PRISM is a relatively newly established research and training hub within the Centre which has been set up to develop expertise and capacity in conducting systematic reviews within Ireland. Systematic reviews (SRs) are the most up-to-date and gold standard technology for critically appraising and synthesising evidence across health and social care sectors, and are increasingly used to inform health and social care decision making. Currently, there is relatively little methodological support within Ireland for those who wish to undertake rigorous systematic reviews. PRISM aims to address this gap by promoting the use of SR methodology in Ireland and building capacity in this field so that Irish researchers and health and social care professionals can produce high-quality evidence to better inform national and international policy and practice.
More specifically, PRISM:
- Delivers workshops on conducting systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses, including both introductory and advanced topics
- Liaises with authors to help them produce timely and robust reviews of direct relevance to health and social care
- Supports postgraduate students and all researchers and academics in developing competency and confidence in conducting and reporting SRs
- Explores advanced and innovative methodologies in evidence synthesis
- Adopts an interdisciplinary approach and applies SR methodology to medical, psychosocial and educational fields
- Promotes the role of systematic reviews for informed health and social care decision making.
PRISM was co-founded, and is directed, by Dr Maireád Furlong and Professor Sinead McGilloway who collaborate with, and have access to, a network of expert and experienced authors of Cochrane www.cochrane.org and Campbell www.campbellcollaboration.org reviews in the fields of mental health, disability, learning disabilities/education, interventions/care packages for older people, end-of-life care, and diabetes. Further information on our ongoing systematic reviews may be found under our Projects ‘Other Research‘ page.