Systematic Reviews/Evidence Synthesis

Advanced Research Skills: Conducting Literature and Systematic Reviews by Kelly Dermody; Cecile Farnum; Daniel Jakubek; Jo-Anne Petropoulos; Jane Schmidt; and Reece Steinberg A short course for graduate students to increase their proficiency in conducting research for literature and systematic reviews.

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.4 by Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is the official document that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions.

Comprehensive Systematic Review for Advanced Nursing Practice by Cheryl, Edd Holly; Susan W. Salmond; Msn,, Bpharm Mlis Saimbert " "?This book comprehensively and concisely examines the complexities related to asking clinical questions, searching for the evidence, appraising and summarizing the evidence, and getting evidence into practice? I commend this book to health professionals who are seeking to do the best they can in health care.?" Alan Pearson, AM The Joanna Briggs Institute Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide In an age of rapidly expanding knowledge, it is crucial for health professionals to stay abreast of the most current evidence-based information when making clinical decisions. This textbook is specifically designed to meet the objectives of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) competency that relates to ?Clinical Scholarship and Analytical Methods for Evidence-Based Practice.? It provides the knowledge and skills necessary for DNP students, faculty and advanced practice nurses to conduct a comprehensive systematic review (CSR). The text sets forth a rigorous, step-by-step approach to the process of conducting a literature search, including both quantitative and qualitative studies, as well as ?grey? literature. It describes how to extract and synthesize the most relevant data, how to integrate systematic reviews into practice, and how to disseminate the results. The volume begins by addressing the basic concepts of systematic reviews and their relationship to clinical practice and policy, before delineating the systematic steps of this process along with the development of a systematic review proposal and clinical question. The book then describes how to find and select the best available evidence and explores specific types of systematic reviews, including experimental, observational, and economic evidence, and explores the current and future use of the process. End-of-chapter application exercises, questions for review, objectives, summary points, and references facilitate learning. Mastery of the CSR process and application of the resultant evidential summaries will be of utmost benefit to nursing practitioners seeking to provide care according to the most current evidence-based knowledge.Key Features Tailored specifically for graduate nursing courses in evidence-based practice Describes how to find and appraise relevant studies, including nonpublished ?grey? literature and offers criteria for selecting or excluding studies Guides readers through the process of searching the literature for evidence based on the review question Explains how to integrate systematic review outcomes into practice Compares CSR methods, review of literature, integrated review, and meta-studies "

Evidence Based Medicine by Sharon E. Straus; Paul Glasziou; R. Brian Haynes; W. Scott Richardson Evidence Based Medicine provides a clear explanation of the central questions of EBM - how to ask answerable clinical questions, how to translate them into effective searches for the best evidence, how to critically appraise that evidence for its validity and importance, and how to integrate it with patients' values and preferences. New edition of fantastically successful book on EBM, written by the best-known authorities in the world. Will focus on the major challenge of practicing EBM in real time, providing tips and tools to help achieve this Focuses on the major challenge of practicing EBM in real time, providing tips and tools to help achieve this. All clinical examples are new. Expanded section on limitations of EBM - discusses common criticisms and the real limitations and how they can be overcome. Highlights the problems with the CAT databases available on the web. Expanded section on clinical decision rules in diagnosis. Interactive and user-friendly CD. Downloadable EBM resources for handhelds.

Evidence Synthesis for Decision Making in Healthcare by Alexander J. Sutton; Nicola Cooper; Keith R. Abrams; A. E. Ades; Nicky J. Welton In the evaluation of healthcare, rigorous methods of quantitative assessment are necessary to establish interventions that are both effective and cost-effective. Usually a single study will not fully address these issues and it is desirable to synthesize evidence from multiple sources. This book aims to provide a practical guide to evidence synthesis for the purpose of decision making, starting with a simple single parameter model, where all studies estimate the same quantity (pairwise meta-analysis) and progressing to more complex multi-parameter structures (including meta-regression, mixed treatment comparisons, Markov models of disease progression, and epidemiology models). A comprehensive, coherent framework is adopted and estimated using Bayesian methods. Key features: A coherent approach to evidence synthesis from multiple sources. Focus is given to Bayesian methods for evidence synthesis that can be integrated within cost-effectiveness analyses in a probabilistic framework using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation. Provides methods to statistically combine evidence from a range of evidence structures. Emphasizes the importance of model critique and checking for evidence consistency. Presents numerous worked examples, exercises and solutions drawn from a variety of medical disciplines throughout the book. WinBUGS code is provided for all examples. Evidence Synthesis for Decision Making in Healthcare is intended for health economists, decision modelers, statisticians and others involved in evidence synthesis, health technology assessment, and economic evaluation of health technologies.

Finding What Works in Health Care by Eden, Jill et al. (Eds.) & Institute of Medicine 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.

How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-Based Medicine, 3rd ed. by Trisha Greenhalgh

An Introduction to Health Services Research by Dawn-Marie Walker (Editor) This is a primary, comprehensive textbook for people who are considering undertaking a piece of health-related research. It is an accessible companion with the aim of getting the reader to think broadly about all of the issues that need to be considered when embarking on a project. This is a pragmatic book, a step-by-step guide to research which mirrors the structure of a research project, taking you through the thought process for designing and conducting your study from formulating the right research question at idea inception, ascertaining what methodologies and analysis can answer what type of questions, right through to dissemination, all presented in an easy, digestible style. The book is full of case study illustrations and practical tips such as how to work out a research budget and obtaining funding for your project, discussion of what permissions need to obtained when conducting research with people, and how to involve public and patients. The authors are all experienced researchers and so this book is an accumulation of collective wisdom on common research challenges and issues.

Piecing Together Systematic Reviews and Other Evidence Syntheses by Margaret J. Foster (Editor); Sarah T. Jewell (Editor) The book is for training librarians new to systematic reviews, for those developing a new systematic review service, for those wanting to establish protocols for a current service, and as a reference for those conducting reviews or running a service.

Synthesizing Qualitative Research by Karin Hannes; Craig Lockwood A considerable number of journal publications using a range of qualitative synthesis approaches has been published. Mary Dixon-Woods and colleagues (Mary Dixon-Woods, Booth, & Sutton, 2007) identified 42 qualitative evidence synthesis papers published in health care literature between 1990 and 2004. An ongoing update by Hannes and Macaitis (2010)identified around 100 additional qualitative or mixed methods syntheses. Yet these generally lack a clear, detailed description of what was done and why (Greenhalgh et al, 2007; McInnes & Wimpenny, 2008) . Choices are most commonly influenced by what others have successfully used in the past or by a particular school of thought (Atkins et al, 2008; Britten et al, 2002). This is a substantive limitation. This book brings balance to the options available to researchers, including approaches that have not had a substantial uptake among researchers. It provides arguments for when and why researchers or other parties of interest should opt for a certain approach to synthesis, which challenges they might face in adopting it and what the potential strengths and weaknesses are compared with other approaches. This book acts as a resource for readers who would otherwise have to piece together the methodology from a range of journal articles. In addition, it should stimulate further development and documentation of synthesis methodology in a field that is characterized by diversity.

Systematic Reviews: CRDs Guidance for Undertaking Reviews in Health Care by Center for Reviews and Dissemination A publication from the Center for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, a world renowned institute producing policy relevant research using innovative methods to improve population health. Describes the methods and steps necessary to conduct a systematic review.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (Pocket Guides to Social Work Research Methods) by Julia H. Littell; Jacqueline Corcoran; Vijayan Pillai 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.

Systematic Reviews in Educational Research by Zawacki-Richter, Olaf et al.

Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences by Mark Petticrew; Helen Roberts Such diverse thinkers as Lao-Tze, Confucius, and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have all pointed out that we need to be able to tell the difference between real and assumed knowledge. The systematic review is a scientific tool that can help with this difficult task. It can help, for example, with appraising, summarising, and communicating the results and implications of otherwise unmanageable quantities of data. This book, written by two highly-respected social scientists, provides an overview of systematic literature review methods: Outlining the rationale and methods of systematic reviews; Giving worked examples from social science and other fields; Applying the practice to all social science disciplines; It requires no previous knowledge, but takes the reader through the process stage by stage; Drawing on examples from such diverse fields as psychology, criminology, education, transport, social welfare, public health, and housing and urban policy, among others. Including detailed sections on assessing the quality of both quantitative, and qualitative research; searching for evidence in the social sciences; meta-analytic and other methods of evidence synthesis; publication bias; heterogeneity; and approaches to dissemination.

Systematic Reviews to Answer Health Care Questions by Heidi D. Nelson 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