title: Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis of Health IT.
abstract: This contribution examines how systematic reviews contribute to the evaluation of health IT planning and implementation. It defines and explains the systematic review process and how higher level overviews of health IT can be conducted. A reprise of some of the Cochrane reviews relating to health IT, particularly those conducted for the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care Group (EPOC), provides examples of the type of question that can be answered (at least in part) by a Cochrane-type systematic review. The contribution also discusses the benefits and limitations of the systematic review process using examples of reviews on telemedicine, nursing records, and home uterine monitoring in pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Aberystwyth University, UK.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Urquhart
authors.affiliation: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Currell
mesh_terms: D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods