CERs and Systematic Reviews
CER Definition
Comparative effectiveness research is designed to inform health-care decisions by providing evidence on the effectiveness, benefits, and harms of different treatment options. The evidence is generated from research studies that compare drugs, medical devices, tests, surgeries, or ways to deliver health care. (AHRQ, http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/what-is-comparative-effectiveness-research1/.)
Systematic Review Definition
A systematic review is a critical assessment and evaluation of all research studies that address a particular clinical issue. The researchers use an organized method of locating, assembling, and evaluating a body of literature on a particular topic using a set of specific criteria. A systematic review typically includes a description of the findings of the collection of research studies. The systematic review may also include a quantitative pooling of data, called a meta-analysis. (AHRQ, http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/glossary-of-terms/?pageaction=showterm&termid=70.)
Contact Information
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2038
734.764.1210
Comparative Effectiveness Research & Resources
- Comparative Effectiveness Research (online training modules)16-part training series provides an introduction to CER, as well as advanced instruction on various CER methods and policy and practice. From the Center for Health Outcomes, Policy, & Evaluation Studies at Ohio State University.
- Comparative Effectiveness Research Toolkit (NPC)From the National Pharmaceutical Council. Includes resources to help you understand what CER is & how it can be useful.
- Comparative Effectiveness Resource Center - ECRI InstituteIncludes legislation, conferences, and Comparative Effectiveness in the news.
- Effective Health Care Program (AHRQ)Search for research summaries, reviews, & reports.
- Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research(Open Access)
- More CER ResourcesIncluding data & tools, training resources, legislation, & more. From the National Library of Medicine.
- NLM Resources for Informing Comparative EffectivenessProvides specialized searches of PubMed, HSRProj, & ClinicalTrials.gov to inform comparative effectiveness investigations.
- Project Research Online Database (AHRQ)Search for AHRQ-funded grants related to comparative effectiveness.
- The Lewin Group Center for Comparative Effectiveness ResearchConducts comparative effectiveness research to inform healthcare policy analysis.
Guidelines & Best Practices
- Disease Prevention and Control GuidelinesFrom the Public Health Agency of Canada
- Guide to Community Preventive ServicesFrom the CDC
- Model Practices DatabaseFrom the National Association of County & City Health Officials
Finding Systematic Reviews
- PubMed Systematic Review filterSpecialized PubMed searches to retrieve systematic reviews, meta-analysis, reviews of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine, consensus development conferences, and guidelines.
- Cochrane LibraryThe most respected source of systematic reviews of health care interventions.
- Cochrane Reviews of Relevance to Health Promotion and Public HealthSubset of the Cochrane Library, specific to the fields of public health and health promotion.
- Centre for Reviews and Dissemination DatabasesUniversity of York, UK
- Effective Public Health Practice ProjectCity of Hamilton, Ontario
- EPPI (Evidence for Practice and Policy Information) CentreUniversity of London, UK
- Evidence and Evaluation for Health PromotionState Government of Victoria, Australia
- Health-Evidence.caCanadian Institutes of Health Research
- NICE Evidence BaseNational Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence (UK)
Systematic Approaches to Searching the Health Sciences Literature
Tutorials from the Yale Medical Library that demonstrate how to search the health science literature in a systematic manner to create a comprehensive, methodical, transparent, & reproducible search, so that your conclusions are as unbiased & close to the truth as possible.
- 1. IntroductionIntroduces the concept of "systematic review" & compares a search done for a systematic review & an ordinary literature search.
- 2. Conducting a systematic reviewShows the typical process of a systematic review, & where searching fits in the big picture.
- 3. Preparing for a Systematic SearchDemonstrates a number of tasks reviewers usually do before performing a full-scale systematic search.
- 4. Building Search Strategies (Part I)The first in a series of videos that demonstrate how to build good search strategies in databases (with PubMed as the example), using basic concepts in searching, such as controlled vocabularies.
- 5. Building Search Strategies (Part II)Continues to introduce basic concepts in building searching strategies, such as free-text (natural language) searching, phrase searching, truncation, Boolean logic, and limits, using PubMed as the database.
- 6. Building Search Strategies (Part III)Continues to demonstrate in MEDLINE (Ovid) the basic concepts in building searching strategies. It also introduces Ovid's unique command line query syntax & a number of search features not available in PubMed, such as wildcard & adjacency/proximity searching.
- 7. Building Search Strategies (Part IV)Demonstrates in MEDLINE (Ovid) the basic concepts in building search strategies, in particular, proximity searches, frequency searches, Boolean operators, & the various limit options.
- 8. Systematic Searches #8: Building Search Strategies (Part V)How to search databases that don't use a controlled vocabulary, such as Web of Science and Scopus.
- 9. Using Filters and HedgesFilters & hedges are prefabricated search strategies that can help you quickly search databases for articles on certain topics or those with certain study designs.
- 10. Finding Grey LiteratureAn exhaustive literature search, especially one that leads to a systematic review, needs to include searches in gray literature, to minimize publication or reporting bias.
- 11. Validating, Verifying & Revising Your SearchesA systematic search is an iterative one. you need to constantly evaluate, validate, or verify our search results, & revise and re-run the searches if necessary.