Article type
Year
Abstract
Introduction: We started to develop our Specialised Register of Trials in September 1993. It quickly became apparent that for the Specialised Register to be an efficient tool for supporting reviewers and facilitating the process of keeping reviews up-to-date, it had to be more than simply a database of references. In September 1994, with financial support from the UK Cochrane Centre, we began to develop RefTraK, our Specialised Register management system.
Objectives: The purpose of RefTraK is to: (a) provide reviewers with relevant information from the Specialised Register, and (b) provide an effective mechanism for tracking information, and thereby monitoring the quality of each review.
Methods: Using a complex relational database structure, details of stroke trials, references, Cochrane review titles registered with the Stroke Group, and reviewers, are entered into RefTraK, and linked as appropriate. The most powerful function in RefTraK is the retrieval/reporting facility. This allows for specific search strategies, based on our intervention coding system, to be developed for each review. These search strategies are run every six months, and reports produced, providing details of new information which has become available since the search was last run. Reviewers assess this new information, then complete and return the Reviewer Response Form (also produced by RefTraK) indicating what they intend to do with the information. The details returned on the Reviewer Response Form, and in subsequently updated reviews, are entered into RefTraK, thus providing an effective tracking system for both trial information and reviews. Even where there is no new information for a review, a report is still produced and sent to the reviewer, who should update the search strategy section of the review by including the date the Specialised Register was last searched
Results: By January 1998 we had developed a report format which was relatively easy to produce and user-friendly for reviewers. Since January 1998, we have run the relevant search strategies three times and sent the reports out to the appropriate reviewers. The response has been positive with five reviews being updated as a direct result of these reports, hi addition, the Editorial Office can now add relevant information, provided by RefTraK, into the 'Trials Awaiting Assessment' section of out-of-date reviews, thus supplying the totality of the evidence to users of the reviews.
Discussion: RefTraK is a powerful tool which supports reviewers by providing relevant information from the Specialised Register in a useful format. It is also the most reliable tool we have for monitoring reviews - a task which will become increasingly important as the Cochrane Stroke Group expands and develops. Without a management system like RefTraK, which provides automated review-specific searching and tracking, we would find it difficult to effectively support our reviewers or help them maintain the quality of their reviews.
Objectives: The purpose of RefTraK is to: (a) provide reviewers with relevant information from the Specialised Register, and (b) provide an effective mechanism for tracking information, and thereby monitoring the quality of each review.
Methods: Using a complex relational database structure, details of stroke trials, references, Cochrane review titles registered with the Stroke Group, and reviewers, are entered into RefTraK, and linked as appropriate. The most powerful function in RefTraK is the retrieval/reporting facility. This allows for specific search strategies, based on our intervention coding system, to be developed for each review. These search strategies are run every six months, and reports produced, providing details of new information which has become available since the search was last run. Reviewers assess this new information, then complete and return the Reviewer Response Form (also produced by RefTraK) indicating what they intend to do with the information. The details returned on the Reviewer Response Form, and in subsequently updated reviews, are entered into RefTraK, thus providing an effective tracking system for both trial information and reviews. Even where there is no new information for a review, a report is still produced and sent to the reviewer, who should update the search strategy section of the review by including the date the Specialised Register was last searched
Results: By January 1998 we had developed a report format which was relatively easy to produce and user-friendly for reviewers. Since January 1998, we have run the relevant search strategies three times and sent the reports out to the appropriate reviewers. The response has been positive with five reviews being updated as a direct result of these reports, hi addition, the Editorial Office can now add relevant information, provided by RefTraK, into the 'Trials Awaiting Assessment' section of out-of-date reviews, thus supplying the totality of the evidence to users of the reviews.
Discussion: RefTraK is a powerful tool which supports reviewers by providing relevant information from the Specialised Register in a useful format. It is also the most reliable tool we have for monitoring reviews - a task which will become increasingly important as the Cochrane Stroke Group expands and develops. Without a management system like RefTraK, which provides automated review-specific searching and tracking, we would find it difficult to effectively support our reviewers or help them maintain the quality of their reviews.