RNSG 2308: Maternal Newborn Nursing: Types of Articles

When searching for Evidence Based Articles for this class, look for articles that are:

• Systematic Reviews
• Meta Analysis
• Randomized Controlled Trials

Evidence Based Research begins with a question.  It could be an intervention, work place issue, etc...

• Then you look for what evidence exists to answer this question.
• Evidence Based articles shows that an intervention, pratice, program, etc... has been prove to be effective or ineffective or needs more information based on strong rigorous research. 
• There are different levels of evidence.  You want the best evidence that you can find.

Strong Evidence (If done well):

• Systematic Review:  Not original research. Researchers try to answer a question by searching through the databases to find studies that have already been done on this topic.  Summarize all of the research and comes up with a conclusion.  (Searches the databases systematically, hence the name Systematic Review)
• Meta-Analysis: Same as a systematic review, except they put all of the studies together like one big study and then use statistics to analyze it.
• Randomized Controlled Trial:  Study with a control group and an experimental group.  If blinded, that means that the participant and researcher do not know which group is which. Randomized means participants were placed randomly into control or experimental group.

Weaker Evidence (Weak due to possible bias or other issues)

• Cohort Study:  Follow 2 groups.  One has been diagnosed, treated, or exposed to something and the other group of similar people has not.  They follow them through time to see what happens.
• Case Control Study:  Interested in knowing why a group has a certain outcome and another group does not.  Begins looking back to see what the group had in common.
• Critically Appraised Topic:  Evaluate and analyze multiple research studies on a topic.

Continuing Education Articles

Articles published in Nursing Journals that are designed to provide nurses with opportunities to learn about different topics.  Many of these articles are accompanied by a test for the nurse to answer and submit to received continuing education credit.

Articles may be labeled as CE, CEU, or CNE.

Articles in journals are written by people who have a degree in that particular or similar field or they have a lot of experience in that area of study.

The articles are usually written for the professional and may use technical language.

The goals of a journal is to further knowledge in a particular field.

If you are wondering what the difference is between a journal article and Evidence based article:  An evidence based article is a type of journal article.  Not all journal articles are evidence based. They may be informational, a literature review, or use a different type of methodology.