Background:

Academic centers of excellence which focus equally on research, education and patient-care are needed to cater to current healthcare demands. Developed countries have been successful in integrating research into their medical curriculum, transitioning from a textbook-based system to an evidence-based one. Developing countries like India lack the necessary infrastructure, training and policies to implement such a system.

Intervention: Based on this need to groom the next generation of healthcare professionals, a national platform to advocate and encourage the work of young medical researchers was formed under the banner of 'The Forum for Medical Students' Research, India’ (INFORMER). In 2009, at the Forum’s annual congress, Dr Prathap Tharyan, director of the South Asian Cochrane Network delivered a lecture on Evidence-based medicine (EBM). As a continuation, collaboration was forged between INFORMER and the Cochrane Centre based in Vellore. This collaboration was furthered during the Third South Asian Regional Symposium on Evidence-Informed Healthcare, at Christian Medical College, Vellore. Here representatives from both organizations deliberated and, with input from the Symposium participants, enlisted measures which they could adopt to increase student participation in the Cochrane Collaboration’s activities.

Results:

The measures included the setting up of a formal students' group linked with the regional Cochrane Centre, journal club discussions, introductory workshops on evidence-informed healthcare and Cochrane reviews, training modules targeted at teaching the basics of EBM to students, involvement of students in writing and various other aspects of Cochrane reviews, and establishing a database to link novices and mentors with similar research interests. Since the implementation of the aforementioned methods, there has been a surge in Cochrane activity from the Indian subcontinent.

Conclusion:

The Cochrane Collaboration can serve as a good quality, accessible and affordable educational resource for medical students, especially in developing countries which have inadequate academic centers of excellence.