Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: In October 2014 the Polish Branch of the Nordic Cochrane Centre was established. This entity plans a range of activities, including raising awareness of Cochrane activities and training in the use of Cochrane Reviews (CRs).
Objectives:The aim of the study was to assess the awareness of Cochrane and its activities, use of the Cochrane Library (CL) and CRs in Poland and the need for workshops on the use of systematic reviews and literature searching.
Methods: a website (using one of the most popular portals for health professionals in Poland) questionnaire-based study.
Results: During a four-week period 169 doctors completed the questionnaire: 52% were women; 3% had finished their medical studies less than a year previously, 15% had finished within one to five years, 15% within five to 10 years, 32% within 10 to 20 years, and 34% more than 20 years ago. Seventeen per cent of participants work only as general practitioners, 8% only as specialists in outpatient clinics, 61% in hospitals, and 14% at universities. Most participants (77.5%) had heard about Cochrane, 70% stated that they knew about Cochrane activies, 64% had read publications in CL, 49% had read full texts of CR, 52% used the results of CR in clinical practice (all these results were independent of the place of work or on the time since graduation; there was a statistically significant relationship between the use of CR in clinical practice and reading the full texts of CRs (P value < 0.001)). It is expected that these percentages will be lower in the general population of Polish medical doctors than in the study population, where participants were probably interested in the topic. The frequencies of using CL were: 32% more than once a month, 15% twice a month, 7% once a week, 4% more than once a week, 42% never used it.
Eighty-five per cent of participants were willing to take part in workshops on the use of CR in clinical practice and searching for clinical information in databases.
Conclusions: The awareness of Cochrane activities and products and the use of CL is unsatisfactory in Poland. There is a necessity for promoting use of CR through training activities.
Objectives:The aim of the study was to assess the awareness of Cochrane and its activities, use of the Cochrane Library (CL) and CRs in Poland and the need for workshops on the use of systematic reviews and literature searching.
Methods: a website (using one of the most popular portals for health professionals in Poland) questionnaire-based study.
Results: During a four-week period 169 doctors completed the questionnaire: 52% were women; 3% had finished their medical studies less than a year previously, 15% had finished within one to five years, 15% within five to 10 years, 32% within 10 to 20 years, and 34% more than 20 years ago. Seventeen per cent of participants work only as general practitioners, 8% only as specialists in outpatient clinics, 61% in hospitals, and 14% at universities. Most participants (77.5%) had heard about Cochrane, 70% stated that they knew about Cochrane activies, 64% had read publications in CL, 49% had read full texts of CR, 52% used the results of CR in clinical practice (all these results were independent of the place of work or on the time since graduation; there was a statistically significant relationship between the use of CR in clinical practice and reading the full texts of CRs (P value < 0.001)). It is expected that these percentages will be lower in the general population of Polish medical doctors than in the study population, where participants were probably interested in the topic. The frequencies of using CL were: 32% more than once a month, 15% twice a month, 7% once a week, 4% more than once a week, 42% never used it.
Eighty-five per cent of participants were willing to take part in workshops on the use of CR in clinical practice and searching for clinical information in databases.
Conclusions: The awareness of Cochrane activities and products and the use of CL is unsatisfactory in Poland. There is a necessity for promoting use of CR through training activities.