Background: The Cochrane Collaboration is now approaching its 10th year of existence and the number of reviews in the Cochrane Library is growing rapidly. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is widely viewed as a repository of valid information for clinical practice for all health care professionals and consumers of health services. However little is known about the extent to which Cochrane reviews are perceived as relevant and useful to its intended audience, and particularly to professions other than medicine.

Objectives: To explore both the relevance of Cochrane review questions, and applicability of the findings to nursing practice and education.

Methods: Groups of nurses from 3 different specialties (Cardiac care; diabetes care; palliative care) were asked to grade the relevance of reviews undertaken by the pertinent Cochrane Review Groups (Heart; Pain, Palliative Care and Supportive Care; Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders Groups). A questionnaire was administered to determine whether systematic reviews addressed topics of relevance to teaching and/or practice; and whether reviews delivered information viewed as influential and useful.

Results: The findings of the survey will be presented and discussed.

Conclusions: It is essential that the Cochrane Collaboration regularly takes stock of the extent to which it is addressing questions of importance to its target audience and meets their information needs. This study is a tentative step towards identifying how the Collaboration is serving the needs of one professional group in 3 key areas.