Forget the endless searching for evidence of effectiveness
through journals, books, or libraries, or even
Bandolier
. You can now have it all (well some of it, anyway) on your computer CD ROM. For
the relatively small sum of £95 a year (plus VAT), The Cochrane Library is
now available with quarterly updates.
CDSR
What is on offer is staggering. The best available evidence from regularly
updated systematic reviews being done by researchers all over the world comes in
the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The quality systems which are
fundamental to the Collaboration ensure that these are done to the highest
possible standards - and what is more, results are available at the click of a
few buttons in understandable formats.
DARE
Almost as important are all the reviews done outside the Collaboration. So also
in the Library is the York Database of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE). These are
structured abstracts done by professionals who have taken review papers apart and
put them together again after quality filters have been applied. It also contains
records of other reviews, abstracts of reports from health technology agencies
around the world and abstracts of reviews from the ACP Journal Club.
CCTR
Finally there is the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR). Contributors to
the Cochrane Collaboration have identified over 100,000 controlled trials,
including many not found in MEDLINE and other databases (and
Bandolier's
inside information is that before too long this could rise to 250,000).
You need
A PC with 386SX processor or higher with 4MB RAM minimum and free HD space of
15MB. You don't need to be a rocket scientist or gene jockey to use it.
But all Mac users should note that a Mac version is not available because there
is too little demand! This could seriously damage
Bandolier's
health - we'd like to know how many potential Mac users would want this. Don't
tell us, tell the publishers.
The Cochrane Library is available from BMJ Publications (Tel 0171 383 6185/6245,
Fax 0171 383 6662).
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