THE COCHRANE LIBRARY

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THE COCHRANE LIBRARY
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WHAT IS THE COCHRANE LIBRARY
The Cochrane Library is the single most reliable
source for evidence on the effects of healthcare.
Health care in the 21st Century relies not only
on individual medical skills, but also on the
best information on the effectiveness of each
intervention being accessible to practitioners,
patients, and policy makers. This approach is
sometimes known as evidence-based medicine.
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The Cochrane Library is designed to provide
information and evidence to support decisions
taken in health care and to inform those
receiving care.
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THE COCHRANE COLLABORATION
Wiley publishes the Cochrane Library for the
Cochrane Collaboration

• Structure - established as an international
  organisation in 1993, registered as a charity in
  the U.K.
• Aim - to help people make well-informed decisions
  about health care.
• How - by preparing and maintaining, and promoting
  access to, systematic reviews of the effects of
  healthcare interventions.
• Publishing Output The Cochrane Library

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WHAT IS THE COCHRANE LIBRARY?
The Cochrane Library is a collection of 7 main
databases and 1 additional databases that
describe Cochrane as an organization. These are

• The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  (CDSR)
• The Cochrane Database of Reviews of Effects
  (DARE)
• The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled
  Trials (CENTRAL)
• The Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews
  (CDMR)
• Health Technology Assessment Database (HTA)
• NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED)
• THE COCHRANE METHODOLOGY REGISTER (CMR)
• About The Cochrane Collaboration and the Cochrane
  Collaborative Review Groups

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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)
What is a Systematic Review?
The authors of a systematic review identify an
intervention for a specific disease or other
problem in health care, and then ask whether or
not this intervention works. In order to do this
they locate, appraise and synthesise evidence
from as many relevant scientific studies as
possible. They summarise conclusions about
effectiveness, and provide a unique collation of
the known evidence on a given topic, so that
others can easily review the primary studies for
intervention.
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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)
Whats so important about it?
Reviews address clearly formulated questions such
as does fluoride help prevent tooth decay in
children or can antibiotics help in alleviating
the symptoms of sore throat. Comprehensive and
explicit methods are used to track down, select
and determine the quality of relevant research.
This includes searches for unpublished and
non-English records to provide as complete a
picture as possible to try to answer the question
considered. A diagrammatic analysis is also
provided in the form of an odds-ratio diagram.
These diagrams reveal, at a glance, whether a
treatment is beneficial or not.
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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)
What sort of healthcare questions are addressed?
What magnitude of risk reduction when a patient
with Coronary Heart Disease stops smoking?
People who quit smoking after a heart attack or
cardiac surgery reduce their risk of death by at
least one third.
Does the use of hydrolysed formulas for infant
feeding prevents allergy and food intolerance?
When babies are not exclusively breastfed, using
hydrolysed infant formulas instead of ordinary
cow's and soy milk formulas can reduce allergies
in babies and children.
Does having a friend for support present during
labour and childbirth impact on a womans
experience?
Yes. Continuous labour support reduces a woman's
likelihood of having pain medication, increases
her satisfaction and chances for 'spontaneous'
birth, and has no known risks.
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The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)
How large is the database?

• More than 2435 Full Reviews

• More than 1606 Protocols (Reviews in
  progress)

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• The Cochrane Database of Reviews of Effect
  (DARE)
• Contains critical assessments and and structured
  abstracts of reviews.
• Must meet a minimum quality criteria.
• Cover topics yet to be covered in CDSR.
• For Cochrane reviewers and researchers wanting
  information on reviews of heath care effects from
  sources outside the Cochrane Library

• The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled
  Trials
• (CENTRAL)
• Contains a register of studies which may be
  relevant for inclusion in Cochrane reviews
• Worlds largest database of randomly controlled
  trials
• For Cochrane reviewers needing to identify
  studies for a Cochrane review and researchers
  wishing to identifies studies in a different
  medical disciplines.

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• The Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews
  (CDMR)
• Contains Methodology reviews and protocols.
• Full-text Reviews examine the benefit of
  methodological studies e.g. Does editorial
  peer-review improve the quality of reports of
  biomedical studies

• Health Technology Assessment Database
• (HTA)
• Contains information on healthcare technology
  assessments, including details of ongoing
  projects and completed publications from health
  technology assessment organisations

• Plus information on the Collaboration and its
  Review Groups.

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• THE COCHRANE METHODOLOGY REGISTER
  (CMR)
• Contains a bibliography of publications which
  report on methods used in the conduct of
  controlled trials.
• It includes journal articles, books and
  conference proceedings, these articles are taken
  from the MEDLINE database and from hand searches.

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Finding Information
The Cochrane Library has many features that make
finding the information that youre after fast
and accurate
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An Advanced Search of the Cochrane Library
All text search for the terms schizo, drugs,
atypical and antipsychotic.
Searching across all databases in the library.
Searching across all records.
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An Advanced Search of the Cochrane Library
Toggle between results listed for the different
databases in the Cochrane Library here
Save or edit your search using these links.
Returns the following results
Use these links to restrict your search results
to Reviews only, or Protocols only.
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MeSH (Medical Subjects Heading Search)
Use the Thesaurus to search for MeSH descriptors
Add search qualifiers.
Select the MeSH tree you wish to search.
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Search History
Select Search History. To combine searches, enter
their number together with Boolean operator of
choice in this case AND.
Your combined search will then come up in your
Search History. Click it to run it.
The combined search (1 AND 2) returns results
across all the databases.
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Who benefits from the Cochrane Library?

• Health Professionals at all levels, Health
  Researchers, Health Policy Makers, Care givers,
  the Pharmaceutical Industry, and patients.

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Thanks for your attention!