Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis in Pharmacy Practice

A systematic review is a process of synthesizing research evidence by collecting and summarizing all empirical evidence that meets predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Systematic reviews are performed by using systematic methods and often include a meta-analysis component which involves statistical techniques to conduct quantitative synthesis. Pharmacists from different regions of the world and practices—such as academia, hospital, and community—are increasingly using this approach to produce evidence about their new services and interventions, comparing them with services provided by other healthcare professionals or with control groups. This chapter covers the inception of a systematic approach to reviews and their use in pharmacy practice. The quality associated with systematic reviews and meta-analyses are discussed. A quick guide outlines the important steps in conducting a systematic review, and some of the models used in the reporting of meta-analyses—such as direct and indirect evidence models and pooling effect sizes—are introduced.