Nursing Literature Review and Practice Interventions

Introduction to Literature Review

• A literature review is a systematic and critical review of the most important published scholarly literature on a particular topic.
• It serves several important functions in the research process and plays a critical role in developing evidence-based practice.

Purposes and Uses of Literature Review

• Determine what is known and not known about a subject, concept, or problem.
• Identify gaps, consistencies, and inconsistencies in the literature.
• Discover unanswered questions about a subject, concept, or problem.
• Describe the strengths and weaknesses of designs/methods of inquiry and instruments used in earlier works.
• Generate useful research questions or projects/activities for a discipline.
• Determine an appropriate research design/method for answering the research question.
• Promote the development of protocols and policies related to nursing practice.
• Uncover new practice interventions or gain support for changing a practice intervention.

Types of Literature Review

• Primary sources: Descriptions of research studies written by the original investigator.
• Secondary sources: Descriptions of research studies written by someone else other than the study investigator.

Sources of Literature

• Print Sources: Indexes and abstracts.
• Electronic sources: Online catalogs, CD-ROMs, and online bibliographic databases.

Steps of Searching the Literature

• Determine the concept/issue/topic/problem.
• Conduct a computer search.
• Weed out irrelevant sources before printing.
• Organize sources from printout for retrieval.
• Retrieve relevant sources.
• Conduct preliminary reading and weed out irrelevant sources.
• Critically read each source and summarize and critique each source.
• Synthesize critical summaries.

Preparing a Written Literature Review

• Introduction: Introduce the topic and provide background information.
• Body (Content): Organize and present the literature review.
• Conclusion: Summarize the findings and implications.

Content of Research Report

• Abstract: A brief description of the study (100-200 words) that clarifies the aim, setting, subject, research design, findings, and recommendations.
• Introduction: Provides the reader with the problem, its context, and consists of four elements: statement of purpose, review of related literature, theoretical framework, and significance.
• Method: Describes the research methodological decisions, including research subject, research design, and methods of data collection.
• Result: Presents descriptive information using simple statistics.
• Discussion: Draws conclusions about the meaning and implications of the study, including interpretation of results, discussion of study limitations, and implications for practice.