Healthcare professionals are faced with important decisions every day that can mean the difference between life and death. Clinicians use evidence from research, clinical expertise and patient’s preferences to make clinical decisions. Often, the available evidence is so vast that finding the appropriate course of action becomes a daunting process. Consequently, the critical appraisal of evidence has become a valuable skill to clinicians. Evidence is ranked in a hierarchy system. The highest level of evidence include systematic reviews, which are a compilation of studies that address a particular clinical question (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015, p. 11). This essay will present a critique of a systematic review and meta-analysis. The systematic review used for this critique discusses the risk factors associated with intra-abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome among adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) have being linked to increased mortality within intensive care patients. Unfortunately, the risk factors proposed by the World Society of the Abdominal Compartment Syndrome are mostly based on opinion or pathophysiology (Holodinsky et al., 2013). Consequently, a systematic review of the multiple studies published was needed to determine evidence-based risks associated with IAH or ACS.
Discussion
Holodinsky et al. (2013) developed a search and inclusion protocol
Discussion
Holodinsky et al. (2013) developed a search and inclusion protocol