Practical guide to undertaking scoping reviews for pharmacy clinicians, researchers and policymakers

Hanan Khalil; Patricia McInerney; Danielle Pollock; Lindsay Alexander; Zac Munn; Andrea C Tricco; Christina M Godfrey; Micah D J Peters

doi:10.1111/jcpt.13558

Practical guide to undertaking scoping reviews for pharmacy clinicians, researchers and policymakers

J Clin Pharm Ther. 2022 Feb;47(2):129-134. doi: 10.1111/jcpt.13558. Epub 2021 Oct 29.

Authors

Hanan Khalil^{1

2}, Patricia McInerney³, Danielle Pollock⁴, Lindsay Alexander^{5

6}, Zac Munn⁴, Andrea C Tricco^{7

8

9}, Christina M Godfrey⁹, Micah D J Peters^{10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² Queensland Centre for Evidence Based Nursing and Midwifery: A JBI Centre of Excellence, Brisbane, Australia.
³ Wits-JBI Centre for Evidence-Based Practice: A JBI Affiliated Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁴ JBI, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
⁵ School of Health Sciences, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK.
⁶ Scottish Centre for Evidence-Based Multi-Professional Practice: A JBI Centre of Excellence, Aberdeen, UK.
⁷ Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Epidemiology Division and Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁹ Queen's Collaboration for Health Care Quality Joanna Briggs Institute Centre of Excellence, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
¹⁰ Clinical and Health Sciences, Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
¹¹ Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Adelaide Nursing School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
¹² The Centre for Evidence-Based Practice South Australia (CEPSA): A JBI Centre of Excellence, Adelaide, Australia.

PMID: 34714560
DOI: 10.1111/jcpt.13558

Abstract

What is known and objective: Scoping reviews are a valuable evidence synthesis methodology. They can be used to map the evidence related to any topic to allow examination of practice, methods, policy and where (and how) future research could be undertaken. As such, they are a useful form of evidence synthesis for pharmacy clinicians, researchers and policymakers to review a broad range of evidence sources.

Comment: This commentary presents the most comprehensive and up to date methodology for scoping reviews published by Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). This approach builds upon two older approaches by Arksey and O'Malley, and Levac. To assist reviewers working in the field of pharmacy with planning and conducting scoping reviews, this paper describes how to undertake scoping reviews from inception to publication with specific examples related to pharmacy topics.

What is new and conclusion: The JBI scoping review methodology is a valuable evidence synthesis approach to the field of pharmacy and therapeutics. This approach can assist pharmacy clinicians, researchers and policymakers to gain an understanding of the extant literature, to identify gaps, to explore concepts, characteristics and to examine current practice.

Keywords: evidence synthesis; mapping; methodology; scoping reviews.

MeSH terms

Administrative Personnel
Algorithms
Humans
Pharmacists
Research Design
Research Personnel
Systematic Reviews as Topic / methods*
Systematic Reviews as Topic / standards