Absence of a Comprehensive Literature Search Protocol in a Systematic Review of Published Studies Describing Operating Room Optimization

Excerpt

We write with questions about Schouten and colleagues’ paper, “Operating room performance optimization metrics: a systematic review” [1]. The paper seems not to meet fully the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria. Such research includes all studies meeting prespecified eligibility criteria, thereby reducing bias. The review by Schouten probably missed many scientific studies on the topic, potentially affecting conclusions. Our concern is based on the authors’ published search strings. We focus on PubMed because that database is available publicly, without charge. However, our critique applies to the Scopus and Web of Science databases, following source-specific changes to the search field tags. …