Reviewing methodologically disparate data: a practical guide for the patient safety research field

Katrina F. Brown*, Susannah J. Long, Thanos Athanasiou, Charles A. Vincent, J. Simon Kroll, Nick Sevdalis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorialpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article addresses key questions frequently asked by researchers conducting systematic reviews in patient safety. This discipline is relatively young, and asks complex questions about complex aspects of health care delivery and experience, therefore its studies are typically methodologically heterogeneous, non-randomized and complex; but content rich and highly relevant to practice. Systematic reviews are increasingly necessary to drive forward practice and research in this area, but the data do not always lend themselves to standard review methodologies. This accessible how-to article demonstrates that data diversity need not preclude high-quality systematic reviews. It draws together information from published guidelines and experience within our multidisciplinary patient safety research group to provide entry-level advice for the clinician-researcher new to systematic reviewing, to non-biomedical research data or to both. It offers entry-level advice, illustrated with detailed practical examples, on defining a research question, creating a comprehensive search strategy, selecting articles for inclusion, assessing study quality, extracting data, synthesizing data and evaluating the impact of your review. The article concludes with a comment on the vital role of robust systematic reviews in the continuing advancement of the patient safety field.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)172-181
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
Volume18
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2012

Keywords

  • methodology
  • non-randomized
  • observational
  • patient safety
  • qualitative
  • systematic review
  • CONDUCTING SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
  • RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS
  • EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE
  • QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
  • CLINICAL-PRACTICE
  • TIME INFORMATION
  • EVIDENCE BASE
  • METAANALYSES
  • CARE
  • EPIDEMIOLOGY

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