THE DISSEMINATION OF COCHRANE EVIDENCE

 

 

An inventory of resources that use
Cochrane reviews

 

 

May 2004

 

 

 


contents

 

Acknowledgments.. 3

INTRODUCTION.. 4

Background. 4

What’s in the inventory?. 5

How to contribute to the inventory. 5

inventory. 6

1.     Clinical guidelines and health technology assessment 6

2.     Electronic databases. 14

3.     Indexes. 26

4.     Journals. 29

5.     Summaries and news bulletins. 40

6.     Textbooks and training resources. 49

INVENTORY index.. 55

 

 

 

 

NOTES:    The Cochrane Collaboration does not endorse products available from other organisations, and cannot guarantee the quality and accuracy of information available from external sources.

This inventory is not a comprehensive list of all resources that use Cochrane reviews. If you would like to make a contribution or correction, please see the sections on What’s in the inventory and How to contribute to the inventory.

Prices and access details are subject to change at any time at the discretion of the publishers or producers of the resource. For currency conversion, please visit the OANDA website at www.oanda.com.

 


Acknowledgments

The Canadian Cochrane Centre has produced this inventory on behalf of The Cochrane Collaboration. The Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of The Cochrane Collaboration that enabled the preparation of this inventory.

 

We also want to acknowledge and thank all those who have prepared and maintained the Cochrane reviews used in the resources documented in this inventory as well as the individuals and organizations that identified the resources and provided much of the information.

 

Finally, we want to express our sincere appreciation to Miranda Cumpston, Project Co-ordinator, who produced this important and helpful inventory within a very limited period of time.

 

Kathie Clark

Co-Director

Canadian Cochrane Centre

 


INTRODUCTION

Background

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The members of The Cochrane Collaboration recognize the need to translate and interpret the contents of The Cochrane Library to make them more meaningful to various users and appropriate to local needs. The Cochrane Library is used by a broad range of people interested in evidence-based health care, including consumers, clinicians, policy makers, researchers, educators, students and others. Each of these groups uses information in different ways, according to their different purposes, fields of interest, levels of expertise and preferred level of detail.

 

Within The Cochrane Collaboration, Collaborative Review Groups and other contributors have developed a wide range of resources that adapt and disseminate evidence from Cochrane reviews and the other valuable health information in The Cochrane Library. As Cochrane reviews have become known internationally as a source of high quality, reliable health information, other groups have also begun to interpret, adapt and disseminate Cochrane reviews and information derived from them.

 

This inventory is the first phase of a broader project aiming to demonstrate the growing influence of The Cochrane Collaboration on health care. This inventory is designed to catalogue resources that publish and disseminate evidence derived from The Cochrane Library.

 

The purpose of the inventory is to:

 

·        document how Cochrane reviews are used in products and tools for dissemination;

·        demonstrate that Cochrane reviews contribute to the quality and timeliness of other products; and

·        demonstrate that Cochrane reviews are used in many different ways to facilitate the healthcare decision-making of consumers, clinicians and policy makers.

 

It is intended that the inventory will provide practical information to demonstrate the value of The Cochrane Library. The inventory may be used by Cochrane contributors in a number of ways, such as to develop and extend promotional strategies; to prevent duplication of resources; to make business cases for the funding of Cochrane entities; or to support negotiations for national licences to access The Cochrane Library.

 

What’s in the inventory?

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The inventory has been collated on the basis of recommendations and information provided by contributors to The Cochrane Collaboration from around the world. A survey requesting input to the inventory was sent to Collaborative Review Groups, Fields, Methods Groups, Centres, contributing consumers, the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group, and The Cochrane Library Users’ Group. The groups were invited to forward this request to all interested parties, both within and outside the Collaboration, with a view to obtaining as much information on as many relevant resources as possible.

 

Contributors were asked to provide information on any electronic or print resources that contain information derived from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, whether it be republishing Cochrane reviews in their entirety, creating summaries, or any other health information derived from Cochrane reviews. Our focus was on systematic and long-term use of Cochrane evidence. For reasons of space, we did not include resources such as individual journal articles, or the many individual clinical guidelines that do not systematically include Cochrane reviews.

 

As the results were collated, some additional research was undertaken to obtain more detailed information about the resources listed. Where possible, descriptive material has been taken directly from the web site where the resource is available.

 

How to contribute to the inventory

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Additional information and corrections are welcomed and encouraged from anyone interested in improving this resource. If you would like to contribute to the inventory, please contact The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre:

 

The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre

Faculty of Health Sciences, HSC 2C1 Area

McMaster University

1200 Main Street West

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

L8N 3Z5

Phone: +1-905-525-9140 Ext. 22738

Fax: +1-905-577-0017

Email: cochrane@uottawa.ca

 


inventory

1.    Clinical guidelines and health technology assessment

This section includes organisations that produce clinical guidelines and health technology assessment reports, and that systematically incorporate evidence from Cochrane reviews where available. There are many other sources of clinical guidelines that may incorporate Cochrane evidence.

 

Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures – Surgical (ASERNIP-S)

Best Practice Information Sheets

EBM Guidelines (EBMG)

National Co-ordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment (NCCHTA)

National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE)

New Zealand Guidelines Group (NZGG)

Nursing Best Practice Guidelines

SBU Reports

Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)

Therapeutics Initiative

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Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures – Surgical (ASERNIP-S)

Produced by: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS).

 

The ASERNIP-S mission is to provide quality and timely assessments of the safety and efficacy of new and emerging surgical technologies and techniques. ASERNIP-S provides systematic reviews of the peer-reviewed literature; the establishment and facilitation of clinical and research audits or trials, the identification and assessment of new and emerging techniques and technologies by horizon scanning, and the production of clinical practice guidelines. Consumer summaries are also produced to accompany systematic reviews. Their aim is to improve the quality of health care through the wide dissemination of our evidence-based research to surgeons, healthcare providers and consumers, both nationally and internationally. ASERNIP‑S consults The Cochrane Library for reviews and studies as part of preparing evaluations.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.surgeons.org/asernip-s/. All new reviews are forwarded to the relevant Section/Division of the RACS and/or specialist society. Executive summaries are forwarded to Credentials Committees at all surgical hospitals in Australia.

Target audience: Surgeons, consumers, policy makers in Australia.

Language: English.

Funding: Australian Government.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Reviews are assessed within two years of publication and updated if necessary.

 

Best Practice Information Sheets

Produced by: Joanna Briggs Institute, Australia

 

The Joanna Briggs Institute has as its central focus the effectiveness of nursing and allied health interventions, concentrating on health outcomes from the client, community, clinical and economic perspectives. In order to provide evidence-based practice guidelines for health professionals, the Institute identifies questions of importance and conducts systematic reviews of the evidence, unless an existing review is available from either the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews or the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE). On the basis of these reviews, the Institute develops Best Practice Information Sheets, giving a concise summary of recommended practice.

 

Access: All but the most recent Best Practice Information Sheets are available online free of charge at http://www.joannabriggs.edu.au. Full access and print copies are available by subscription. Annual individual subscription costs A$185 in Australia and New Zealand, £95 in the UK, €135 elsewhere in Europe, US$70 in developing countries, and US$150 elsewhere.

Target audience: Nurses, midwives allied health professionals, aged care professionals, nutritionists and dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, podiatrists, medical radiation professionals, complementary therapists, rural and remote practitioners, other health professionals.

Language: English. A limited number are also available in Italian and Japanese.

Funding: Membership subscriptions.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Permission is sought from the authors of the original review before it is used to develop a Best Practice Information Sheet.

Issued/Updated: Issued on average quarterly. Contents are reviewed at an annual meeting, and the need for update determined.

 

EBM Guidelines (EBMG)

Produced by: Duodecim Medical Publications Ltd.

 

EBMG provides physicians with fast and easy access to practice guidelines linked to the best available research evidence. EBMG provides clinical guidelines relevant to the diagnosis and treatment of the wide range of diseases and conditions encountered by the general practitioner. Concise guidelines are linked to summaries of high‑quality supporting evidence. Cochrane reviews are one of the primary sources of evidence used to develop EBMG. EBMG currently includes over 900 guidelines, over 1900 evidence summaries, and more than 700 abstracts and full-text Cochrane reviews.

 

Access: By subscription online at http://www.ebm-guidelines.com, on CD, via hand‑held devices or in print form (Finnish and Russian versions only). Annual individual subscription costs €99.

Target audience: General practitioners, other physicians.

Language: English, Estonian, Finnish, German (in 2004), Hungarian (in 2005), Russian.

Funding: The Duodecim Medical Society, Finland.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Cochrane reviews and abstracts are republished.

Issued/Updated: Issued twice a year. Updated regularly as contributing evidence, including Cochrane reviews, is updated.

 

National Co-ordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment (NCCHTA)

NCCHTA (UK) co-ordinates the Health Technology Assessment programme, a national programme of research established by the Department of Health's Research and Development programme. The purpose of the programme is to ensure that high-quality research information on the costs, effectiveness and broader impact of health technologies is produced in the most effective way for those who use, manage and provide care in the NHS. NCCHTA identifies important gaps in the knowledge base of the NHS about clinical and cost effectiveness of interventions. Methods used for identifying gaps include scanning the ‘Implications for research’ section of new Cochrane reviews. Secondary research (including systematic reviews, incorporating Cochrane information) are then commissioned to answer the identified question. Increasingly, primary research including randomised controlled trials is also commissioned. Assessments are published in the monograph series, Health Technology Assessment. NCCHTA works closely with the National Institute of Clinical Excellence to identify issues for assessment and further research.

 

Access: Monographs are available free of charge online at http://www.ncchta.org/ or on CD. Print copies can be ordered at a cost of £20.

Target audience: Clinicians, consumers and policy makers in the UK.

Language: English.

Funding:  Department of Health for England Research and Development Programme.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used to assess technology and identify gaps in research.

Issued/Updated: Monographs issued as completed. CD updated 2-3 times per year.

 

National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE)

NICE (UK) is a Special Health Authority for England and Wales. It is part of the National Health Service (NHS), and its role is to provide patients, health professionals and the public with authoritative, robust and reliable guidance on current “best practice”. Guidance covers both individual health technologies (including medicines, medical devices, diagnostic techniques, and procedures) and the clinical management of specific conditions. NICE initiates the development of clinical guidelines in response to requests from the Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly Government. The guidelines are produced in consultation with all key stakeholders by seven National Collaborating Centres (NCCs):

·         the NCC for Acute Care, based at the Royal College of Surgeons;

·         the NCC for Cancer, based at the Velindre NHS Trust;

·         the NCC for Chronic Conditions, based at the Royal College of Physicians;

·         the NCC for Mental Health, run jointly by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and British Psychological Society;

·         the NCC for Nursing and Supportive Care, based at the Royal College of Nursing;

·         the NCC for Primary Care, run by the Royal College of General Practitioners; and

·         the NCC for Women's and Children's Health, based at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

A number of versions of each guideline are produced, including a short form guideline, a quick reference guide and information for consumers. The guidelines are produced in accordance with rigorous quality standards. NICE methodology requires that Cochrane reviews be included at the first stage of literature review. NICE also conducts health technology appraisals using a similar methodology.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.nice.org.uk/, and print copies are distributed to key NHS officers and clinicians in relevant fields.

Target audience: Clinicians and consumers in England and Wales.

Language: English. Consumer information is also available in Welsh.

Funding: National Health Service.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Updates are routinely completed within 5-6 years of publication.

 

New Zealand Guidelines Group (NZGG)

The NZGG is an independent, not-for-profit organisation set up to promote effective delivery of health and disability services, based on evidence. All stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, recognise that it is essential to the sustainability and acceptability of the Group's role that it remains entirely independent from specific vested interests. NZGG works with a broad-based collaborative network of clinical leaders, opinion leaders and consumers, designing tools to promote an evidence-based culture within the New Zealand health and disability sector. These tools include evidence-based guidelines, the circulation of the latest evidence-based news from New Zealand and overseas, links to The Cochrane Collaboration and training. In developing clinical guidelines, the NZGG incorporates Cochrane reviews where available. The Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Review Group was directly involved in the preparation of some recent guidelines: An Evidence-based Guideline for the Management of Uterine Fibroids (2000), Guidelines for the Management of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding (1998), and Hormone Replacement Therapy – Guideline Summary (2004). The Cochrane Musculoskeletal Injuries Review Group was involved in the development of the Prevention of hip fracture amongst people aged 65 years and over (2003), Acute management and immediate rehabilitation after hip fracture amongst people aged 65 years and over (2003), and The Diagnosis and Management of Soft Tissue Knee Injuries: Internal Derangements (2003).

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.nzgg.org.nz/, with guidelines from other New Zealand health organisations.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: New Zealand Ministry of Health and other government agencies.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Collaborative Review Groups directly involved in the production of some guidelines.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 

Nursing Best Practice Guidelines

Produced by: The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, Canada

 

The purpose of this project is to support Ontario Nurses by providing them with Best Practice Guidelines for client care. A broad cross-section of Ontario nurses, organizations, researchers and associations have committed themselves to project involvement. Five broad clinical topic areas have been identified for the project to focus on: gerontology, primary health care, home health care, mental health care, and emergency care. The Cochrane Library is included in the search strategy for creating the guidelines, and Cochrane reviews are incorporated into the Guidelines where available.

 

Access: Online free of charge at http://www.rnao.org/bestpractices/, or in print form for between CA$15-$30.

Target audience: Nurses.

Language: English.

Funding: Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Canada.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 

SBU Reports

Produced by: The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU)

 

SBU has the mandate of the Swedish Government to comprehensively assess healthcare technology from medical, economic, ethical, and social standpoints. The SBU reports are based on systematic critical reviews of the scientific literature. Scientific assessment in health care aims to identify interventions that offer the greatest benefits for patients while utilizing resources in the most efficient way. Reports by SBU are intended for those who make important choices regarding which healthcare options to use. Frequently an assessment addresses a broad subject area – for example, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. A comprehensive and thorough assessment is conducted by systematically searching, selecting, reviewing, and evaluating research findings from around the globe. One of the information sources used when searching for relevant studies is The Cochrane Library. Cochrane reviews that meet inclusion criteria for any aspect of the subject area to be assessed will be reviewed and considered for inclusion. SBU reports that have incorporated Cochrane reviews include Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Osteoporosis, Smoking Cessation Methods, and Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Venous Thromboembolism.

 

Access: Available online free of charge at http://www.sbu.se and in print form.

Target audience: Clinicians and other professional caregivers, policy makers, consumers.

Language: Swedish. Summaries, conclusions and a limited number of full reports are available in English.

Funding: Swedish Government.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: When required.

 

Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)

The objective of SIGN is to improve the quality of health care for patients in Scotland by reducing variation in practice and outcome, through the development and dissemination of national clinical guidelines containing recommendations for effective practice based on current evidence. The membership of SIGN includes all the medical specialties, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, professions allied to medicine, patients, health service managers, social services, and researchers. SIGN has a programme of 60 evidence-based clinical guidelines covering a wide range of topics. Many of the SIGN guidelines relate to the NHS priority areas of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental health. Topics are selected if there is evidence of variation in practice that affects patient outcomes and a strong research base providing evidence of effective practice. In addition, the potential benefit to patients must be sufficient to justify the resources invested in the development and implementation of a SIGN guideline. The evidence-based guidelines developed by SIGN are derived from a systematic review of the scientific evidence. The Cochrane Library is included in the literature search strategy for SIGN guidelines. SIGN is a member of the AGREE (Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation) collaboration, an international network of guideline development and appraisal programmes. Members of the AGREE collaboration all develop guidelines according to the same basic principles of multidisciplinary involvement in developing recommendations based on a systematic review and critical appraisal of the evidence base. Examples of guidelines that incorporate Cochrane reviews include Postnatal depression and puerperal psychosis (2002), which includes reviews by the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Review Group, and Prevention and management of hip fracture in older people (2002), which draws on the work of the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Injuries Review Group.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.sign.ac.uk/, on CD, and print copies distributed within the NHS in Scotland via a network of Guideline Co-ordinators in each NHS Trust and Health Board.

Target audience: Clinicians in Scotland.

Language: English.

Funding: Quality Improvement Scotland.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: CD issued every six months.

 

Therapeutics Initiative

Produced by: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Canada.

 

The Therapeutics Initiative conducts systematic reviews to assess new and existing drug therapies by the standards of the best evidence of clinical effectiveness in the scientific literature, and to use these assessments to establish cost‑effective first choice drugs and recommendations for their optimal clinical use. The Initiative designs and implements a variety of educational strategies to deliver the evidence and recommendations to physicians and pharmacists, and evaluates the impact of these strategies on physician prescribing patterns. The Initiative also acts as an expert resource to Pharmacare, the provincial drug benefit program. The Cochrane Library is part of the literature search strategy used by the Initiative in reviewing each drug therapy. Results are published in a number of formats, including Therapeutics Letter, a newsletter focusing on problematic therapeutic issues.

 

Access: Therapeutics Letter and further information about the Initiative are available free of charge online at http://www.ti.ubc.ca/.

Target audience: Clinicians, policy makers.

Language: English, Spanish (http://www.ti.ubc.ca/espanol/TLe.htm).

Funding: None declared. Members of the committee responsible for approving completed reviews who have a conflict of interest on a particular drug, must declare this and absent themselves from the relevant discussion and vote.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Therapeutics Letter is issued bimonthly.

 


2.    Electronic databases

This section includes electronic databases of health information that incorporate Cochrane reviews or evidence derived from Cochrane reviews, including resources such as libraries and point-of-care decision-making tools.

 

The Cancer Library

Clinical Information Service

La Cochrane Library Plus

DynaMed

HealthInsite

id21 Health Highlights

InfoRetriever

The Mental Health Library

National electronic Library for Health (NeLH)

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Netting the Evidence

Northern Ontario Virtual Library (NOVL)

Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro)

Physicians’ Information and Education Resource (PIER)

Prodigy

The Renal Health Library

Treatobacco.net

UpToDate

Videns-og Forskningscenter for Alternativ Behandling (ViFAB) (Knowledge and Research Centre for Alternative Medicine)

The WHO Reproductive Health Library

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The Cancer Library

Produced by: The Cochrane Cancer Network; Update Software Ltd.

 

The Cancer Library is an electronic resource designed to meet the growing need for good evidence-based information on cancer. The Library includes:

·        full text cancer reviews, taken from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews;

·        links to cancer-related web sites and clinical guidelines;

·        a register of published controlled trials in cancer; and

·        reports of non-Cochrane reviews of the effects of cancer treatment.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.update-software.com/Cancer/.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are republished. Created by the Cochrane Cancer Network.

Issued/Updated: Not updated.

 

Clinical Information Service

Produced by: Joanna Briggs Institute, Australia

 

The Joanna Briggs Institute has as its central focus the effectiveness of nursing and allied health interventions, concentrating on health outcomes from the client, community, clinical and economic perspectives. The Clinical Information Service is a database of information including evidence summaries of current research in a wide range of areas to inform and assist clinical practice. These evidence summaries are based on a number of databases including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE).

 

Access: Available online at http://www.joannabriggs.edu.au to institutional subscribers only. Annual institutional subscription cost varies according to the nature of the institution.

Target audience: Nurses, midwives allied health professionals, aged care professionals, nutritionists and dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, podiatrists, medical radiation professionals, complementary therapists, rural and remote practitioners, other health professionals.

Language: English.

Funding: Membership subscriptions.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Updated annually.

 

La Cochrane Library Plus

Produced by: The Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre; Update Software Ltd.

 

La Cochrane Library Plus contains Spanish translations of over 1000 Cochrane reviews, and all the documents published in The Cochrane Library (with the exception of those Cochrane reviews that have been translated into Spanish). All Cochrane reviews will ultimately be translated into Spanish. It also contains five other sections in Spanish, of particular interest to healthcare workers in Spain and Latin America.

 

Access: By subscription, online at
http://www.update-software.com/clibplus/clibplus.htm. Free of charge to users in Spain and some Latin American countries covered by national subscriptions. Individual annual subscriptions cost €265 or US $265 plus applicable taxes.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: Spanish.

Funding: Merck, Sharp & Dohme; el Instituto de Salud Carlos III; el Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Spain.

Cochrane contribution: Includes the entire contents of The Cochrane Library. Created by the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre.

Issued/Updated: Quarterly.

 

DynaMed

Produced by: Dynamic Medical Information Systems, LLC, USA.

 

DynaMed provides the best available evidence on around 1800 clinical topics in a format designed for rapid browsing by healthcare professionals. Topics are included with standardised templates and outline formats so clinicians can directly navigate to information of interest. Information is synthesised to reduce the need for reading multiple search entry results. The content is updated daily through systematic literature surveillance encompassing more than 400 journals directly or indirectly through journal review services and multiple sources of systematic reviews, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. All articles undergoing systematic surveillance are evaluated for clinical relevance and compared to existing information for relative validity before summarisation.

 

Access: By subscription online at http://www.dynamicmedical.com. Free of charge to authors, reviewers and developing countries (by request). Individual annual subscription costs US$200, with discounts for students.

Target audience: Clinicians, educators.

Language: English.

Funding: National Science Foundation, USA.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Daily.

 

HealthInsite

Produced by: Australian Department of Health and Ageing.

 

HealthInsite was conceived to bridge the gap between the increasing potential for consumers to access health information via the Internet, and the absence of quality control of web information. HealthInsite indexes the web site content of over 70 quality-assessed Information Partners. In this way, the site acts as a single entry point to quality information from leading health information providers, including peak health organisations, government agencies and educational and research institutions. Users are able to access information ranging from daily health needs, such as nutrition, to information related to life events, such as having a baby. Specific information topics, such as diabetes or asthma, are also available. Informed Health Online is a HealthInsite Information Partner, giving access to consumer summaries of Cochrane reviews and Hot Topics.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.healthinsite.gov.au.

Target audience: Consumers, health professionals.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Summaries of Cochrane reviews are indexed.

Issued/Updated: As Informed Health Online is updated.

 

id21 Health Highlights

Produced by: id21, Effective Health Care Alliance Programme (EHCAP), UK.

 

id21 is a fast-track research reporting service that aims to bring UK-based development research findings and policy recommendations to policy makers and development practitioners worldwide. id21 aims to be part of the process of putting policy into practice. id21 provides an online searchable database of recent research on international development issues, giving one-page research 'highlights' written in plain English, quick to read and easy to understand. The site also provides contact details, hyperlinks and information about source materials to ease the flow of knowledge and advice between researcher and research user. The focus is on issues relevant to developing countries, including infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, maternal and child health, environmental health, etc. Systematic reviews from the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Review Group are among the resources included, with summaries written by Cochrane reviewers. All entries are seen and approved by the original researchers.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.id21.org/health/index.html.

Target audience: Development professionals, policy makers, researchers.

Language: English.

Funding: UK Department for International Development.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised. Summaries are written by the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 

InfoRetriever

Produced by: InfoPOEMS Inc.

 

Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters (POEMS) are quality-assessed articles that present evidence with the potential to influence clinical practice. InfoRetriever allows clinicians simultaneously to search the complete POEMs database, including over 2300 POEMs sourced from over 100 journals, as well as decision rules, diagnostic tools, selected guidelines and the abstracts of all Cochrane reviews. The database allows clinicians to look up and apply information and tools rapidly while they practice. All results are organized and presented for immediate application to practise, designed by clinicians for clinicians. Extras include an ICD9 look-up to find the right codes fast, an E/M coding assistant for payments, guided searches of MEDLINE and other online bibliographic databases, and indexed links to patient education materials on the Internet. Subscribers also receive daily email updates of new POEMS.

 

Access: By subscription, online at http://www.infopoems.com/ or via PC or hand-held devices. Individual annual subscription costs US$249.

Target audience: General practitioners. Expansion is planned to include paediatrics, obstetrics/gynaecology, general internal medicine, general surgery and orthopaedics.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane abstracts are republished. Physicians involved in producing the resource are members of the Cochrane Primary Health Care Field.

Issued/Updated: Three times a year.

 

The Mental Health Library

Produced by: Participants in the European Union EU-PSI Project, including:

·        the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Review Group;

·        the Cochrane Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Review Group;

·        the Cochrane Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Review Group;

·        the Cochrane Drugs and Alcohol Review Group;

·        the Cochrane Schizophrenia Review Group;

·        the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, UK;

·        the University of Munich, Germany;

·        the University of Helsinki, Finland;

·        the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) Mental Health Group, Finland; and

·        Update Software Ltd.

Published by Wiley Interscience.

 

Much information on what helps or harms people with psychiatric, psychological, cognitive, learning or behavioural problems is conflicting and out of date. The Mental Health Library is designed to address this by making the best evidence available in a single resource. The Mental Health Library comprises the full text of all relevant Cochrane reviews, a study-based register containing hand-selected and coded trials, assessments of guidelines and several other collections including an economic evaluation collection.

 

Access: Prototype version available free of charge online at

http://www.update-software.com/mhl/mhlogon.htm. Future editions will be available by subscription.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: European Union.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are republished. Produced by a number of Cochrane Collaborative Review Groups.

Issued/Updated: Regular updates are intended.

 

National electronic Library for Health (NeLH)

Produced by: National Health Service (NHS), England.

 

The NeLH Programme is designed to provide rapid access to electronic information, primarily for NHS staff. Its focus is on the development of knowledge skills in specific professions with links to national initiatives including best practice. The NeLH collection focuses on high-quality electronic resources, and the library provides a link to The Cochrane Library as well as access to Hitting the Headlines health news summaries.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/. Access to The Cochrane Library is free of charge in the UK through a national subscription.

Target audience: Clinicians in England.

Language: English.

Funding: Department of Health for England.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane information is used. Links to The Cochrane Library.

Issued/Updated: Links to current edition of The Cochrane Library. Hitting the Headlines issued within 48 hours of publication of a relevant news story.

 

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

The mission of the NICHD (USA) is to ensure that every person is born healthy and wanted, that women suffer no harmful effects from the reproductive process, and that all children have the chance to fulfil their potential for a healthy and productive life, free of disease or disability. To reach this goal, the NICHD conducts and supports research, examines the impact of disability and disease, and sponsors training so that research can continue. The NICHD web site contains a range of key information and links in the area of child health, including the full text of reviews by the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/cochrane/default.htm.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: National Institutes of Health, USA.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are republished.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 

Netting the Evidence

Produced by: School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, UK.

 

Netting the Evidence is intended to provide an introduction to evidence-based health care by providing support and access to helpful organisations and useful learning resources, such as an evidence-based virtual library, software and journals. Among these resources, Netting the Evidence provides access to abstracts of Cochrane reviews, with links to The Cochrane Library.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/~scharr/ir/netting/. Access to The Cochrane Library is free of charge in the UK through a national subscription.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English and Spanish (http://www.infodoctor.org/rafabravo/netting.htm).

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Links to The Cochrane Library.

Issued/Updated: Links to current edition of The Cochrane Library.

 

Northern Ontario Virtual Library (NOVL)

Produced by: Health Sciences North, Ontario, Canada.

 

NOVL is committed to providing health practitioners in Northern Ontario, who may not have local access to biomedical information resources, with efficient and equitable access to quality information at the point of need. NOVL provides online access to a selected suite of quality, online biomedical databases, full text journals and books, and other electronic resources including The Cochrane Library.

 

Access: Free of charge to eligible clinicians at http://www.novl.ca/.

Target audience: Clinicians in Northern Ontario, Canada.

Language: English.

Funding: Northwestern Ontario Medical Program, Northeastern Ontario Medical Education Corporation.

Cochrane contribution: Provides access to The Cochrane Library.

Issued/Updated: Links to current edition of The Cochrane Library.

 

Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro)

Produced by: Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy, University of Sydney, Australia.

 

PEDro has been developed to give rapid access to bibliographic details and abstracts of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. Most trials on PEDro have been rated for quality to help users discriminate between trials that are likely to be valid and interpretable and those that are not. The trials, reviews and guidelines on PEDro are located by ongoing searches of: the trials database of the Cochrane Rehabilitation and Related Therapies Field; the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL); the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE); MEDLINE; Embase; CINAHL; PsycInfo; and the National Guideline Clearinghouse. Trials, reviews and guidelines are also identified by citation tracking and through notifications by PEDro users.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.pedro.fhs.usyd.edu.au/.

Target audience: Physiotherapists, other health professionals, consumers.

Language: English for static and dynamic pages. Arabic, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish for static pages only.

Funding: Motor Accident Authority of New South Wales; New South Wales Department of Health; Physiotherapists’ Registration Boards of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia; Australian Physiotherapy Association; National Roads and Motorists' Association Limited; American Physical Therapy Association.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane clinical trials registers are used. Cochrane review abstracts are republished. Produced in collaboration with the Cochrane Rehabilitation and Related Therapies Field. The Advisory Panel to the Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy includes two members from the Cochrane Collaboration.

Issued/Updated: Fortnightly.

 

Physicians’ Information and Education Resource (PIER)

Produced by: American College of Physicians.

 

PIER is an online decision-support tool designed for rapid point-of-care delivery of current, evidence-based guidance for clinicians. PIER consists of modules focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of hundreds of the most common diseases, divided into five topic types: diseases, screening and prevention, complementary and alternative medicine, ethical and legal issues, and procedures. Information in PIER is presented in a "drill down" format, in which the user clicks from an opening guidance statement for more specific information. Clicking on a guidance statement brings up a specific recommendation and its supporting rationale, evidence, and comments. Recommendation statements have letter grades that alert physicians to the strength of supporting evidence, which may be drawn from multiple levels, such as randomized trials, observational studies, or expert opinion. Cochrane reviews are among the supporting evidence used to create PIER modules.

 

Access: Available to ACP members only, either free of charge online at http://pier.acponline.org or via hand-held devices by subscription. Individual annual subscription costs US$99.

Target audience: Clinicians in the USA.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: New modules added monthly.

 

Prodigy

Produced by: Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics, UK.

 

Prodigy uses computers to support decision-making within the GP consultation, to enable easy access to knowledge in an educational context and to support reflection through personal and practice benchmarking using computer queries. Prodigy software integrates into all major clinical computer systems to provide management advice following a diagnosis of around 131 conditions. The advice provided includes prescribing and non-drug advice, doctor/patient shared screens, patient information leaflets, when to investigate and when to refer. There is also a wealth of clinical background information for use outside the consultation, as reference or learning material. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews forms part of the standard literature search protocol used to develop Prodigy clinical guidance. An education and training programme is also available to clinicians in England, and a book format is currently under development.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.prodigy.nhs.uk and to GPs in England through their clinical system supplier.

Target audience: General practitioners in the UK.

Language: English.

Funding: UK Department of Health.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 

The Renal Health Library

Produced by: The Cochrane Renal Review Group; Update Software Ltd; Wiley Interscience.

 

The Renal Health Library is an electronic library of resources for the nephrology community. It was developed to assist and support the development of quality evidence-based practice and research. The Renal Health Library contains:

·        Cochrane reviews on kidney disease;

·        references to over 4000 randomised controlled trials in kidney disease from the Cochrane Renal Review Group's Renal Trials Register, including 650 abstracts from conference proceedings;

·        over 50 reports of ongoing randomised controlled trials; and

·        information about The Cochrane Collaboration, the Cochrane Renal Review Group and the systematic review process.

 

Access: Free of charge either online at http://www.update-software.com/renalhealth/ or on CD, ordered from http://www.cochrane-renal.org/publications.php.

Target audience: Renal physicians, nurses, researchers, policy makers, related health professionals, consumers.

Language: English.

Funding: Amgen Inc.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are republished. Produced by the Cochrane Renal Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Periodically.

 

Treatobacco.net

Produced by: Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco and the World Health Organization, Europe.

 

Treatobacco.net is a resource for those working on the treatment of tobacco dependence throughout the world. It presents evidence-based information about the treatment of tobacco dependence, including efficacy, safety, demographics and health effects, health economics, and policy. Key findings, commentaries and supporting references, including Cochrane reviews, are collated and reviewed by a panel of international experts.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://treatobacco.net.

Target audience: Clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, psychologists, researchers, policy makers, regulators, consumers.

Language: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Periodically.

 

UpToDate

Produced by: UpToDate Inc., USA.

 

UpToDate is a clinical information resource created by a community of 3,000 expert clinicians designed to give physicians concise, practical answers to clinical questions at the point of care. UpToDate topics summarise the published evidence (including Cochrane reviews) and make specific recommendations for patient care, enabling physicians to:

·        access the most current information within their specialty;

·        recognize the clinical manifestations of a wide variety of disorders and describe current options for diagnosis, management and therapy, including the efficacy, doses, and interactions of individual drugs; and

·        identify optimal screening and prevention strategies.

UpToDate is an official educational program of, recommended by, or produced in cooperation with eight leading medical societies in the USA.

 

Access: By subscription online at http://www.uptodate.com, on CD and via hand-held devices. Annual individual subscription costs US$495 with discounts for trainees and renewed subscriptions.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: UpToDate accepts no advertising or sponsorships.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Every four months, with additional online updates for breaking news.

 

Videns-og Forskningscenter for Alternativ Behandling (ViFAB) (Knowledge and Research Centre for Alternative Medicine)

ViFAB is a non-profit, independent institution endorsed and organized under the Danish Ministry of Health. The Centre is dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative therapies and herbal medicine, to raising knowledge of such therapies and their effects, to furthering and promoting research in this area, and to assisting the dialogue between healthcare providers, complementary and alternative therapists and healthcare consumers. The web site includes information on and links to Cochrane reviews relevant to alternative medicines.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.vifab.dk/.

Target audience: Consumers, clinicians, alternative therapists.

Language: Danish.

Funding: Danish Ministry of Health.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane information is used.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 

The WHO Reproductive Health Library

Produced by: Update Software Ltd, The WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research, The Cochrane Collaboration, and partner institutions in low- and middle-income countries, including:

·        in South Africa, the Effective Care Research Unit (ECRU) at the University of Witwatersrand;

·        in Thailand, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Khon Kaen University and the Thai Cochrane Network (TCN);

·        in Mexico, The Population Council Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean;

·        in Argentina, the Centro Rosarino de Estudios Perinatales (CREP);

·        in China, the International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital (IPMCHH); and

·        in the USA, Family Health International (FHI).

 

This is an annual electronic review journal that focuses on evidence-based solutions to reproductive health problems in low- and middle-income countries. The Library is the main dissemination tool of the Mapping Best Reproductive Health Practices Initiative. The Library includes:

·        editorials relevant to reproductive health and evidence-based decision-making in developing countries;

·        beneficial and harmful practices categorised by the level of evidence to help policy makers and clinicians make sound practical decisions;

·        systematic reviews (including Cochrane reviews) and expert commentaries on the relevance of systematic review findings, and practical aspects with management recommendations;

·        implementation aids designed to help clinicians use research evidence in practice;

·        scientific articles on research synthesis methodology, facilitating the interpretation of the results of systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials; and

·        internet links to evidence-based medicine web sites and a register of funding agencies, NGOs and other organisations in the field.

 

Access: On CD, free of charge to individuals in low-to-middle income countries, or by subscription. Annual individual subscription costs US$50. Subscription information is available at
http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/rhl/dissemination.html and

http://www.update-software.com/RHL/ (English), or

http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/rhl_es/dissemination.html (Spanish)

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English and Spanish.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are featured and republished.

Issued/Updated: Annually.


3.    Indexes

This section includes resources that provide an index of Cochrane reviews relevant to particular areas of interest.

 

Enhanced Reference List of Neurological Reviews

Evidence from Systematic Reviews of Research Relevant to Implementing the 'Wider Public Health' Agenda

Policy Liaison Project web site

PubMed

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Enhanced Reference List of Neurological Reviews

Produced by: Cochrane Neurological Network.

 

This is a list of references of neurological interest, taken from two databases within The Cochrane Library: the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE). The references are organised by disease area, and include added subsets of information not found in The Cochrane Library.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.cochraneneuronet.org/downloads/ottobre%202003-REVIEWS.pdf.

Target audience: Neurologists.

Language: English.

Funding: Astra Zeneca.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are indexed. Produced by the Cochrane Neurological Network.

Issued/Updated: Quarterly.

 

Evidence from Systematic Reviews of Research Relevant to Implementing the 'Wider Public Health' Agenda

Produced by: Centre for Reviews and Dissemination UK, Cochrane Collaboration, Campbell Collaboration.

 

This is a report summarising the findings of systematic reviews of research evidence relevant to the UK Government White Paper on Public Health. The White Paper (published in 1999) – Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation – focuses on “the main killers”, including cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke, accidents and mental illness. The White Paper also highlights other determinants and dimensions of health, including material factors such as poverty, low wages, unemployment, poor education, sub-standard housing, crime and disorder, and a polluted environment. The report is organised according to the White Paper’s policy measures in each of the four main areas: cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke, accidents, and mental health. For each policy measure, a summary of the evidence as well as references to specific systematic reviews of evidence are included. As a starting point for informing the development of relevant strategies in areas of ‘the wider public health’, sections on education, social care and social welfare, and crime, drugs and alcohol have been included as additional resources. These sections also include summaries and references to relevant systematic reviews.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/wph.htm, or in print form, ordered from the web site for £20.

Target audience: National Health Service (NHS) and UK Government staff.

Language: English.

Funding: NHS

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are indexed and summarised. Authors include contributors to The Cochrane Collaboration in the UK.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 

Policy Liaison Project web site

Produced by: The Australasian Cochrane Centre.

 

The web site has been developed as part of a collaborative initiative between the Australian Department of Health and Ageing and the Australasian Cochrane Centre to encourage and support evidence-based approaches to policy making underpinned by Cochrane reviews. The web site includes summaries of Cochrane reviews in the Australian National Health Priority Areas (NHPAs): arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular health, diabetes, injury prevention, and mental health. Conclusions from the reviews are summarised to produce action-oriented messages and a list of research gaps. The web site also includes an outline of Cochrane Collaboration activity in each NHPA. Summaries of reviews from the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Review Group (EPOC) and the Consumers and Communication Review Group are also published on the web site.

 

Access: Currently only available to staff of the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, although negotiations are underway to make the site freely available.

Target audience: Policy makers.

Language: English.

Funding: Australian Department of Health and Ageing.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are indexed and summarised. Web site and summaries produced by the Australasian Cochrane Centre.

Issued/Updated: Quarterly, as The Cochrane Library is updated.

 

PubMed

Produced by: National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, USA.

 

PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, includes over 14 million citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources. Bibliographic citations and author abstracts are indexed from more than 4,600 biomedical journals published in the United States and 70 other countries, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed.

Target audience: Clinicians, researchers, policy makers, consumers.

Language: English. Content coverage is worldwide, but most records are from English-language sources or have English abstracts.

Funding: National Institutes of Health, USA.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane information is indexed.

Issued/Updated: Index is updated as The Cochrane Library is updated.

 


4.    Journals

This section includes journals that regularly or systematically publish articles related to Cochrane reviews, such as complete reviews, summaries or expert commentaries.

 

ACP Journal Club

American Family Physician

Annals of Emergency Medicine

Australian Dental Journal

Bandolier

European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery: EJVES Extra

Evidence-Based Dentistry

Evidence-Based Medicine

Evidence-Based Mental Health

Evidence-Based Nursing

Huisarts en Wetenschap (GP and Science)

The Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society (JPDS)

The Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice

Läkartidningen

New Zealand Family Physician

Paediatrics and Child Health

Spine

Stroke

Ugeskrift for Læger

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ACP Journal Club

Produced by: American College of Physicians.

 

ACP Journal Club's general purpose is to select from the biomedical literature those articles reporting individual studies and systematic reviews that warrant immediate attention by physicians attempting to keep pace with important advances in internal medicine. These articles are summarized in "value added" abstracts and comments are provided by clinical experts. More than 150 journals are reviewed to identify articles that meet ACP Journal Club criteria, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The specific purposes of ACP Journal Club are to:

·        detect, using pre-stated criteria, the best original and review articles on the cause, course, diagnosis, clinical prediction, prevention, treatment, or economics of medical disorders managed by internists and related subspecialists, and on quality improvement and continuing medical education intervention trials in internal medicine;

·        summarize this literature in the form of "structured abstracts" that describe the objectives, methods, results, and evidence-based conclusions of studies in a reproducible, accurate, and applicable fashion;

·        provide brief, highly expert commentaries on the context of each article, its methods, and clinical applications; and

·        disseminate the summaries in a timely fashion to internists and internists-in-training in as large numbers as resources permit.

 

Access: Available in print form and online at http://www.acpjc.org/. Free to members of the American College of Physicians, or by subscription. Annual individual subscription costs US$90 per year, with discounts for medical students and recent graduates.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised.

Issued/Updated: Issued bimonthly. Articles are reviewed every 5 years and either updated or removed from the web site and archived.

 

American Family Physician

Produced by: American Academy of Family Physicians.

 

American Family Physician is a peer-reviewed journal whose chief objective is to provide high quality continuing medical education for family physicians and other primary care clinicians. In addition to original material, such as evidence-based clinical reviews to assist family physicians in patient care, the journal includes summaries of selected articles from other medical journals. The journal regularly includes a segment entitled “Cochrane for clinicians: putting evidence into practice”, in which an abstract of a Cochrane review is presented with an interpretation for putting the evidence into practice, a clinical scenario and question with the evidence-based answer, and a full critique of the abstract.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.aafp.org, or in print form by subscription. Annual individual subscription costs US$108 in the USA, US$148 in Canada, or US$180 elsewhere, with discounts for medical students, residents, non-physician healthcare professionals and medical office management staff.

Target audience: Family physicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised. Summary content is, as far as possible, checked with the authors of the original review.

Issued/Updated: Issued twice monthly.

 


Annals of Emergency Medicine

Produced by: American College of Emergency Physicians, Elsevier Health Sciences.

 

Annals of Emergency Medicine is the specialty's leading peer-reviewed journal. In addition to scientific and clinical articles, Annals presents case reports, editorials, abstracts, and collective reviews of the literature on focused clinical topics. The journal covers clinical investigations, paediatric emergency care, injury prevention, infectious disease, disaster medicine, toxicology, health policy, and emergency medical services. The journal includes a section on “Evidence-based Emergency Medicine” that includes Systematic Review Abstracts. Each article selects a topical abstract of a systematic review from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, a commentary by an emergency physician knowledgeable in the subject area, and one or two short Teaching Points relevant to the review in question.

 

Access: Available online or in print form. Free of charge to members of the American College of Emergency Physicians, or by subscription. Individual annual subscription costs US$155 in the USA or US$203 elsewhere.

Target audience: Clinicians, researchers, students.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised.

Issued/Updated: Issued monthly.

 

Australian Dental Journal

Produced by: Australian Dental Association.

 

This is the journal of the Australian Dental Association, an organisation of dentists that has as its aim the encouragement of the health of the public and the promotion of the art and science of dentistry. From June 2004, the journal will publish one or two select abstracts of reviews from the Cochrane Oral Health Review Group per issue.

 

Access: Available in print form only. Free to members of the Australian Dental Association, or by subscription. Annual individual subscription costs A$115 in Australia or A$150 elsewhere. Subscription information is available at http://www.ada.org.au/_Australian_Dental_Journal_Public.asp.

Target audience: Dental practitioners.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane review abstracts are republished.

Issued/Updated: Issued quarterly. Updated abstracts are included as they appear in The Cochrane Library.

 

Bandolier

Produced by: Pain Research Unit, Oxford University, UK.

 

Bandolier is an independent journal about evidence-based healthcare, covering a broad range of health issues. Bandolier aims to find information about evidence of effectiveness (or lack of it), and put the results forward as simple bullet points of those things that worked and those that did not. Information comes from systematic reviews (including Cochrane reviews), meta-analyses, randomised trials, and high-quality observational studies.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.ebandolier.com or by subscription in print form. Individual annual subscription costs £36 in the UK or £72 elsewhere. Print form is distributed free of charge to all GPs in New Zealand.

Target audience: General practitioners, other clinicians, consumers, policy makers, journalists.

Language: English and Spanish (http://www.infodoctor.org/bandolera/).

Funding: Print form funded by subscriptions. Online version funded by sponsorship, including from Merck, Sharp & Dohme and the BUPA Foundation. A complete list of sponsors is available at http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/aboutus.html#sponsor.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Issued monthly. Print version is issued one month in advance of online publication.

 

European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery: EJVES Extra

Produced by: Elsevier Health Sciences. Official journal of the European Society for Vascular Surgery.

 

The European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery is aimed primarily at vascular surgeons dealing with patients with arterial, venous and lymphatic diseases. EJVES Extra is an additional electronic publication including short reports, correspondence, book reviews, forthcoming events and other additional material, including abstracts of Cochrane reviews. These abstracts are similar to those published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, but are more technical for the specialist audience.

 

Access: Available online at http://www.harcourt-international.com/journals/ejvx/, free to members of the European Society for Vascular Surgery and subscribers to the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. Annual individual subscription costs €287 in Europe, ¥31,000 in Japan and US$255 elsewhere.

Target audience: Vascular surgeons.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised. Abstracts are provided by the Cochrane Peripheral Vascular Diseases Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Issued quarterly.

 

Evidence-Based Dentistry

Produced by: Nature Publishing Group.

 

Evidence-Based Dentistry alerts clinicians to important advances in the practice of dentistry and its specialist areas by selecting from the biomedical literature those original and review articles whose results are most likely to be true and useful. These articles are summarised in value-added abstracts and commented on by experts. New reviews by the Cochrane Oral Health Review Group are regularly included, accompanied by expert commentary.

 

Access: By subscription, in print form or online at http://www.nature.com/ebd/. Annual individual subscription costs €64 in Europe (Eurozone), £39 in the UK/Europe (non‑Eurozone), or US$62 elsewhere.

Target audience: Dental practitioners.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane review abstracts are republished.

Issued/Updated: Issued quarterly. Updated abstracts are included as they appear in The Cochrane Library.

 

Evidence-Based Medicine

Produced by: BMJ Publishing Group.

 

Evidence-Based Medicine surveys a wide range of international medical journals, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, applying strict criteria for the quality and validity of research. Practising clinicians assess the clinical relevance of the best studies. The key details of these essential studies are presented in a succinct, informative abstract with an expert commentary on its clinical application. Evidence-Based Medicine offers comprehensive coverage of primary care medicine. It includes a wide array of clinical disciplines, including family practice, internal medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics, gynaecology, psychiatry, and surgery.

 

Access: By subscription, online at http://ebm.bmjjournals.com/ or in print form. Print and online individual annual subscription costs £83 or €/$133. Access is free of charge to developing countries.

Target audience: Family practitioners, internal medicine practitioners, paediatricians, obstetricians, gynaecologists, psychiatrists, surgeons.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised.

Issued/Updated: Issued bimonthly.

 

Evidence-Based Mental Health

Produced by: BMJ Publishing Group; Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK; British Psychological Society.

 

Evidence-Based Mental Health alerts clinicians to important advances in treatment, diagnosis, aetiology, prognosis, continuing education, economic evaluation and qualitative research in mental health. Evidence-Based Mental Health is multidisciplinary, covering studies of adults, children, older adults, people who have developed psychiatric or psychological problems as a result of trauma and people with learning disabilities, head injuries, drug and alcohol problems and personality disorders. The journal surveys a wide range of international medical journals, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, applying strict criteria for the quality and validity of research. Practising clinicians assess the clinical relevance of the best studies. The key details of these essential studies are presented in a succinct, informative abstract with an expert commentary on their clinical application.

 

Access: By subscription, online at http://ebmh.bmjjournals.com/ or in print form. Print and online annual individual subscription costs £79 or €126. Access is free of charge to developing countries.

Target audience: Psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, pharmacists and other professionals.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised.

Issued/Updated: Issued quarterly.

 

Evidence-Based Nursing

Produced by: BMJ Publishing Group; Royal College of Nursing Publishing Company, UK.

 

Evidence-Based Nursing is a journal designed to alert practising nurses to important and clinically relevant advances in treatment, diagnosis, aetiology, and prognosis. Evidence-Based Nursing selects and examines every aspect of the very best international nursing research, including over 140 journals and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, identifying and appraising original articles according to empirically derived criteria. Each issue publishes structured abstracts of 24 original studies, with commentaries written by clinical experts, placing each abstract into clinical context. Original editorials and resource information and guides for users are also included.

 

Access: By subscription, online at http://ebn.bmjjournals.com/ or in print form. Individual annual subscription costs £48 in the UK and Europe or £80 elsewhere, with discounts for members of the Royal College of Nursing. Access is free of charge to developing countries.

Target audience: Nurses.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised.

Issued/Updated: Issued quarterly.

 

Huisarts en Wetenschap (GP and Science)

Produced by: Dutch College of General Practitioners.

 

Huisarts en Wetenschap is a peer-reviewed medical scientific journal directed to general practitioners. With each new issue of The Cochrane Library, 4-6 Cochrane reviews are chosen to feature in a special “Cochrane Corner” of the journal. GPs translate and comment on the relevance of the reviews for GPs.

 

Access: Free to members of the Dutch College of General Practitioners, or by subscription. Available online at http://www.henw.org or in print form. Individual annual subscription costs €106.55 in the Netherlands, €107.60 in Belgium and €160.05 elsewhere, with discounts for students.

Target audience: General practitioners in the Netherlands.

Language: Dutch.

Funding: Dutch College of General Practitioners.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised.

Issued/Updated: Issued 13 times a year.

 

The Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society (JPDS)

Produced by: Philippine Dermatological Society (PDS).

 

The JPDS is designed to meet the continuing education needs of the PDS members and the medical community. The JPDS considers original articles related to dermatology for publication. It also considers studies conducted in the Philippines that have been published in other scientific journals, in either their original, modified, or abstract form, with the written permission of the publisher and principal author. The JPDS features a “Reviews” section that includes overviews and discussion of original reviews, including Cochrane reviews. The JPDS also has a “Current Evidence” section that contains summaries of systematically searched and appraised current evidence regarding focused clinical problems or questions, presented as Critically-Appraised Topics (CAT) or abstracts.

 

Access: Available in print form only, free of charge to members of the Philippine Dermatological Society. Subscriptions are not available, but complimentary copies may be requested through the Editor-in-chief.

Target audience: Dermatologists in the Philippines, policy makers, libraries.

Language: English.

Funding: Solicited advertisements.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised.

Issued/Updated: Issued twice a year.

 

The Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice

Produced by: Mosby; Elsevier Health Sciences.

 

The Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice presents original articles as well as reviews of articles on the results and outcomes of clinical procedures and treatment. The journal advocates the use or rejection of a procedure based on solid clinical evidence found in the literature. The journal's operating principles include explicitness in process and objectives, publication of the highest-quality reviews and original articles, and an emphasis on objectivity. Each issue includes abstracts of new reviews by the Cochrane Oral Health Review Group, as well as information on Cochrane Collaboration events.

 

Access: By subscription, online at www.mosby.com/jebdp or in print form. Individual annual subscription costs US$69 in the USA or US$84 elsewhere.

Target audience: Dental practitioners.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane abstracts are republished. Abstracts and other information are provided by the Cochrane Oral Health Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Issued quarterly. Updated reviews are included as they appear in The Cochrane Library.

 

Läkartidningen

Produced by: Swedish Medical Association.

 

Läkartidningen is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that is distributed to all members of the Swedish Medical Association, by far the majority of doctors in Sweden. The journal regularly includes a segment entitled "Clinic and science". Each new issue of The Cochrane Library is scanned and reviews selected that seem interesting, well-written and of acceptable methodological quality. Commentaries on the selected Cochrane reviews written by specialists for clinicians are published in this segment.

 

Access: Available free of charge online at http://www.lakartidningen.se/. It is also provided in print form to members of the Swedish Medical Association.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: Swedish. Some articles include brief summaries in English.

Funding: Subscriptions and advertisements.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are featured.

Issued/Updated: Issued weekly.

 

New Zealand Family Physician

Produced by: Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

 

New Zealand Family Physician is a medical journal for general practitioners in New Zealand. Each issue includes a ‘Cochrane Corner’ that provides a summary of the recommendations of a Cochrane review of interest to general practitioners.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/nz_family.php. It is also provided in print form to members of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

Target audience: General practitioners.

Language: English.

Funding: Author is an employee of the University of Auckland.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised. Summaries are written by a reviewer and editor for the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Issued every two months.

 

Paediatrics and Child Health

Produced by: Canadian Paediatric Society; Pulsus Group Inc.

 

Paediatrics and Child Health aims to advocate for the health of all children and youth in Canada, and to provide educational material and information to all who provide health care to children in Canada. The journal includes a regular column entitled ‘Evidence for Clinicians’, in which a clinical question relevant to paediatricians is answered with reference to current evidence, including Cochrane reviews, and published along with an expert clinical commentary.

 

Access: Selected articles, including ‘Evidence for Clinicians’ are available free of charge online at http://www.pulsus.com/Paeds. Full access to the journal is by subscription, online or in print form. Individual annual subscription costs CA$175 in Canada, US$175 in the USA or US$210 elsewhere. Free of charge to members of the Canadian Paediatric Society.

Target audience: Paediatricians, other child health professionals.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. “Evidence for Clinicians” column provided by the Cochrane Child Health Field.

Issued/Updated: Issued ten times a year. “Evidence for Clinicians’ included five times a year.

 

Spine

Produced by: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

 

Spine is an international, peer-reviewed journal that considers for publication original articles in the field of spine. It is the leading subspecialty journal for the treatment of spinal disorders, covering diagnostic and therapeutic advances currently being developed to help reduce human spine dysfunction. The journal uses a multidisciplinary approach that offers the opportunity to explore the current views of specialists in every discipline concerned with spinal disorders. The journal has a co-publication agreement with the Cochrane Back Review Group and regularly publishes their systematic reviews.

 

Access: By subscription, online at http://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/nz_family.php and in print form. Individual annual subscription costs US$470 in the USA or US$622 elsewhere.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are republished.

Issued/Updated: Issued every two weeks.

 

Stroke

Produced by: American Heart Association; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

 

Stroke provides reports of clinical and basic investigation of all aspects of the cerebral circulation and its diseases from many disciplines including neurology, internal medicine, radiology, nuclear medicine, neuropathology, neurosurgery, epidemiology, vascular surgery, rehabilitation, anesthesiology, critical care medicine, vascular physiology, neuropsychology, speech pathology, and neuro-ophthalmology. The journal is ranked as one of the top clinical neurology journals in the world. Each issue of Stroke includes a ‘Cochrane Corner’ which summarises relevant Cochrane journals.

 

Access: ‘Cochrane Corner’ abstracts are available free of charge online at http://stroke.ahajournals.org/collected/cochrane.shtml. Full access to the journal is by subscription, online at http://stroke.ahajournals.org/ or in print form. Individual annual subscription costs US$273 in the USA or US$368 elsewhere, with discounts for American Heart Association Council members and online-only subscriptions.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane review abstracts are republished with some modification.

Issued/Updated: Issued monthly.

 

Ugeskrift for Læger

Produced by: Danish Medical Association.

 

Ugeskrift for Læger is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that is distributed to all members of the Danish Medical Association. The journal regularly includes a segment entitled "Evidence-based medicine". Commentaries on Cochrane reviews written by specialists for clinicians are published in this segment; the full abstract of the Cochrane review (in English) is usually printed with the commentary. Reviews are selected for inclusion if they are interesting, well-written and of acceptable methodological quality.

 

Access: By subscription online at http://www.dadlnet.dk or in print form. Free of charge to members of the Danish Medical Association.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: Danish.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are featured and abstracts republished. Reviews are recommended for inclusion by staff at The Nordic Cochrane Centre and the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre.

Issued/Updated: Issued weekly.

 


5.    Summaries and news bulletins

This section includes newsletters, web sites and other resources that disseminate Cochrane review summaries and other evidence-based news.

 

The Arthritis Society/La Société d’arthrite

Dr Chris Cates’ EBM Website

Effective Health Care

Evidence Notes

Evidence Update

Global Health Council

Health Evidence Bulletins Wales

Hitting the Headlines

HTA Newsletter

Impakti

Informed Health Online

Linkages

MDLinx

New Zealand Evidence-based Healthcare Bulletin

Revisoni Scelte dal Database Cochrane

RyggInfo (BackInfo)

<Back to Contents>

The Arthritis Society/La Société d’arthrite

The Arthritis Society (Canada) web site contains summaries of current research into arthritis and its treatments. The web site includes a series of consumer summaries of current Cochrane reviews. The summaries are indexed by condition, and are available in a basic and a more statistically detailed version. Consumer summaries are also highlighted in Arthritis Spotlight, the electronic newsletter of the Society, and CAPA Voices, the electronic newsletter of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance.

 

Access: Free of charge online at

http://www.arthritis.ca/look%20at%20research/default.asp?s=1 (English), or

http://www.arthrite.ca/look%20at%20research/default.asp?s=1 (French)

Target audience: Consumers.

Language: English and French.

Funding: The Arthritis Society is a registered charity. The web site is sponsored by Pfizer.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised. Summaries are provided by the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Updated as Cochrane reviews are published or updated.

 

Dr Chris Cates’ EBM Website

Produced by: Dr Chris Cates.

 

The web site includes information on critical appraisal of evidence, discussion of issues common to general practitioners such as the routine use of antibiotics, and free access to Visual Rx, a program that calculates the Number Needed to Treat (NNT) from the pooled results of a meta-analysis and produce a graphical display of the result. The site also publishes a newsletter that occasionally includes updates on new Cochrane reviews that concern general practice, as well as updates for Visual Rx, feedback on using evidence to change practice and other relevant material.

 

Access: Free of charge online http://www.nntonline.net/. Users can register on the site to receive the newsletter via email.

Target audience: General practitioners.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. The author is the Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Airways Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Bimonthly.

 

Effective Health Care

Produced by: Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), UK.

 

Effective Health Care bulletins are based on a systematic review and synthesis of research on the clinical effect, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of health service interventions. Over 60,000 copies of Effective Health Care are distributed free within the National Health Service (NHS). Since its inception in 1994, CRD has used the Effective Health Care bulletin series to promote the findings of Cochrane reviews and the use of The Cochrane Library. The findings of over 100 Cochrane reviews have been disseminated via the series. Several Collaborative Review Groups have been involved in the production of bulletins including the Airways, Back, Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC), Heart, Incontinence and Schizophrenia Review Groups. The Effective Health Care series will change its format following the release of the first bulletin for 2004.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/ehcb.htm, and distributed in print form within the NHS.

Target audience: Clinicians, policy makers.

Language: English and Italian (http://www.areas.it/page.asp?IDP=-1942363218).

Funding: Department of Health for England (1992-1999) National Institute for

Clinical Excellence (2000-2003).

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Several Cochrane entities are involved in producing the bulletins.

Issued/Updated: Schedule will change during 2004.

 

Evidence Notes

Produced by: NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, UK.

 

Evidence Notes are short, two-page papers summarising evidence on a topic or clinical area of particular relevance to NHS Scotland. The papers include the current state of evidence, as well as highlighting areas for further research and policy development. Evidence Notes are based on key reviews, papers and studies relevant to the subject, often including Cochrane reviews.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.nhshealthquality.org/, and distributed in print form to planners in NHS Trusts and Boards in Scotland.

Target audience: Clinicians, policy makers.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Issued approximately ten times a year.

 

Evidence Update

Produced by: Effective Health Care Alliance Programme (EHCAP).

 

EHCAP is an international research network whose aim is to increase the number of healthcare decisions made in low- and middle-income countries based on the best available evidence. EHCAP funding includes support for the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Review Group and a range of related research dissemination and implementation projects related to Cochrane reviews in all areas of health care relevant to low- and middle-income countries, and the tropics. Each Evidence Update is a two-page summary of a Cochrane review of healthcare interventions relevant to people in low- and middle income-countries. Evidence Update is organised into five series:

·        child health;

·        maternal health;

·        malaria;

·        trauma; and

·        health sector development.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.liv.ac.uk/lstm/ehcap/EU/evidenceupdate.htm. Also republished in various publications including Africa Health and BMJ West Africa.

Target audience: Clinicians in low- and middle-income countries.

Language: English, Chinese and Thai.

Funding: UK Department for International Development.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised. Summaries are written by contributors to The Cochrane Collaboration and checked with review authors before publication.

Issued/Updated: Issued quarterly. Updated as reviews are updated in The Cochrane Library.

 

Global Health Council

The Global Health Council is a membership alliance dedicated to improving health throughout the world. The Council’s membership includes healthcare professionals, NGOs, foundations, corporations, government agencies and academic institutions. The Council focuses on the key issues of women's health, child health, HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases and emerging health threats. The Council produces a number of resources that incorporate evidence from Cochrane reviews. Evidence for Action (EFA) is a monthly series of articles that summarise findings from systematic reviews, including Cochrane reviews. The summaries are also published in two bimonthly journals, Global HealthLink and Global AIDSLink. In addition to EFAs, the Council produces more detailed technical reports on issues of key interest, including Reducing Malaria’s Burden: Evidence of Effectiveness for Decision Makers and Making Childbirth Safer Through Promoting Evidence-Based Care. From March 2004, the Council will produce Research Briefs, 5‑page summaries of systematic reviews that Global Health Council staff have co-authored. Research Briefs are intended to be issued and updated in line with the reviews themselves. The first will be Preventing tuberculosis in HIV-infected persons (based on Woldehanna S, Volmink J. Treatment of latent tuberculosis infection in HIV infected persons (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 1, 2004. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.).

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.globalhealth.org/ or in print form on request.

Target audience: Clinicians, policy makers.

Language: English.

Funding: Grants from private foundations and the US government, membership fees, individual/corporate contributions.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used and reviews summarised. Research Briefs and technical reports are authored or co-authored by Cochrane reviewers. Evidence for Action articles are checked with review authors if queries arise.

Issued/Updated: Varies for each resource.

 

Health Evidence Bulletins Wales

Produced by: University of Wales College of Medicine (Division of Information Services); National Public Health Service for Wales.

 

These Bulletins are designed as signposts to quality appraised research evidence in health care. Each Bulletin covers a subject such as osteoporosis, cancers, healthy environments, maternal and child health, and coronary heart disease. The Bulletin summarises the current evidence for key topics within the subject area, providing information on risk factors, prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The Cochrane Library is included in the literature search strategy for the development of the Bulletins. Bulletins on specific subjects are produced according to priorities and funding availability.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://hebw.uwcm.ac.uk, and distributed in print form within Wales. Print copies can be ordered for between £5-8.

Target audience: Policy makers, clinicians, educators, students in Wales.

Language: English.

Funding: Welsh Assembly Government.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Periodically.

 

Hitting the Headlines

Produced by: Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, UK.

 

Hitting the Headlines provides summaries of recent news stories about health research from major newspapers in the UK, and give an assessment of the quality of the research behind the news story. Links are provided to relevant systematic reviews, including abstracts of Cochrane reviews and others from the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE). Other useful references and consumer health information are also linked. This service was commissioned by the National Health Service in England for publication in the National electronic Library for Health (NeLH).

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/hth.htm and http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/.

Target audience: Clinicians, consumers, policy makers.

Language: English.

Funding: National Health Service (NHS).

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Links to The Cochrane Library.

Issued/Updated: Issued within 48 hours of publication of relevant news items.

 

HTA Newsletter

Produced by: Institut für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung (Institute of Technology Assessment), Austria.

 

This is an academic Institute at the Austrian Academy of Sciences that conducts and communicates the results of health technology assessments for hospitals and organisations that reimburse healthcare costs. The HTA newsletter provides information on topics of interest, and each issue includes four articles on medical interventions covered by other health technology assessment agencies or Cochrane reviews.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.oeaw.ac.at/ita/hta/.

Target audience: Clinicians, policy makers.

Language: German.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Issued monthly.

 

Impakti

Produced by: Finnish Office for Health Care Technology Assessment (FinOHTA).

 

FinOHTA is an independent, public assessment agency working as a part of STAKES, the Finnish National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health. FinOHTA produces, supports and co-ordinates health(care) technology assessment in Finland. FinOHTA disseminates assessment results and experiences, both national and international, within the healthcare system. FinOHTA aims to promote the use of proper evidence-based methods in the Finnish healthcare system in order to enhance the effectiveness and impact of health care. In addition to the established methods of diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation, FinOHTA also evaluates new, emerging methods and especially those of importance in terms of public health or the national economy. Impakti is FinOHTA´s newsletter. It consists of articles written by staff, consultants and other experts, dealing with HTA and new research results, including short summaries of new Cochrane reviews relevant for the target audience.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.stakes.fi/finohta/ and in print form.

Target audience: Clinicians, policy makers.

Language: Finnish.

Funding: Finnish Ministry of Social Welfare and Health.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are summarised. FinOHTA houses the Finnish Branch of the Nordic Cochrane Centre.

Issued/Updated: Issued six times a year.

 

Informed Health Online

Produced by: Health Education and Research Foundation, Australia.

 

The Foundation aims to provide information and resource tools that enable people to keep up to date with reliable, evidence-based information. The Foundation promotes research literacy, and individual and community use of high-quality research. A key goal is to promote the accessibility of health information from The Cochrane Collaboration, based on Cochrane reviews and other reliable research on the effects of health care. Informed Health Online provides accessible summaries of Cochrane reviews specifically written for consumers, highlighting items of interest. The site also produces Hot Topics, summaries of key health topics that incorporate Cochrane reviews with other reliable sources of information. The site features daily “Did you know?” items, a “Review of the week” section and each quarter provides a full “What’s New Digest” on new issues of The Cochrane Library.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.informedhealthonline.org. Regular email news bulletins are also available from the site.

Target audience: Consumers, clinicians, journalists, librarians.

Language: English. The Foundation is currently working with partners to translate the site into other languages.

Funding: Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field (part of a grant from the National Institutes of Health, USA).

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used and reviews summarised. Summaries are checked with review authors and Collaborative Review Groups.

Issued/Updated: Updated regularly, schedules vary between items from daily to quarterly.

 

Linkages

Produced by: Institute for Work & Health, Canada.

 

Linkages is a publication whose purpose is to critically review the best available evidence in the literature in the area of soft-tissue injury and to disseminate these reviews to clinical decision makers in practice, workplace and policy and compensation settings. Each issue of Linkages describes the published evidence to date on a particular topic, summarising recent relevant articles such as Cochrane reviews, and provides expert commentaries on the methodological quality, relevance and applicability of the article's findings in either clinical practice or policy making.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.iwh.on.ca/.

Target audience: Clinicians, workplaces, policy makers, funders.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. The Institute hosts the Cochrane Back Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Issued twice a year.

 

MDLinx

Produced by: MDLinx Inc., USA.

 

MDLinx is a series of web sites for individual medical specialties and therapeutic categories, providing targeted information to help healthcare professionals stay current. MDLinx provides physicians with the most up-to-date medical news in their specialty and subspecialty, searching the most trusted peer-reviewed medical publications, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, to locate new articles and reports in each specialty area. Physicians can browse the latest articles on their specialty web site, or receive daily update emails. MDLinx also includes PatientLinx, a free web site that provides clinical updates for patients.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.mdlinx.com. Registration required for full site access.

Target audience: Clinicians, consumers.

Language: English.

Funding: Advertising and commercial sponsorship, including integrated content from pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane abstracts are republished.

Issued/Updated: Daily.

 

New Zealand Evidence-based Healthcare Bulletin

Produced by: The New Zealand Guidelines Group.

 

The purpose of the Bulletin is to summarise news and information about evidence-based healthcare activities in New Zealand and overseas. The Bulletin includes a regular Cochrane section highlighting new reviews of interest, as well as new consumer summaries available from Informed Health Online and forthcoming Cochrane Collaboration events.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.nzgg.org.nz/index.cfm?fuseaction=fuseaction_17, or via email to registered members of the NZGG network (free online registration).

Target audience: Clinicians, researchers.

Language: English.

Funding: NZ Ministry of Health.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane reviews are featured. Cochrane information is written by the New Zealand Cochrane Fellow at the New Zealand Branch of the Australasian Cochrane Centre.

Issued/Updated: Issued seven times a year.

 

Revisoni Scelte dal Database Cochrane

Produced by: Cochrane Neurological Network; Editore Zadig.

 

This booklet contains structured summaries of twenty selected Cochrane reviews of neurological interest, covering stroke, epilepsy, dementia, tumours and other neurological arguments. Each two-page summary includes charts and bibliographies. There is also an extensive introductory section focusing on The Cochrane Collaboration, its history, methodology and current work.

 

Access: The booklet has been distributed free of charge to neurologists, neurological university professors and resident neurology students in Italy. Additional copies can be ordered from the Cochrane Neurological Network, http://www.cochraneneuronet.org/.

Target audience: Neurologists, researchers, students in Italy.

Language: Italian.

Funding: Bayer.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Produced by the Cochrane Neurological Network.

Issued/Updated: A new edition is planned for 2005.

 

RyggInfo (BackInfo)

Produced by: Norwegian Centre for Health Services Research; Nordic Cochrane Centre, Norwegian branch; Norwegian Back Pain Association; Norwegian Back Pain Network.

 

RyggInfo's goal is to develop a quality assured information service for people with back pain. Central to the development of this information are requirements of relevance, reliability, and accessibility. Cochrane reviews are used as a source of information for the site. RyggInfo is currently under development, but is updated regularly.

 

Access: Free of charge online at http://www.rygginfo.no.

Target audience: Consumers in Norway.

Language: Norwegian and English, except content of Norwegian local interest only (http://www.rygginfo.no/default.aspx?lid=1).

Funding: Norwegian Back Pain Association; Norwegian Foundation for Health and Rehabilitation.

Cochrane contribution: Collaboration with the Cochrane Back Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 


6.    Textbooks and training resources

This section includes textbooks and training resources available in printed form that incorporate evidence from Cochrane reviews.

 

Clinical Evidence

Evidence-based Dermatology

Evidence Based Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Evidence-based Oncology

Evidence-based Ophthalmology

Evidence Based Pediatrics and Child Health

Evidence-based Rheumatology

Evidence in Action

Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth

<Back to Contents>

Clinical Evidence

Produced by: BMJ Publishing Group, UK.

 

Clinical Evidence aims to search, appraise and summarise all the evidence for a range of health topics, providing a reliable, relevant reference guide to answer common clinical questions. Clinical Evidence aims to cover common or important clinical conditions seen in primary and hospital care. Topics are selected by examining mortality and morbidity data as well as consultation rates, national priorities and recommendations from consumers and clinicians. The questions in Clinical Evidence concern the benefits and harms of preventative and therapeutic interventions, with emphasis on outcomes that matter to patients. Clinical Evidence uses systematic reviews, and in particular Cochrane reviews, as its preferred source of evidence.

 

Access: Available online at http://www.clinicalevidence.com, on CD and PDA, and in print form. Annual individual subscription to the full print edition and online access costs £100 or US$160. Access is free to developing countries.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English, Spanish (www.evidenciaclinica.com), Russian (www.mediasphera.ru/clinicalevidence), Italian (www.areas.it ), Japanese, German, French (www.DeciderPourTraiter.org).

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Contributors to The Cochrane Collaboration are often a part of the editorial process.

Issued/Updated: Print edition issued twice a year.

 

Evidence-based Dermatology

Williams H, Bigby M, Diepgen T, Herxheimer A, Naldi L and Rzany B (Editors), BMJ Books, London 2003.

 

This is a book about using the best evidence to inform treatment decisions for people with skin disease. It is written by dermatologists for dermatologists, using examples throughout to illustrate key points. The book starts off with a "toolbox" section, written in a way that will help those relatively new to the principles of evidence‑based dermatology to understand the key issues, and equip them with the basics of how to tell a good study from a bad one. The majority of the book then deals with an evidence-based summary of the common and important skin diseases in a structured and easy to read format based on common patient scenarios. Whilst most of the evidence is based on randomised controlled trials, other studies are cited where appropriate, for example, when discussing adverse events. The book incorporates Cochrane evidence, and also includes a chapter on the Cochrane Skin Review Group.

 

Access: Available for purchase in print form for approximately £99 and electronically for £70 from http://www.bmjbookshop.com.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Several of the chapters have been authored or co-authored by Cochrane Skin Review Group reviewers.

Issued/Updated: Updated and additional chapters are available free of charge online at http://www.evidbasedderm.com/.

 

Evidence Based Gastroenterology and Hepatology

McDonald JWD, Feagan BG, and Burroughs A (Editors), 2nd Edition, BMJ Books, London 2004.

 

Evidence-based medicine applied in clinical context is the thrust of this text on gastroenterology and hepatology. It recommends best practice for treating individual patients based on the randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews (including Cochrane reviews) conducted in the major gastrointestinal subspecialties. Note that the second edition will be released on 30 June 2004. Until then, the first edition (published 1999) remains available.

 

Access: Available for purchase from 30 June 2004, in print form for approximately £95. First edition available for approximately £65.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English. The first edition is also available in Spanish and Italian.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Editors include the Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Inflammatory Bowel Disease Review Group.

Issued/Updated: This is the second edition. Updated and additional chapters are available free of charge online at http://www.evidbasedgastro.com/.

 

Evidence-based Oncology

Williams C, Bramwell V, Bonfill X, Cuzick J, Forbes JF, Grant R, Guthrie D, Mason M, Simmonds P, Singh AD, Weston R, and Williams H (Editors), BMJ Books, London 2003.

 

This is a book about using the best evidence to inform treatment decisions for people with cancer. It is written by oncologists for oncologists, using examples throughout to illustrate key points. The book starts off with a "toolbox" section, written in a way that will help those relatively new to the principles of evidence-based oncology to understand the key issues, and equip them with the basics of how to tell a good study from a bad one. The majority of the book then deals with an evidence-based summary of the common and important cancers in a structured and easy to read format based on common patient scenarios and frequently asked questions. Whilst most of the evidence is based on randomised controlled trials, other studies are cited where appropriate, for example, when discussing adverse events.

 

Access: Available for purchase in print form for approximately £99 and electronically for £70 from http://www.bmjbookshop.com.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Editors include contributors to The Cochrane Collaboration.

Issued/Updated: Updated and additional chapters are available free of charge online at http://www.evidbasedoncology.com.

 

Evidence-based Ophthalmology

Wormald R, Smeeth L and Henshaw K (Editors), BMJ Books, London, 2003.

 

Evidence-based Ophthalmology discusses the application of evidence-based principles in ophthalmic practice. The clinical section provides an overview of the evidence for optimum management in the key areas. The book draws on the expertise of ophthalmologists working in evidence-based medicine worldwide. The Association of Vision Science Librarians rates this book as an essential title for a library supporting a program in ophthalmology, optometry or vision science.

 

Access: Available for purchase in print form for approximately £45 and electronically for £33.75 from http://www.bmjbookshop.com.

Target audience: Ophthalmologists, optometrists, other clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Editors include the Co-ordinating Editor and other Editors of the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Updated and additional chapters are available free of charge online at www.evidbasedophth.com.

 

Evidence Based Pediatrics and Child Health

Moyer VA, Williams K and Elliott E (Editors), 2nd Edition, BMJ Books, London 2004.

 

Evidence Based Pediatrics and Child Health uses an evidence-based approach to paediatrics and child care management. It covers all the major childhood conditions and contains the features of both a handbook and a reference text. Each chapter combines both advice on management and how best to practice evidence-based medicine with reviews of all the available evidence in a specific area. The goal of the book is to help paediatricians and others who care for children to provide the best possible care by combining the best, most current evidence with special circumstances of each individual patient. Evidence Based Pediatrics and Child Health is edited and written by international experts from all over the world. In the second edition, new chapters have been added on searching and implementing the evidence and neonatal conditions. Note that the second edition will be released in May 2004. Until then, the first edition (published 2000) remains available.

 

Access: Available for purchase in print form for approximately £90. First edition available for approximately £65.

Target audience: Paediatricians, other clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used.

Issued/Updated: Updated and additional chapters are available free of charge online at http://www.evidbasedpediatrics.com/.

 

Evidence-based Rheumatology

Tugwell P, Shea B, Boers M, Brooks P, Simon LS, Strand V and Wells G (Editors), BMJ Books, London 2003.

 

Evidence-based Rheumatology discusses the application of evidence-based principles in rheumatological practice. The clinical section provides an overview of the evidence for optimum management in the key areas, drawing on the expertise of rheumatologists working in evidence-based medicine worldwide. Evidence-based information (including results from Cochrane reviews) has been translated into a set of handouts for patients in the form of consumer packages. There are 15 consumer packages that include a short and long summary of the evidence for the effectiveness and safety of 15 interventions for treating musculoskeletal diseases. A decision aid to support patients and physicians in the patient decision-making process is also included in the consumer package.

 

Access: Available for purchase in print form for approximately £99 and electronically for £74.25 from http://www.bmjbookshop.com.

Target audience: Clinicians.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Editors include the Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Review Group and other contributors to The Cochrane Collaboration.

Issued/Updated: Updated and additional chapters are available free of charge online at http://www.evidbasedrheum.com/.

 

Evidence in Action

Produced by: South African Cochrane Centre.

 

Evidence in Action is a board game, similar to Snakes and Ladders, developed as part of an evidence-based reproductive healthcare training package. It is an innovative and creative learning tool that can also be used as a stand-alone product. The game was developed with a rural setting in mind, highlighting some of the logistical and health-related problems encountered in under-resourced countries. The game is designed as a fun way to test the knowledge of participants with respect to searching effectively for evidence, and interpreting the evidence in the WHO Reproductive Health Library.

 

Access: Available for purchase from the South African Cochrane Centre for R 285 plus postage (taxes not applicable outside South Africa will be deducted). Order form is available at http://www.mrc.ac.za/cochrane/cochrane.htm.

Target audience: Reproductive health workers, policy makers.

Language: English.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Developed by the South African Cochrane Centre.

 


Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth

Enkin M, Keirse M, Neilson J, Crowther C, Duley L, and Hodnett E, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2000.

 

This guide summarizes the most authoritative evidence available, including Cochrane reviews, on the effects of care practices carried out during pregnancy, childbirth, and immediately after birth, in a clear and readily understandable format.

 

Access: Available for purchase at approximately £21.95.

Target audience: Clinicians, midwives, consumers.

Language: English, Chinese, Czech, German, Russian.

Funding: None declared.

Cochrane contribution: Cochrane evidence is used. Authors include the Co-ordinating Editor and other members of the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Review Group.

Issued/Updated: Unknown.

 

 



 

NOTE: If you would like to suggest any changes or additions to this index, please contact The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre at cochrane@uottowa.ca.