• We use systematic reviews to summarise information about a particular topic.
• They make it easier for us to know how much we can trust this information and to allow us make the best decisions to help the people we care for.

Our brains are wired in a way to allow us to make quick decisions.  This is great as it allows us to save both time and energy.  On the downside, it means we are vulnerable to making assumptions and reaching conclusions before weighing up all the facts.

When it comes to the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, we want to make the best decisions.  To do this we need to be properly informed.  While it is easier than ever to find information, there can be too much. It is not always easy to tell fact from fiction, or to know what information we can or can’t trust.  Worse again, we can be completely misinformed.

As described in our first blog, evidence synthesis brings together information from different research studies to provide a summary of what we know and what we don’t.

There are different ways to carry out evidence synthesis depending on what type of information people want to know.  One way is to do a systematic review.  Systematic because we follow standard steps in a fixed order.  Review because we review, or summarise, all the information.

Like a good cake, the quality of a systematic review is only as good as what goes into it. So we search for all relevant information from trustworthy sources. Ideally, people with specialist searching skills (Information Specialists) will carry out these searches. Depending on the topic, information may come from well-designed research studies or clinical trials.  It is unlikely to come from personal opinions, newspaper articles or Google searches.  Then we check how the information was collected and presented using fixed steps. Like a Mary Berry recipe, these steps are designed to keep methods consistent and repeatable. This can be a huge amount of work – taking many months to search, find, double-check, combine, summarise and clearly describe the evidence.

Systematic reviews show when there is enough reliable information to allow us to make a decision that will help us and our loved ones.  Sometimes they show there is not enough trustworthy information out there yet.  This can stop people trying something that may not help them, or could even harm them.  It can also show where well-designed research is needed, so that money is spent in the right place at the right time.

We will be using this blog site to let you know what projects we are working on, share information about how we are carrying these out and what we learn. If you would like to know more about our work please visit the NESSIE website or subscribe to hear when a new blog is out.

Blog written by Dr Cathryn Broderick

What are systematic reviews, why are they helpful, and what do they have to do with cakes? / NESSIE - NIHR Evidence Synthesis Scotland InitiativE by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0