Stage Ii

Once the protocol has been agreed, it is time to start the review. Conducting a thorough search to identify relevant studies and documenting the search are major parts of the review. The selection of studies, assessment of their quality and synthesis of extracted information will follow. Throughout the review, it is essential that good communication be maintained between those responsible for commissioning or supervising it and those responsible for carrying it out. Regular meetings (whose form and frequency can be adapted according to the needs of the individual projects) facilitate this process. Although the phases within this stage are described consecutively, this sequence is not meant to follow an exact chronology. Often it will not be possible to complete a phase before others have been started, and at other times it will be more efficient to work on several phases simultaneously.