Case Studies

PICO Portal Streamlined Project Set-up and Management

A review team at Medical School of Presidente Prudente was struggling to find a data management system they can all use. They are a diverse team of different ages and comfort levels with computers.

Citation managers weren’t designed for screening, and the files were difficult to share. Some programs could be modified for their needs but were difficult to learn. Some programs were easier to use, but full of bugs. At one point out of frustration, they attempted to create their own program.

But then they found PICO Portal.

PICO Portal was simple to use: it was well laid out with clear tutorials and made setting up projects quick. All of the team's tasks now happen in one place: deduplication, screening (abstract and full text), data management, and project progress tracking. Analytics helps them accurately estimate when each step will be done. There is even a PRISMA diagram. They now have 3 projects running simultaneously.

Stop your search for a better data management system. Start your search on PICO Portal.

Switching from EndNote to PICO Portal

A systematic review team at the University of Minnesota had long been screening their search result references in EndNote. However, screening in a citation manager created extra work for the research librarian, who would have to download the search results, find duplicate references, and distribute the results among the screening team.

Then they switched to PICO Portal, a software designed specifically for screening.

The librarian now uploads the search results directly into PICO Portal. PICO Portal automatically finds most of the duplicate records, and she doesn't have to do a painstaking manual duplicate review.

References are automatically assigned as reviewers logged in, so she doesn't need to distribute them, send large files, or keep track of version changes. Using PICO Portal she saves time, simplifies the project management, and helps the team keep track of their many references.

When the team begins to write their report, they easily download the final references into EndNote and use it as the citation manager it was meant to be.

Stop repurposing EndNote. Start screening in PICO Portal.

PICO Portal Streamlines Preparations for Computable Reports (“Living Systematic Reviews”)

Researchers have long wondered how best to standardize healthcare data, and how to make the systematic review process more efficient. Then came COVID-19, and the need to find the most rigorous and up-to-date data was more urgent than ever.

This led Brian S. Alper, MD, MSPH, FAAFP, FAMIA to found the COVID-19 Knowledge Accelerator (COKA) project. COKA brought together informatics experts, engineers, policymakers, medical professionals, and researchers to develop and test standards for electronic exchange of research evidence. A COKA team was developing a “computable” systematic review which could easily be updated as new data was published. The team chose a COVID-19-related topic to test out a new living systematic review. It was a high-profile project on a rapid timeline.

COKA uploaded searches from nine different databases to PICO Portal. PICO Portal found nearly 700 duplicates among approximately 1400 search results. PICO Portal’s system also allowed for multiple investigators to jump in and screen results without needing to assign or parcel out the work. These features saved the significant time and facilitated collaboration among a large and dispersed team.

Stop manually updating your systematic reviews. Start your living systematic review on PICO Portal today.