Systematic Review: An Approach to Put Evidence into Practice

The current practice of public health and clinical specialities is strongly based on evidence. Systematic review (SR) is an important tool to look at the evidence for or against an intervention. SR addresses a specific question, utilizes transparent methods for a thorough literature search, limits bias in identifying and rejecting studies, critically appraises individual studies, explicitly communicates what is done, and documents what we currently know and do not know about that specific question. Conclusions are more reliable and accurate. It gives confidence to health care provider about the status of present knowledge on a given question. Large amount of information is provided quickly to healthcare providers, researchers, and policymakers. This reduces delay between research to implementation of effective policy.