Systematic review of RCTs
Task description:
You will need to complete the following activities in your group, except when indicated as individually:
Identify a research question using the PICO approach and a rationale for this question.
Note: the research question needs to be answered by intervention rather than observational/epidemiological studies, preferably involving randomised controlled trials (RCTs) rather than uncontrolled pre-posttest designs.
I.C.O Question:
Population: Middle-aged (45-64 years) patients with T2DM
Intervention: Metformin
Comparator: Exercise
Outcome: improvement in blood sugar levels
Is Metformin more effective, as compared to exercise, at reducing blood sugar levels for middle-aged (45-64 years) patients with T2DM?
Develop a literature review methodology, based on standard systematic review processes that include a description of the databases searched, keywords used (including all relevant synonyms and truncated words), relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria;
Conduct a review of relevant databases to identify TWO relevant intervention papers per student on the research topic. Thus, if your group has four individuals, your groups’ review will need to include a total of eight papers. For the purposes of this assignment, an intervention article is one in which some participants were given the intervention whereas other participants were given usual care or an alternative intervention.
Develop a summary table (in MS Excel or Word) of the relevant details summarising the most important PICO information that relates to the participants, interventions and primary results relevant to the research question.
Develop a summary table (in MS Excel or Word) of the critical appraisal of your included studies with explicit evidence supporting your appraisal of each criteria for each study.
Perform a review of your team members’ contribution across the “Team work and communication evaluation” criteria of the Individual component (see second last page marking rubric).
Present an oral summary (using PowerPoint) that includes the following sections:
Introduction and rationale of the research question;
Brief description of your review methodology, based on the systematic review process;
Results that included a summary of the sections described in the Excel/Word files;
Discussion including practical and theoretical applications, potential external and internal validity limitations of the included studies and primary ethical considerations for this type of research.
Answer questions from your peers and teaching staff after completing your presentation.
Structure:
The MS Excel/Word files should be completed prior to you actually starting the PowerPoint presentation as it will enable you to identify the similarities and differences in methodology and risk of experimental bias that may have influenced the results.
The PowerPoint presentation should follow the following structure:
Present the research question of your review using the PICO approach, some key epidemiology on the condition, including symptoms and a rationale for this question i.e. how your intervention may offset the symptoms and/or prevalence of this condition in the community;
Describes your literature review methodology including databases searched, keywords used, relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria;
Present the findings of your review in a way that facilitates a clear comparison of the major similarities and differences in the methodologies and results of the studies you identified as well as summary of the critical appraisals;
Discuss the most important: 1) theoretical and practical applications of these findings; 2) ethical principles underlying this research; and 3) limitations of the included studies that may influence the internal and external variety of the studies in your review;
Provide full citation details of all the reviewed articles (in a recognised referencing style), so that we could easily access the full papers.
