Adopting a toolkit to manage time, resources, and expectations in the systematic review process: a case report

Background: The proliferation of systematic reviews has impacted library operations and activities as librarians support, collaborate, and perform more tasks in the systematic review process. This case report describes a toolkit that librarians with extensive experience in supporting multiple review teams use to manage time, resources, and expectations in the systematic review process.Case Presentation: The toolkit is a compilation of documents that we use to effectively communicate with and help review teams understand and navigate each stage of the systematic review process. Elements included in the toolkit and discussed in this case report are intake forms, communication templates and memoranda, a process flow diagram, library guides on tools for retrieval and data appraisal, and established standards for guidance during the write-up stage. We describe the use of the toolkit for both education and project management, with a focus on its use in helping manage team time, resources, and expectations.Discussion: The systematic review toolkit helps librarians connect systematic review steps and tasks to actionable items. The content facilitates and supports discussion and learning by both librarians and team members. This toolkit helps librarians share important information and resources for each stage of the process.

Download Full-text

Addressing challenges with systematic review teams through effective communication: a case report

Journal of the Medical Library Association JMLA ◽

10.5195/jmla.2021.1222 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 109 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Linda C. O’Dwyer ◽

Q. Eileen Wafford

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Case Report ◽

Review Process ◽

Communication Strategies ◽

Core Competency ◽

Effective Communication ◽

Low Energy ◽

Full Participation ◽

Systematic Review Process

Background: Every step in the systematic review process has challenges, ranging from resistance by review teams to adherence to standard methodology to low-energy commitment to full participation. These challenges can derail the project and result in significant delays, duplication of work, and failure to complete the review. Communication during the systematic review process is key to ensuring it runs smoothly and is identified as a core competency for librarians involved in systematic reviews.Case Presentation: This case report presents effective communication approaches that our librarians employ to address challenges encountered while working with systematic review teams. The communication strategies we describe engage teams through information, questions, and action items and lead to productive collaborations with publishable systematic reviews.Conclusions: Effective communication with review teams keeps systematic review projects moving forward. The techniques covered in this case study strive to minimize misunderstandings, educate collaborators, and, in our experience, have led to multiple successful collaborations and publications. Librarians working in the systematic review space will recognize these challenges and can adapt these techniques to their own environments.

Download Full-text

PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S: Common Questions on Tracking Records and the Flow Diagram

10.31222/osf.io/439ju ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Melissa Rethlefsen ◽

Matthew James Page

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Systematic Reviews ◽

Review Process ◽

Information Source ◽

Original Version ◽

Flow Diagram ◽

Sufficient Detail ◽

The Common ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

Systematic Review Process

PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S are newly released guidelines to help systematic review teams report their reviews clearly, transparently, and with sufficient detail to enable reproducibility. PRISMA 2020, the updated version of the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement, is complemented by PRISMA-S, an extension to PRISMA focusing on reporting the search components of systematic reviews. Several significant changes were implemented in PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S when compared with the original version of PRISMA in 2009, including the recommendation to report search strategies for all databases, registries, and websites that were searched. PRISMA-S also recommends reporting the number of records identified from each information source. One of the most challenging aspects of the new guidance from both documents has been changes to the flow diagram. In this article, we review some of the common questions about using the PRISMA 2020 flow diagram and tracking records through the systematic review process.

Download Full-text