Evidence and research
Evidence Based Content
The recommendations for practice made in the NIPCM are informed by living systematic literature reviews.
Literature reviews are undertaken following defined processes for evidence identification and appraisal, and development of recommendations for practice which are then translated into NIPCM content. These processes follow a defined governance structure, details of these are found in the Development Methodology.
Please note that changes to the methodology are currently being piloted with the IPC Working Groups to increase transparency and improve rigour of development of the NIPCM. Following approval by the ARHAI Scotland IPC Oversight and Advisory Group, the development process will be updated. It is anticipated that review of the pilot methodology will be complete by December 2024. The draft methodology is available to view.
The scientific evidence for the NIPCM is reviewed on a real time basis and details of the reviews reported quarterly.
Any changes identified in the scientific literature may lead to a change being made to the NIPCM following stakeholder engagement.
Evidence Documents
There are four evidence documents associated with each literature review:
Literature Reviews. Provide a comprehensive systematic review and description of the evidence.
Evidence tables. These detail all the included studies and provide an assessment of the evidence for each research question of the literature review.
Considered judgement forms. Outline the evidence base and expert opinion used to develop the recommendations and good practice points for each literature review research question. Also detailed are the benefits, potential harms, feasibility of implementation, value judgements, intentional vagueness, and exceptions associated with the recommendations and good practice points.
Executive Summary. These give an overview of the scope of the literature review, key highlights and notable changes to recommendations and good practice points. They highlight any major changes to NIPCM content expected as a result of a literature review update. A full list of the recommendations and good practice points are provided in the executive summary.
NIPCM Quarterly Evidence Reviews
The scientific evidence for the NIPCM is reviewed on a real time basis and details of the reviews reported quarterly.
2024
2023
2022
2021
SICPs and TBPs
2020
2019
SBAR tools
Statement: Please note that SBARs published before December 2023 make reference to alcohol based hand rub (ABHR). As of date 11 January 2024 this is now referred to as hand rub in the NIPCM based on the updated recommendations in the hand products literature review (with the exception of surgical hand antisepsis which has its own body of research).
An SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) is a communication tool presented in four standardised sections that allow organisations to present key information and communicate it in a clear and concise way. SBARs are often used in healthcare settings to:
- facilitate communication about patient care between healthcare workers, and/or
- present the results of an evidence review to inform evidence-based practice in healthcare settings.
View ARHAI SBARs