Citation
Knisley, M. R., Carpenter, J. S., & Ah, D. V. (2014). Pharmacogenomics in the nursing literature: An integrative review. Nursing Outlook, 62(4), 285-296.
Synopsis
How many persons were involved in conducting the review?
The two authors (Knisley and Carpenter (2014)) conducted the integrative review of literature.
What topic/question did the integrative research review address?
The researchers were addressing the state of pharmacogenomics, a branch of medical science, in the nursing literature. In this case, the researchers critically examined the concepts of pharmocogenetics and pharmacogenomics in nursing, pharmacogenomics applications in clinical practice and the responsibilities of nurses in applying these concepts.
How were the potential research reports identified?
The researchers used computer-based searching methods to identify nursing literature in the existing online libraries (PubMed, Ovid Nursing and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health). To identify the materials, the terms “pharmacogenetic” and “pharmacogenomics” were used as the keywords for the search strategy.
What determined if a study was included in the analysis?
The researchers also set specific conditions for the inclusion criteria. Each selected article was supposed to have the full length (not abstracts only). It was also supposed to be published in the English language. In addition, the included articles were supposed to have information relevant to the fields of pharmacogenomics and/or pharmacogenetics. The researchers excluded any study that had abstracts or editorials only, duplicated publications and those without adequate exploration of pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomics apart from their definitions.
How many studies were included in the analysis?
According to the article, the search criteria obtained 136 articles from the three libraries. However, the inclusion and exclusion criteria removed 56 articles because of duplication, 12 abstracts that did not meet the requirements and 21 for not meeting the content requirements. Thus, the study used a sample of 47 research articles.
What research designs were used in the selected research articles?
A mixed method approach was used to obtain both qualitative and quantitative information from the studies. First, the first researcher abstracted the data while the second author made the necessary verifications. Discussions were done to remove discrepancies. Tabulations were used to obtain data codes. Coding, categorization and summarization methods were used to analyze the data.
What were the consistent and important across-study’s conclusions?
An analysis of the data obtained from all the 47 articles in the study indicates that pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics are important topics and fields of science that cannot be ignored because knowledge from these fields has been integrated into the field of nursing, including academics and practice. In addition, it was concluded that evidence-based nursing has intensively applied knowledge from the two fields, which means that nurses must be actively engaged in the interdisciplinary conversations that involves the two fields.
Credibility
Was the topic clearly defined? Yes
Was the search for the studies and other evidence comprehensive and unbiased? Yes
Was the screening of citations for inclusion based on explicit criteria? Yes
Were the included studies assessed for quality? Yes
Were the design characteristics and findings of the studies displayed or discussed in sufficient detail? Yes
Was there a truly integration (synthesis) of the findings? Yes
If different findings were found between the studies, did the reviewers explore why the difference in findings might have occurred? No
Did the reviewers distinguish between conclusions based on consistent findings from a sufficient number of studies and those based on inferior evidence? Not clear
Were conclusions were supported by consent findings from the two or more studies? Yes
Ae the conclusions credible? Yes, all of them are credible
Clinical significance
Across the studies, is the size of the treatment or the strength of the association found or the meaningfulness of qualitative findings enough to make a difference in patient outcomes or experience of care? Yes
Are the conclusions relevant to the care of the nurses given? Yes
Are the conclusions clinically significant? Yes, all of them are clinically significant
Conclusion
Conclusions made
This study has shown that integrative research review is a strong method of carrying out studies to examine an existing phenomenon that is important in nursing but always ignored. Noteworthy, integrative research attempts to examine what other researchers have done in order to find a common understanding or conclusion from their work. Thus, it has a number of benefits to the field of nursing.
For example, it evaluates the strength of scientific evidence, which is important in the modern field of evidence-based nursing. In addition, it is important in identifying gaps in the current research or knowledge. It also identifies the need for further research. A comprehensive integrative literature review has the potential to establish a link between the related areas of work or knowledge and identifying the central problems or issues in a given area.
In nursing, this benefit is important in linking or bridging different areas of biomedical and health studies with nursing. It is worth noting that nursing involves the practical and theoretical application of information, data, knowledge and technologies from other fields in the wide area of medicine and health, including biomedical sciences.
Therefore, I expect to use integrative literature review in my field when taking research studies. In particular, I wish to start with the integrative review of the existing literature in order to identify areas of weakness or gaps in knowledge in order to note the areas that need further research. In this case, I will contribute to the development of knowledge in nursing, especially because the modern nursing field relies heavily on evidence-based knowledge and application of knowledge to improve the patient and community outcomes.
Reference
Knisley, M. R., Carpenter, J. S., & Ah, D. V. (2014). Pharmacogenomics in the nursing literature: An integrative review. Nursing Outlook, 62(4), 285-296.