Twelve tips for undertaking a focused systematic review in medical education

Abstract

The exponential growth of the systematic review methodology within health has been mirrored within medical education, allowing large numbers of publications on a topic to be synthesized to guide researchers and teachers. The robust, transparent and reproducible search methodologies employed offer scholarly rigor. The scope and scale of many reviews in education have only been matched by the size of the commitment needed to complete them and occasional lack of utility of reports. As such, we have noticed a growth in reviews across journals in the field that have questions that are more focused in scope. The authors propose 12 tips for performing a focused review in the right settings for the right reasons and discuss why such “focused reviews” may be more beneficial in those circumstances. Focused reviews allow researchers to formulate answers to specific local issues that have explicit utility of findings. Such reviews are equipped to identify what works for specific groups in specific circumstances and even question how and why this may occur. An additional impact of a focused approach can be a rapid turnaround. This article explains the purpose and benefits of focused review and provides guidance on how to produce them.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Morris Gordon

Morris Gordon, MBChB, MMed, PhD, is a Professor of evidence synthesis and systematic review at UCLAN, UK.

Ciaran Grafton-Clarke

Ciaran Grafton-Clarke, MBChB, is a medical student and summer intern on the project at UCLAN.

Elaine Hill

Elaine Hill, RN Msc, is a lecturer in the school of Health, UCLAN.

Dawne Gurbutt

Dawne Gurbutt, MA, PhD, works with the CELT education unit in UCLAN.

Madalena Patricio

Madalena Patricio, PhD, is the ex-president of AMEE and chair of BEME.

Michelle Daniel

Michelle Daniel, MD MHPE, is assistant dean for curriculum at Michigan Medical School.