine your approach to systematic reviews, don't just catalog and collect; use this powerful text to evaluate, synthesize, and deliver results that will help shape the health care industry. FEATURES Presented in standard format throughout to allow for more practical, easy to read approach Provides useful instruction on how to conduct a high-quality systematic review that meets the recent standards of the Institute of Medicine Accessible, concise information about the state-of-the-art methods of systematic review, from key question formulation to assessing the quality of included studies and reporting results Illustrated throughout with real-world examples from systematic reviews that have been used to inform practice guidelines and health policy Now with the print edition, enjoy the bundled interactive eBook edition, offering tablet, smartphone, or online access to: Complete content with enhanced navigation A powerful search that pulls results from content in the book, your notes, and even the web Cross-linked pages, references, and more for easy navigation Highlighting tool for easier reference of key content throughout the text Ability to take and share notes with friends and colleagues Quick reference tabbing to save your favorite content for future
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis by
When used in tandem, systematic reviews and meta-analysis-- two distinct but highly compatible approaches to research synthesis-- form a powerful, scientific approach to analyzing previous studies. But to see their full potential, a social work researcher must be versed in the foundationalprocesses underlying them. This pocket guide to Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis illuminates precisely that practical groundwork.In clear, step-by-step terms, the authors explain how to format topics, locate and screen studies, extract and assess data, pool effect sizes, determine bias, and interpret the results, showing readers how to combine reviewing and meta-analysis correctly and effectively. Each chapter containsvivid social work examples and concludes with a concise summary and notes on further reading, while the book's glossary and handy checklists and sample search and data extraction forms maximize the boo'ks usefulness.Highlighting the concepts necessary to understand, critique, and conduct research synthesis, this brief and highly readable introduction is a terrific resource for students and researchers alike.