Systematic reviews of non-research evidence are a powerful tool for gaining a comprehensive synthesis of the state of knowledge on a policy and/or practice question. They are particularly relevant to health and medical researchers, especially when the review question is unlikely to be answered by research literature, especially when the area of study is very new, or it concerns health policy, health services or health systems, and the only available evidence is from experts’ opinion, policy recommendations or other non-peer reviewed sources.

The NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability and NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Digital Health are hosting a one-day workshop to demonstrate how to create impactful Systematic Reviews of Non-Research Evidence (Expert Opinion Reports & Policy Documents).

• When: 8 February 2019, 9.00 am – 5.00 pm
• Cost: $300, includes lunch, morning and afternoon tea and lecture materials
• Location: Australian Institute of Health Innovation, level 6, 75 Talavera Road, Macquarie University, Sydney
• Number of attendees: limited to 25 people

Presenters:

• Dr Catalin Tufanaru – preeminent academic on systematic reviews, with 10 years of experience and expertise in conducting reviews and in teaching, peer-reviewing, and providing methodological guidance on systematic reviews
• Associate Professor Yvonne Zurynski – Australia’s first associate professor for health system sustainability and a health service researcher and evaluator

Who should attend?

Healthcare professionals, academics or students interested in understanding the essence of systematic reviews of expert opinion and policy documents. No prior knowledge of systematic review methodology is required or assumed.

At the end workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the stages and steps of a systematic review
• Describe the role of expert opinion and policy documents in health research
• Compare and contrast systematic reviews of expert opinion and policy documents with systematic reviews of research evidence
• Describe the essential structure and requirements for a review report for a systematic review of expert opinion and policy documents
• Develop a search strategy for a systematic review of expert opinion and policy documents
• Use a critical appraisal tool for the assessment of the quality of expert opinion and policy documents
• Systematically extract appropriate and relevant data from expert opinion and policy documents to answer a review question
• Apply an appropriate data synthesis approach for a systematic review of expert opinion and policy documents
• Start working on developing a protocol for their own systematic review of expert opinion and policy documents

Questions? Please email aihi.pchssadmin@mq.edu.au

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Day Program

9.00 am: Welcome, Overview, and Participants’ Introduction

9.20 am: Session 1: Brief Introduction to systematic reviews (review protocol writing; searching; study selection; data extraction; critical appraisal; data synthesis; report writing)

9.55 am: Session 2: The importance of non-research evidence (expert opinion and policy documents) in healthcare policy and practice (Session presented by Associate Professor Yvonne Zurynski)

10.15 am: Morning break

10.35 am: Session 3: Writing a review protocol for a systematic review of non-research evidence

10.55 am: Session 4: Developing a search strategy and searching for a systematic review of non-research evidence

11.15 am: Session 5: Texts/Documents selection for a systematic review of non-research evidence (including hands-on practical exercise)

12.00 pm: Lunch break

12.30 pm: Session 6: Data extraction for a systematic review of non-research evidence (including hands-on practical exercise)

1.10 pm: Afternoon break

1.30 pm: Session 7: Critical appraisal for a systematic review of non-research evidence (including hands-on practical exercise)

2.50 pm: Afternoon break

3.10 pm: Session 8: Data synthesis for a systematic review of non-research evidence (including hands-on practical exercise)

4.10 pm: Session 9: Report writing for a systematic review of non-research evidence

4.25 pm: Summative Discussion Session

5.00 pm: Program Close