In their systematic review (SR), Jackson et al. (203) explored the role of patient-centered care in medical homes. The search for randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) was made to collect the most credible data published within recent years. The search strategy is rather detailed and transparent since the authors outline the number of initial articles and those that were selected after meeting inclusion criteria. In particular, 9 studies focusing on patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) were selected based on their moderate strength of evidence and results that are important to nursing practices. Among validity identification tools, the authors distinguished random assignments to studying groups, patient experiences and health outcomes, as well as nurses attitudes.
In spite of the fact that the same credibility criteria were applied to all studies that might be potentially included in the sample size, the results across articles were not consistent. It may be explained by different aims stated by researchers in their studies: while some of them targeted the investigation of patient outcomes, others were aimed at determining factors affectin
g PCMH effectiveness. It should be stressed that this systematic review involves only peer-reviewed articles that present both aggregate and individual patient data, which shows the wide coverage area identified by the authors (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 20). In addition, such an approach allows considering various contexts and health issues that may also impact inpatient health care services in terms of patient-centered care approach.
The given SR also provided statistical information on how the results were received, processed, and interpreted. Information regarding the target population, interventions, financial aspects, risk of bias, etc. were collected. If odds ratios (ORs) were not identified in this systematic review, then the authors outline relative risk ratios (RRs) for each of the articles selected. Accordingly, effect sizes were highlighted for every study based on statistical calculations. One may evaluate the evidence given by the mentioned study as level I since it is based on a synthesis of data obtained from RCTs (Fineout-Overholt, Melnyk, Stillwell, & Williamson, 200a).
Aligning My Patients with the Given Systematic Review