Systematic Reviews - Research Guide

  1. Starting a Systematic Review

• Check existing reviews/protocols - ensure proposed study is unique    

  2. Developing your Clinical Question

• Develop a specific question so your search will be relevant - use PICO or PICo
• Devise a protocol - determine the inclusion/exclusion and eligibility criteria for further studies

  3. Finding the Literature

• Conduct a comprehensive search - your search strategy must be explicit and reproducible

  4. Appraising your Results

• Select studies against eligibility criteria - follow your protocol
• Appraise studies - assess risk of bias in each study
• Extract relevant data for analysis

  5. Documenting your Review

• Document the search process
• Prepare a comprehensive report on all of the steps of your systematic review and present results