Literature Reviews – Health (Nursing, Medicine, Allied Health) – Research Guides at New York University

1. develop a focused question

consider peak format: population/problem, intervention, comparison, outcome

focus on defining the population or problem and intervention (don’t limit the comparison or outcome yet!)

Reading: How to write a health care literature review

example:

“what are the effects of the pilates method for patients with low back pain?”

tools & additional resources:

• pico help question
• templates & definitions for peak question types
  • stillwell, susan b., dnp, rn, cne; fineout-overholt, ellen, phd, rn, fnap, faan; melnyk, bernadette mazurek, phd, rn, cpnp/pmhnp, fnap, faan; williamson, kathleen m., phd, rn evidence-based practice, step by step: asking the clinical question, ajn the american journal of nursing: march 2010 – volume 110 – number 3 – p 58-61 doi: 10.1097/01 .naj .0000368959.11129.79

  2. reach the literature

  A “scope search” investigates the breadth and/or depth of the initial question or may identify a gap in the literature.

  eligible studies can be located by searching:

  • background sources (books, poc tools)
  • article databases
  • trial records
  • grey literature
  • search for cited references
  • reference lists

  When searching, if possible, translate the terms into the controlled vocabulary of the database. use the text word search when necessary.

  use boolean operators to connect search terms:

  • combines separate concepts with and (resulting in a more restricted search)
  • connect synonyms with or (resulting in an expanded search)

  example:

  search: pilates and (“lumbalgia” or back pain)

  tools & additional resources:

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  download a boolean worksheet (pdf)

  3. refine & broaden your search

  expand your search strategy with synonymous search terms taken from:

  • database thesauri
  • reference lists
  • relevant studies

  example:

  (pilates or exercise movement techniques) and (“low back pain” or back pain* or sciatica or lumbago or spondylosis)

  tools & additional resources:

  as you develop a final reproducible strategy for each database, save your strategies to a:

  • a personal database account (for example, myncbi for pubmed)
  • a spreadsheet or word document
    • nyu libraries literature search template
      • log in with your nyu credentials
      • open and “make a copy” to create your own crawler for your literature search strategies

      4. limit your results

      Use database filters to limit your results based on your defined inclusion/exclusion criteria. In addition to relying on categorical filters in databases, you may also need to manually filter results.

      example:

      • limit to article type, e.g. eg, “randomized controlled trial” or multicenter study
      • limit by years of publication, age groups, language, etc.

      note: many databases allow you to filter to “full text only”. this filter is not recommended. excludes articles if their full text is not available in that particular database (cinahl, pubmed, etc.), but if the article is relevant, it is important that you be able to read its title and abstract, regardless of “full text” status . . the full text may be accessible through another source (a different database or interlibrary loan).

      tools & additional resources:

      • filters in pubmed
      • cinahl advanced search tutorial

      5. download quotes

      selected citations and/or entire sets of search results can be downloaded from the database to a citation management tool. If you’re doing a systematic review that will require reporting to prisma standards, a citation manager can help you keep track of the number of articles coming from each database, as well as the number of duplicate records.

      example:

      In zotero, you can create a collection for the combined result set and subcollections for the results from each database you search. then you can use zotero’s ‘duplicate items’ function to find and merge duplicate records.

      

      tools & additional resources:

      • Citation Managers: General Guide
      • guides for specific tools:
        • zotero
        • final note
        • reconstructions

        6. summarize and analyze

        • migrate citations to data collection/extraction tool
        • screen title/summaries for inclusion/exclusion
        • examine and evaluate the full text for relevance, methods,
        • resolve disagreements by consensus

        example:

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        covidence is a web-based tool that allows you to work with a team to select titles/abstracts and full text to include in your review, as well as extract data from included studies.

        

        tools & additional resources:

        • covidence
          • covidence support
          • critical appraisal tools
          • data extraction tools

          7. create flowchart

          The prisma flowchart (preferred reporting elements for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) is a visual representation of the flow of records through different phases of a systematic review. represents the number of records identified, included and excluded. it is best used in conjunction with the prism checklist.

          example:

          

          example from: stotz, s. A., McNealy, K., Begay, R. L., Desanto, K., Manson, S. m., & Moore, K. r. (2021). Multilevel diabetes prevention and treatment interventions for US natives. uu. and canada: a scoping review. Diabetes Current Reports, 2(11), 46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-021-01414-3

          tools & additional resources:

          • prisma flowchart generator (theta collaborative, or toronto)
          • prism diagram templates (word and pdf)
          • editable prism diagram – nyu libraries (google drawing)
            • login with your nyu credentials
            • make a copy of the file to complete the template
            • image can be downloaded as pdf, png, jpg or svg
            • covidence generates a prisma diagram that is automatically updated as records go through the review phases

            8. synthesize & report results

            A number of reporting guidelines are available to guide the synthesis and reporting of results in systematic reviews of the literature.

            example:

            it is common to organize the findings in a matrix, also known as a table of evidence (toe).

            

            tools & additional resources:

            • reporting guidelines for systematic reviews
            • download a sample health science review matrix template (ms excel)

            steps modified from:

            cook, d. to., & west, c. p. (2012). conducting systematic reviews in medical education: a stepwise approach. medical education, 46(10), 943-952.

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