How to Write a Nursing Literature Review

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How to Write a Nursing Literature Review

Your Essential Nursing Lit Review Guide(UK Edition 2025-2026)

Struggling with how to write a nursing literature review? You’re not alone.
For UK nursing students – whether you’re studying BSc Nursing, FNP, NP, or doing your RN to BSN – mastering the art of a nursing literature review is essential to your academic success.

At Projectsdeal.co.uk we know what UK universities expect.

This guide breaks down everything you need: from what a lit review is, to structure, referencing, critical analysis – with practical tips and example of nursing literature review ideas to help you shine.

👉 Need help writing your nursing literature review? Check out our Nursing Dissertation Writing Services trusted by UK students.

🩺 What Is a Nursing Literature Review?

A nursing literature review is an in‑depth study of existing research, journal articles, books, reports, and evidence relevant to a specific nursing topic. It is more than just listing what’s been written — it’s a critical, structured, and evaluative account of what researchers, nurses, and healthcare professionals already know about your topic.

In a nursing context, your review:
✅ Describes and analyses published knowledge
✅ Identifies gaps or unanswered questions in current research
✅ Shows how your dissertation or project could help develop new understanding or improve practice

For example, if your topic is nurse practitioner–led interventions for diabetes management, your literature review in nursing research will look at recent studies, compare their findings, discuss themes (like patient education or adherence), and highlight where evidence is still lacking.

🧠 A nursing literature review is not just a summary

Many students think a lit review is just writing what each author said. Instead, it should:

  • Be organised around themes or arguments found in the literature
  • Discuss similarities, differences, and debates between sources
  • Critically analyse each study’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Show how all of this connects to your research question

For instance, an example of nursing literature review might identify three common themes (e.g., patient engagement, digital tools, barriers in low‑income areas) and discuss them across multiple articles, rather than summarising each paper separately.

📌 Example of nursing literature review topic

“Nurse practitioner‑led interventions to reduce hospital admissions in chronic heart failure patients.”

In this example nursing literature review, you’d:

  • Compare NP‑led vs physician‑led care
  • Identify themes: patient education, self‑management, barriers
  • Discuss where evidence agrees/conflicts
  • Highlight UK/European context (e.g., NICE guidelines)

🧩 Types of Nursing Literature Reviews

Depending on your degree (BSc Nursing, NP, FNP, GNM nursing, MSc Nursing, or online nursing programs) you might write:

  • Narrative / Traditional review – common for essays
  • Systematic review – formal method, often for dissertations
  • Scoping review – maps the field, identifies gaps
  • Integrative review – combines qualitative & quantitative studies

Tip: Most undergraduate nursing assignments use a narrative or integrative review; MSc dissertations often use systematic or scoping.

🧠 How to Write a Literature Review: Step by Step

How to Write a Nursing Literature Review

📝 1. Start with your research question

  • Begin with a topic you’re passionate about (e.g., impact of nurse practitioner‑led clinics on chronic disease management).
  • Do background reading: get familiar with key terms, guidelines (e.g., NICE), and landmark studies.
  • Develop your research question (using PICO(T), if helpful):
    • Patient/problem: adults with hypertension
    • Intervention: NP‑led clinics
    • Comparison: physician‑led clinics
    • Outcome: blood pressure control
  • Decide your scope:
    • Number of years (e.g., last 5–10 years)
    • Type of studies (qualitative, quantitative, mixed‑methods)
    • Purpose (assignment, dissertation, systematic review)

🔍 Tip: Keep track of keywords and synonyms for database searches:

  • nurse practitioner, NP, advanced practice nurse
  • hypertension, high blood pressure
  • chronic disease, long‑term conditions

📖 2. Search the literature

Your search strategy is the backbone of your review.

✅ Identify core concepts (usually 2–4).
✅ List synonyms and related terms (e.g., NP OR nurse practitioner).
✅ Choose where to search:

  • CINAHL (nursing‑focused)
  • PubMed / MEDLINE
  • British Nursing Index
  • Cochrane Library (systematic reviews)
  • Google Scholar for grey literature

✅ Apply filters:

  • Peer‑reviewed
  • English
  • UK/Europe focus (if relevant)
  • Publication date (last decade)

Tip: Start broad, then narrow down.
Save searches, export references into RefWorks, EndNote, or Zotero.

📝 3. Read & evaluate

Now you dive in!

✅ Start by reading abstracts:

  • Is it a primary source (original research)?
  • Is it relevant to your question?

✅ Critically appraise:

  • Methods: strong design? bias?
  • Findings: consistent or conflicting?
  • Context: UK‑based? transferable?

✅ Use a literature matrix (table) to compare:

StudySettingSampleMethodsKey FindingsNotes

✅ Identify:

  • Common themes
  • Conflicting evidence
  • Gaps in knowledge
  • Seminal authors frequently cited

Tip: Search by influential author names to see what else they’ve published.

📊 4. Finalise your results

How do you know you’ve searched enough?

  • You find the same key articles repeatedly across databases.
  • New searches mostly bring duplicates, not new insights.

Summarise:
✅ What is known?
✅ Where do studies agree?
✅ Where do they conflict?
✅ What gaps remain?

Use your matrix to group studies into themes for your nursing literature review example.

✏️ 5. Write & revise

Now, bring it all together.

✅ Structure:

  • Introduction (topic, scope, why it matters)
  • Main body (organised by theme, not study)
  • Conclusion (gaps, controversies, your research justification)

✅ Synthesize:

  • Compare and contrast findings
  • Discuss methodological strengths/weaknesses
  • Show how your study fits in

✅ Revise:

  • Check clarity, flow, and coherence
  • Ensure correct referencing (Harvard, APA, etc.)
  • Proofread for grammar & style

Tip: A literature review isn’t just “Study A found X.”
It’s “Across studies, most found X, but Study B found Y, perhaps due to different methods or populations.”

📌 100 Nursing Dissertation Topics (UK 2025–2026)

Looking for fresh ideas for your nursing dissertation or literature review?
Here are 100 nursing dissertation topics carefully tailored to the UK context (NHS, NICE guidelines, NMC Code) across BSc Nursing, MSc Nursing, NP, FNP and RN to BSN.
Use these as inspiration to refine your own question.

🩺 Nurse Practitioner (NP) / Advanced Practice

  1. Effectiveness of NP‑led heart failure clinics in reducing hospital readmissions
  2. Patient satisfaction in NP vs GP‑led primary care in the UK
  3. NP‑led hypertension clinics and blood pressure outcomes
  4. Barriers to NP prescribing in primary care
  5. NP roles in urgent care centres: impact on waiting times
  6. NP involvement in palliative care decision‑making
  7. NP‑led diabetes education programmes and glycaemic control
  8. Advanced nurse practitioners’ impact on emergency department overcrowding
  9. NP‑led mental health triage in primary care
  10. Collaboration between NPs and multidisciplinary teams: a UK perspective

🧠 Mental Health Nursing

  1. Nurse‑led CBT interventions for mild depression
  2. Role of mental health nurses in suicide prevention strategies
  3. Impact of staffing levels on burnout among mental health nurses
  4. Experiences of newly qualified nurses in psychiatric wards
  5. Telepsychiatry in rural UK communities: patient perspectives
  6. Cultural competence among mental health nurses
  7. Compassion fatigue in psychiatric nursing: prevalence and coping strategies
  8. Reducing seclusion through trauma‑informed care
  9. Peer support workers in mental health teams: effect on recovery outcomes
  10. Use of digital apps for self‑management in patients with bipolar disorder

👩‍👧 Child & Family Health

  1. Family‑centred care in paediatric oncology units
  2. Parental anxiety during child hospital admissions
  3. Impact of play therapy on children’s procedural anxiety
  4. School nurses’ role in managing childhood obesity
  5. Early interventions for postnatal depression by health visitors
  6. Supporting fathers in neonatal intensive care units
  7. Breastfeeding education in multicultural communities
  8. Digital tools for childhood asthma self‑management
  9. Nurse‑led parenting programmes and child behaviour outcomes
  10. Safeguarding training effectiveness among community nurses

❤️ Adult & Older People Nursing

  1. Frailty screening in older adults admitted to acute hospitals
  2. Nurse‑led falls prevention clinics in care homes
  3. End‑of‑life decision‑making in patients with dementia
  4. Effects of bedside handover on patient satisfaction in elderly wards
  5. Nutrition support in older adults with dysphagia
  6. Managing urinary incontinence in community settings
  7. Palliative care needs in older LGBTQ+ patients
  8. Polypharmacy reduction initiatives led by nurses
  9. Loneliness interventions for older people living at home
  10. Rehabilitation programmes after stroke: nurses’ perspectives

🏥 Acute & Critical Care

  1. Nurse staffing ratios and patient outcomes in UK ICUs
  2. Family presence during CPR: nurses’ attitudes
  3. Early mobilisation protocols in post‑surgical patients
  4. Use of checklists to prevent central line infections
  5. Impact of nurse‑led sedation monitoring on ICU stay
  6. Burnout among critical care nurses post‑COVID‑19
  7. Barriers to implementing sepsis bundles in emergency departments
  8. Nurse‑led rapid response teams and in‑hospital cardiac arrests
  9. Experiences of newly qualified nurses in high‑dependency units
  10. Simulation training to improve emergency preparedness

🌱 Public Health & Community Nursing

  1. Effectiveness of smoking cessation programmes led by practice nurses
  2. Nurse‑led weight management clinics in primary care
  3. Barriers to vaccination uptake among minority communities
  4. Community nurses’ role in dementia awareness campaigns
  5. Digital health literacy and chronic disease self‑management
  6. Health promotion for migrant populations in the UK
  7. Screening for domestic abuse in antenatal clinics
  8. Nurse‑led HIV prevention and education programmes
  9. Impact of austerity measures on community nursing services
  10. Supporting carers of patients with long‑term conditions

💻 Technology & Digital Health

  1. Telehealth in chronic disease management: patient perceptions
  2. Use of electronic patient records: nurses’ experiences
  3. Virtual wards: impact on readmission rates
  4. Barriers to adoption of AI‑supported triage tools
  5. Wearable tech for monitoring heart failure patients
  6. Digital training needs of older community nurses
  7. Use of mobile apps for medication adherence in diabetes
  8. Privacy concerns in nursing documentation systems
  9. Remote monitoring for COVID‑19 patients: lessons learned
  10. Effect of e‑learning on CPD uptake among nurses

🌍 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

  1. Experiences of BAME nurses in NHS leadership roles
  2. Cultural competence training effectiveness in nursing education
  3. Barriers faced by internationally educated nurses in the UK
  4. Gender bias in clinical nursing leadership
  5. Care provision for transgender patients: nurses’ perspectives
  6. Health disparities in pain management among ethnic minorities
  7. Inclusion of disability awareness in nursing curricula
  8. Addressing unconscious bias in patient care
  9. Experiences of refugee patients accessing UK health services
  10. Intersectionality in nursing workforce policy

📚 Education & Professional Practice

  1. Reflective practice and professional identity development
  2. Impact of mentorship quality on student nurse retention
  3. Preparedness of new graduates for clinical practice
  4. OSCE anxiety among final‑year nursing students
  5. Effectiveness of blended learning in nursing education
  6. Leadership training for band 6 nurses
  7. Perceptions of evidence‑based practice among staff nurses
  8. Nurses’ attitudes towards research participation
  9. Role of nurse educators in promoting cultural competence
  10. CPD barriers for part‑time or agency nurses

🔬 Evidence‑Based Practice & Policy

  1. Nurses’ knowledge of NICE guidelines for pressure ulcer prevention
  2. Implementation of sepsis screening tools in ED
  3. Shared decision‑making in long‑term conditions: nurses’ views
  4. Barriers to using research evidence in daily nursing practice
  5. Evaluation of revalidation on professional practice
  6. Cost‑effectiveness of nurse‑led vs doctor‑led clinics
  7. Impact of Brexit on nursing workforce policy
  8. Nurses’ involvement in policy advocacy
  9. Evaluating quality improvement projects in acute care
  10. Patient involvement in research priority setting

📌 Nursing research literature review example topics

  • Nurse practitioner‑led clinics and hospital readmissions
  • Barriers to evidence‑based practice among newly qualified nurses
  • Telehealth in rural UK communities
  • Family‑centred care in paediatric oncology
  • Mindfulness training to reduce nurse burnout

These can become:

  • Narrative reviews
  • Systematic reviews
  • Or integrated into a dissertation literature review of nursing research

⚠️ Common mistakes to avoid in a literature review

  • Listing studies instead of synthesising
  • Ignoring older but seminal work
  • Over‑relying on non‑peer‑reviewed sources
  • Missing UK context
  • Forgetting to track search terms / databases

✍️ Writing tips for nursing students

  • Use short, clear paragraphs
  • Begin each with a topic sentence: “Several studies highlight the role of patient education…”
  • Avoid jargon; explain terms (e.g., NP, FNP, RN)
  • Use direct quotes sparingly
  • Proofread and check referencing carefully

📚 Extra resources for doing a literature review in nursing

  • NICE Evidence Search
  • NHS Knowledge & Library Hub
  • Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) Code
  • University writing centres (e.g., Manchester, King’s, UCLAN)
  • Tools: Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley for references

Use these whether studying on‑campus or in online nursing programs / online RN programs / nursing degree online.

📝 Literature review format: example outline

SectionWord count (approx.)
Introduction300–400
Methods300–400
Thematic synthesis1,200–1,500
Discussion300–400
Conclusion150–200

Great for BSc Nursing assignments, NP / FNP dissertations, or RN to BSN projects.

📌 FAQ: Nursing Literature Review & Writing Tips

✅ How to write a literature review in nursing?

Writing a nursing literature review starts by choosing a focused topic related to practice or research (e.g., NP‑led interventions).
Then:

  1. Search databases (CINAHL, PubMed) using keywords like nursing, NP, RN, nurse practitioner.
  2. Select peer‑reviewed, recent, relevant studies.
  3. Organise findings by themes (not just by authors).
  4. Critically appraise methods & results.
  5. Summarise gaps, debates, and relevance to UK nursing practice.

This approach turns your lit review into a critical, evidence‑based narrative instead of a simple summary.

✅ What are the 5 steps in writing a literature review?

Most UK nursing universities teach these 5 key steps:

  1. Define your topic & question – using PICO(T) if helpful.
  2. Search & gather evidence – from nursing databases & grey literature.
  3. Critically appraise sources – study design, bias, sample, context.
  4. Synthesize into themes – compare & contrast findings.
  5. Write & revise – follow your university’s literature review format (intro, methods, themes, discussion, conclusion).

Tip: For example of nursing literature review, look at past dissertations in your library or ask your tutor.

✅ What are the 5 C’s of a literature review?

A popular framework to remember when writing a lit review:

  • Cite – reference all sources properly.
  • Compare – highlight agreements & disagreements.
  • Contrast – explore different perspectives & debates.
  • Critique – evaluate study strengths, weaknesses & bias.
  • Connect – explain how it links to your topic & research aim.

These help turn your writing from a list of studies into a critical, academic review and literature synthesis.

✅ How do you write a nursing review?

  • Pick a relevant question in nursing research (e.g., NP vs GP‑led care).
  • Search widely using online nursing programs libraries, CINAHL, PubMed.
  • Use a literature matrix to track data.
  • Group by themes: e.g., patient education, digital tools, barriers in low‑income areas.
  • Critically analyse: methods, findings, gaps.
  • Conclude by justifying why your study matters for nursing practice.

✅ How do you start writing a literature review?

Begin by defining:

  • Your topic scope (timeframe, location, type of study)
  • Keywords & synonyms (e.g., NP, nurse practitioner, RN)
  • Inclusion/exclusion criteria (peer‑reviewed, English, last 10 years)
    Then draft a short introduction explaining:
  • Why the topic matters to nursing
  • The purpose of your lit review

E.g., “This literature review explores NP‑led clinics for hypertension management in the UK, identifying common themes and gaps.”

✅ What is the format for a literature review?

Most UK nursing colleges use:

  1. Introduction – topic, scope, significance
  2. Methods – databases, keywords, criteria
  3. Thematic synthesis / Main body – grouped by themes, not authors
  4. Discussion – gaps, controversies, how your project helps
  5. Conclusion – concise summary
  6. References – Harvard, APA, or Vancouver

Check your course handbook or nursing research literature review example from your library.

✅ How do you choose a topic for a literature review in nursing?

Pick something:

  • Relevant to current NHS practice / guidelines
  • Narrow enough to cover in depth
  • Supported by recent research
    Use PICO(T):
  • Patient: older adults with heart failure
  • Intervention: NP‑led care
  • Comparison: physician‑led care
  • Outcome: hospital readmissions

Tip: Check NICE, NMC Code, and recent journals for ideas.

✅ What are the 5 parts of a literature review?

  1. Introduction
  2. Search strategy / methods
  3. Critical synthesis / themes
  4. Discussion of gaps & implications
  5. Conclusion

Some nursing programmes combine methods & results under “main body.”

✅ What are the 5 significances of a literature review?

A literature review in research:

  1. Maps current knowledge
  2. Identifies research gaps
  3. Avoids duplication
  4. Informs practice & policy
  5. Justifies why your study matters

✅ What does a good literature review look like?

  • Focused, critical, and thematic
  • Well‑referenced (not just summarised)
  • Includes debates & conflicting evidence
  • Connects back to your nursing research question
  • Clear academic style and logical flow

See a nursing literature review example in your library or ask for sample dissertations.

✅ What are examples of good feedback in nursing?

  • “You showed excellent critical thinking in analysing conflicting studies.”
  • “Clear thematic structure helped demonstrate your synthesis skills.”
  • “You connected evidence to practice, showing real understanding.”

These can appear in assignment feedback or peer review.

✅ How do you write a positive review for a nurse?

Keep it specific, honest, and balanced:

“Nurse Smith provided compassionate care, explained each step clearly, and made me feel safe during treatment.”

✅ What are three examples of positive feedback?

  • “Your patient‑centred approach improved patient confidence.”
  • “Excellent use of evidence‑based practice in decision‑making.”
  • “Strong teamwork and communication with colleagues.”

🌟 Final thoughts: why your lit review matters

Doing a strong literature review in nursing research shows you:
✅ Think critically
✅ Value evidence‑based care
✅ Understand practice and policy (NMC, NICE)
✅ Are ready for leadership roles (NP, FNP)

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