Healthcare Informatics and Information Synthesis : Developing and Applying Clinical Knowledge to Improve Outcomes

"Comprehensive, thoughtful, and well-organized . . . an excellent guide to searching, evaluating, organizing, and reporting the results of information syntheses." --CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH As healthcare policy and practice turn toward the use of evidence-based medicine, there is a heightened need for resources that cover the process of research synthesis for the purpose of healthcare outcome improvement. Healthcare Informatics and Information Synthesis integrates the conceptual and procedural dimensions of research synthesis in each of the five stages of the process to produce step-by-step instructions for clinically applicable research syntheses. Explicit instructions are given for tasks ranging from computing a kappa to aggregating effect sizes. The authors provide seven detailed meta-analytic examples that cover a variety of data types, ranging from mean differences to odds ratios, allowing the reader to replicate the results exactly. The book includes a compendium of Internet sources and addresses as well as several ready-to-use forms to assist the reader in the administrative process of conducting a review. Personnel in all healthcare domains, including practitioners, researchers, quality improvement professionals, educators, administrators, students, and consumer information writers will find this an invaluable resource.