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Evidence Reviews for Health & Social Care

Common mistakes

 

failure to scope the topic at start of review
  • check if there is an existing current review e.g. search in Pubmed - restrict to systematic reviews as well as Prospero & Cochrane
  • make sure there are enough research papers relevant to your topic to conduct a review before you submit your protocol/proposal
Poor searching
  • thinking the more databases you search the better
  • not making your search manageable across each databases e.g. too many hits
  • Searching Pubmed and medline (Medline is part of Pubmed)
  • choosing the wrong database for your subject
  • spelling errors in your search terms
  • incorrect use of AND/OR/NOT & truncation/proximity/phrase searching/
  • translating searches across different databases - may need to adjust free text terms to make searches manageable
  • not using limiters e.g. years, language across all databases
  • for some databases - removal of animal studies can be beneficial as well as limiting to human
difference between conducting  and reporting systematic review guidance
  • Understand the difference between the different techniques /methods for conducting & reporting systematic reviews
  • Use Cochrane or CRD guidance for conducting review methods and PRISMA guidelines/checklist for reporting your systematic review.
describing not justifying searches in methodology section
  • don't just state what databases searched, underpin with evidence e.g. why are you choosing these databases?
Poor reporting of Prisma flowchart
  • Numbers don't add up
  • don't split over 2 pages
  • use template, don't create your own flowchart
  • no context to your Prisma in your dissertation - explain what PRISMA flowchart is in the text of your dissertation
  • Understanding the screening part of the Prisma flowchart 
    • 1. Title of article screening
    • 2. Abstract of article screening
    • 3. Full text of article screening
No evaluation of search
  • no discussion of strengths and limitations of search
  • potential bias issue due to search and impact on the validity of the review findings 

 

Reference List for this Libguide

Aveyard, H. (2023). Doing a literature review in health and social care : a practical guide (Fifth edition.). McGraw Hill.

Bettany-Saltikov, J., & McSherry, R. (2024). How to do a systematic literature review in nursing : a step-by-step guide. (3rd edition / Josette Bettany-Saltikov and Robert McSherry.). Open University Press.

Boland, A., Cherry, M. G., & Dickson, R. (2014). Doing a systematic review : a student’s guide. SAGE.

Booth, A., Sutton, A., Clowes, M., & Martyn-St James, M. (2022). Systematic approaches to a successful literature review. (Third edition). SAGE.

Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. (2025). CASP - Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. https://casp-uk.net/

Glasper, E. A., & Rees, C. (Eds.). (2013). How to write your nursing dissertation. Wiley-Blackwell.

Hewitt-Taylor, J. (2017). The essential guide to doing a health and social care literature review. Routledge.

Kegl, B., Zvonka Fekonja, Sergej Kmetec, McCormack, B., & Nataša Mlinar Reljić. (2023). 8 Elements of person-centred care of older people in primary healthcare: a systematic literature review with thematic analysis. De Gruyter EBooks, 103–124. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110786088-008

Pollock, D., Evans, C., Menghao Jia, R., Alexander, L., Pieper, D., Brandão de Moraes, É., Peters, M. D. J., Tricco, A. C., Khalil, H., Godfrey, C. M., Saran, A., Campbell, F., & Munn, Z. (2024). “How-to”: scoping review? Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 176, Article 111572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2024.111572

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses. (2020). PRISMA 2020 Flow Diagram. PRISMA. https://www.prisma-statement.org/prisma-2020-flow-diagram