Use of meta-analysis as a teaching strategy in nursing research courses

In order to become knowledgeable consumers of nursing research, nursing students must be able to critically read research and determine the study's value for nursing practice. As the number of nursing intervention studies rises and research topics are studied more extensively, the use of meta-analysis in the discipline of nursing will also increase. The same scientific rigor demanded of other types of research must be applied to meta-analysis. In this article two teaching strategies using meta-analysis are shared for sharpening both undergraduate and graduate nursing students' critiquing skills. On the undergraduate level, nursing students can assess the quality of the studies included in a particular meta-analysis. On the graduate level, students can use an appraisal checklist of criteria for evaluating the actual meta-analysis.