Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Healthcare professionals need point-of-care access to reliable and high-quality synthetized information from up-to-date research. Cochrane Reviews provide a valuable source of information, but can take a long time to read and have a large volume of data, much of which may not be relevant to the busy healthcare professional. Cochrane Clinical Answers (CCAs) provide an accessible, clinically-focused summary of Cochrane Reviews and therefore can support decision making at the bed-side.
Objectives: To describe the current and proposed coverage of CCAs, and how their presentation aids information dissemination.
Methods: The CCA website was developed to mimic the way clinicians approach information gathering. To ensure appropriate coverage, the number of published CCAs by discipline was reviewed and targets established for 2015.
Results: Each CCA addresses a question and provides a concise answer. Full outcome data supporting the answer are a click away. The population, intervention and comparator (PICO) information, a narrative result, the quality of evidence or risk of bias summary, a link to the forest plot and absolute values are provided to allow quick understanding and application of results.
By February 2015, we had published 645 CCAs across all disciplines. Coverage ranged from 7% (in the areas of Neonatal, and Pregnancy and Childbirth) to 89% (Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders), with Oncology and Infectious Diseases being made priorities in 2015. Six-hundred CCAs were published by January 2015, and our target for January 2016 is 1000.
New developments involve creating CCAs from overviews, network meta-analyses, and narrative reviews, as clinicians would benefit most from reliable and accurate clinician-friendly summaries of these complex Cochrane Reviews.
Conclusions: CCAs are a great tool to filter the vast amount of evidence from Cochrane Reviews and make it easier for healthcare professionals to apply high-quality evidence when managing patients.
Objectives: To describe the current and proposed coverage of CCAs, and how their presentation aids information dissemination.
Methods: The CCA website was developed to mimic the way clinicians approach information gathering. To ensure appropriate coverage, the number of published CCAs by discipline was reviewed and targets established for 2015.
Results: Each CCA addresses a question and provides a concise answer. Full outcome data supporting the answer are a click away. The population, intervention and comparator (PICO) information, a narrative result, the quality of evidence or risk of bias summary, a link to the forest plot and absolute values are provided to allow quick understanding and application of results.
By February 2015, we had published 645 CCAs across all disciplines. Coverage ranged from 7% (in the areas of Neonatal, and Pregnancy and Childbirth) to 89% (Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders), with Oncology and Infectious Diseases being made priorities in 2015. Six-hundred CCAs were published by January 2015, and our target for January 2016 is 1000.
New developments involve creating CCAs from overviews, network meta-analyses, and narrative reviews, as clinicians would benefit most from reliable and accurate clinician-friendly summaries of these complex Cochrane Reviews.
Conclusions: CCAs are a great tool to filter the vast amount of evidence from Cochrane Reviews and make it easier for healthcare professionals to apply high-quality evidence when managing patients.