4,999,347 papers found

A systematic review (SR) provides the best and most objective analysis of the existing evidence in a particular field. SRs and derived conclusions are essential for evidence-based strategies in medicine and evidence-based guidelines in clinical practice. The popularity of SRs has also increased markedly in the field of…

BACKGROUND: Oral care is a fundamental part of nursing but it is often performed as a routine task, often based on historic practice, and lacks an evidence base. A variety of oral care products are used in practice. AIM: To discover evidence of effective oral care products for use in hospitalised patients. DESIGN: A…

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are powerful tools for summarizing existing literature and combining evidence from multiple studies. These methods employ complex searches, statistical techniques, and presentation techniques with which the clinical audience may not be very familiar. This review article aims to fami…

AIM: The aims of the study were to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews with network meta-analyses (NMAs) in Endodontics using the 'A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews' (AMSTAR 2) tool, and to evaluate the overall confidence in the results of the individual reviews included in the analysi…

The current systematic meta-review aimed to map out, characterize, analyze, and synthesize the overarching findings of systematic reviews on domestic violence (DV) in the context of COVID-19. Specifically, a systematic meta-review was conducted with three main objectives: (1) to identify what types and aspects of DV du…

Variability in the results of randomized trials presents challenges to the interpretation and application of the evidence to patient care. Understanding how systematic reviews deal with this problem of "heterogeneity" will help clinicians in applying results in their patient management. This manuscript offers a review…

Systematic reviews provide a synthesis of evidence for a specific topic of interest, summarising the results of multiple studies to aid in clinical decisions and resource allocation. They remain among the best forms of evidence, and reduce the bias inherent in other methods. A solid understanding of the systematic revi…

Health care providers, policy makers, and investigators are dependent upon the quality and accuracy of published research findings to inform and guide future practice and research in their field. Systematic reviews, the synthesis of outcomes across studies are increasingly more common in the family literature; however,…

BACKGROUND: For over three decades researchers have developed critical appraisal tools (CATs) for assessing the scientific quality of research overviews. Most established CATs for reviews in evidence-based medicine and evidence-based public health (EBPH) focus on systematic reviews (SRs) with studies on experimental in…

Systematic reviews of imaging research represent a tool to better understand test accuracy or the efficacy of interventions. Like any type of research, appropriate methods must be applied to optimize quality. The purpose of this review is to outline common pitfalls in performing systematic reviews of imaging research,…

Systematic reviews form a potential method for overcoming the barriers faced by clinicians when trying to access and interpret evidence to inform their practice. This fourth article in the Evidence-Based Medicine and Healthcare series of the Singapore Medical Journal introduces readers to systematic reviews, outlining…

BACKGROUND: Checking reference lists to identify relevant studies for systematic reviews is frequently recommended by systematic review manuals and is often undertaken by review authors. To date, no systematic review has explicitly examined the effectiveness of checking reference lists as a method to supplement electro…

Some of the most important decisions that a researcher will make when conducting a meta-analysis are decisions about the search strategies and inclusion/exclusion criteria. Decisions regarding inclusion/exclusion criteria serve to define the scope of a meta-analysis and search strategy decisions can have a large impact…

An example review from public health shows how integration is possible and some potential benefits

Following proposals in 1987 and 1988, several medical journals have provided more informative abstracts ("structured abstracts") for articles of clinical interest. Structured abstracts for original studies require authors to systematically disclose the objective, basic research design, clinical setting, participants, i…

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the evidence from reviews and meta-analyses of randomised clinical trials on the effects of pharmacological prevention and management of delirium in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. METHODS: We searched for reviews in July 2017 in: Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Embase, Science Citation Index, B…

The task of reviewing research is now a part of the paediatric nurse's role. A literature review refers to two processes: the search for relevant literature and the critical review of this literature. A literature review must be systematic in order for it to be effective. It should result in the development of new know…