Our Progress in Conducting Systematic Reviews

Activities

  • Develop a protocol for conducting systematic reviews. Completed.
  • Create an automated data entry and extraction process. Completed.
  • Work with the MSKTC advisory board to identify review topics in SCI, TBI and burn injury. Ongoing.
  • Convert the automated data entry and extraction process into a Web-based system so reviewers can access data more easily and others in the Model Systems can use the database to conduct their own reviews. Ongoing.
  • Conduct reviews in SCI, TBI and burn injury. Ongoing.

Steps in conducting systematic reviews

  1. Identify topics for review.
  2. Identify authors from the Model Systems.
  3. Develop search criteria.
  4. Search literature databases for articles that meet criteria.
  5. Extract data.
  6. Synthesize data into tables of evidence.
  7. Analyze evidence.
  8. Produce technical report of the results.

Completed Reviews

  • Measuring depression in persons with spinal cord injury

Reviews in progress

 

Spinal Cord Injury

  • SCI and employment
  • SCI and urinary tract surveillance

Traumatic Brain Injury

  • Interventions for depression in persons with traumatic brain injury
  • Interventions for headache in persons with traumatic brain injury
  • Efficacy of screening and brief interventions (SBI) to screen for substance abuse in persons with traumatic brain injury

Burn Injury

  • Measuring depression in persons with burn injury
  • Predictors of and barriers to returning to work after burn injury
  • Satisfaction with surgery and scar revision
Last updated: September 8, 2008