Friday, May 20, 2022

The Early Career Professionals Network aims to provide its members with opportunities to enhance their knowledge, skills, and expertise by providing a platform for international networking with early career professionals or other members in the Cochrane community.

Though there is no one single definition of an ‘Early Career Professional/Researcher,’ bodies such as the European Research Commission, Economic and Social Research Council, and De Montfort University generally agree that an ECP is someone who is roughly within the first five years of their research activity. Informally, we also define an ECP as PhD students and post-docs.

This group has four main objectives, including international networking, representing trainees, active patient involvement, and knowledge translation.

Upcoming Events: 

Journal Club - Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy
Date: 28 April 2022
Time: 14- 15:30 EDT (view in your time zone)
Language: English
Register: Register for free!
Join  Cochrane Early Career Professionals Network (ECP) for two presentations, join in the discussion, and ask questions. A great opportunity to learn and network!  Everyone is welcome! 

• Hosted by Joel Pollet
• Presentation 1: 'Methodology issues of rehabilitation research: ‘Specific issues’ of rehabilitation.' by Chiara Arienti, Coordinator of Cochrane Rehabilitation.
• Presentation 2: 'The methodology used for the production of the guideline on Low Back Pain treatment. ' by Prof. Pierre Côté, from Ontario Tech University

Related information:

• Visit the Early Career Professionals Cochrane Network page on Cochrane Community
• View videos of past events
• Follow ECP on Twitter or check out the #CochraneEarlyCareer hashtag

• Subscribe to the ECO Newsletter for a ‘one-stop-shop’ of resources, training, events, opportunities, features, blogs relevant to Early Career Researchers. Register for a Cochrane Account > My account > Communications tab > Sign up for all of the newsletters you’re interested in, including the Early Career Professionals Network newsletter.

Friday, April 1, 2022

Readable, clinically-focused, actionable answers to inform point-of-care decision-making for health professionals. 

Cochrane Clinical Answers (CCAs) provide a readable, digestible, clinically-focused entry point to rigorous research from Cochrane Reviews. They are designed to be actionable and to inform point-of-care decision-making. Each CCA contains a clinical question, a short answer, and data for the outcomes from the Cochrane Review deemed most relevant to practicing healthcare professionals. The evidence is displayed in a user-friendly tabulated format that includes narratives, data, and links to graphics.

COVID-19 CCAs are available for free. Latest COVID CCAs:

• Can pre‐exposure SARS‐CoV‐2‐neutralising monoclonal antibodies help prevent COVID‐19?
• Can postexposure SARS‐CoV‐2‐neutralising monoclonal antibodies help prevent COVID‐19?
• What are the effects of janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors for people with moderate to severe COVID‐19?
• What is the accuracy of World Health Organization (WHO)‐specified and related COVID‐19 symptoms for the diagnosis of COVID‐19?
• What evidence is available on unintended health and societal consequences of measures implemented in the school setting to contain the COVID‐19 pandemic?

 

Get involved: The clinical answer is written either by a practicing clinician or by a CCA Editor, with the answer being peer-reviewed by a practicing clinician. If you would like to join the Clinical Answers authoring team, please contact the team at clinicalanswers@cochrane.org. We are specifically looking for clinicians in the following areas: respiratory medicine; care of the elderly; cardiovascular medicine; pregnancy and childbirth; neurology - especially epilepsy; infectious disease; paediatrics; rheumatology; ENT; and urology.

• Learn more about Cochrane Clinical Answers and how they are created
• Browse all Cochrane Clinical Answers

Thursday, June 23, 2022

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month. Endometriosis is an inflammatory condition where endometrial tissue (tissue similar to the lining of the uterus) grows outside of the uterus. It is estimated that 1 in 10 women have endometriosis (Zondervan 2020). Endometriosis frequently presents with the symptom of pain including dysmenorrhoea (painful periods), dyspareunia (pain during sexual intercourse), and chronic pelvic or abdominal pain. Endometriosis can cause infertility and for women with subfertility the prevalence rate ranges from 25% to 40% (Ozkan 2008).

Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility group has published over 20 intervention reviews and protocols investigating the effectiveness and safety of treatments for the management of endometriosis. In addition, they have published five diagnostic test accuracy reviews assessing the effectiveness of various tests in the diagnosis of endometriosis. They are joining #EndometriosisAwarenessMonth by sharing an updated collection of their reviews on endometriosis that focus on pain-related outcomes and fertility outcomes. The treatments include pharmacological interventions (hormonal therapy, immune-modulators, anti‐inflammatory drugs), surgery, and alternative medicine. Throughout Endometriosis Awareness Month, they will be also sharing blogs that include relevant Cochrane evidence and other information to help inform women’s decisions about endometriosis diagnosis and treatment. 

• Collection of Cochrane Reviews on endometriosis
• Cochrane Gynecology and Fertility website

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

We aim to put Cochrane evidence at the heart of health decision-making all over the world. This not only means producing high-quality and relevant systematic reviews but making sure that our evidence is accessible and advocating for evidence. Join us on social media to learn more about the work we do, our community, and the health evidence we produce.

You can access Cochrane evidence and news on your favourite social media platform! Follow us on:

• Twitter - @CochraneCollab @CochraneLibrary @CochraneConsumr @Cochrane_Crowd and @Task_Exchange 
• Facebook - Cochrane,  Cochrane Library and Cochrane Consumer Network
• YouTube
• Instagram - @Cochraneorg
• LinkedIn

We love to engage with our Community and retweet or share to Instagram stories!   Be sure to tag a Cochrane social media account  so that we see the post. 

Share a picture of you enjoying Cochrane training, using the Cochrane Handbook, or share the latest Cochrane evidence. Your social media posts can earn you contribution points to work towards gaining full Cochrane Membership! Share, tag us, and add  your contribution to your free account. 

If you're interested in learning more about sharing on social media, check out these resources:

• Cochrane social media tips
• Checklist for disseminating health evidence
• Guide to choosing images when sharing health evidence

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Cochrane Library releases updated Special Collection on diagnosing tuberculosis

 World Tuberculosis Day is marked annually on 24 March as it commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus that causes tuberculosis.

This Special Collection, curated by Cochrane contributors, includes Cochrane Reviews from the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group and other systematic reviews from other international teams. It highlights how Cochrane evidence contributes within a wider landscape of tuberculosis evidence and guidelines. The Collection also describes key WHO guidelines on tuberculosis diagnostics, and their underpinning systematic reviews, some which are published within the WHO Guideline itself.

• View the Special Collection: Diagnosing Tuberculosis

 

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

 

It’s hard to stay up-to-date with the latest health evidence. Listen to leading experts and Cochrane review authors explain in plain language the evidence and findings of their high-impact reviews. In 5 minutes or less, healthcare professionals to patients and families can understand the latest trusted evidence to help make better informed decisions.

For 20 years, Cochrane has produced systematic reviews which are internationally recognized as the highest standard in evidence-based health care resources. Cochrane works collaboratively with contributors around the world to produce authoritative, relevant, and reliable evidence.

You can view and search our entire catalogue of hundreds of podcasts or subscribe via Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, or Spotify for the latest updates.

Monday, March 7, 2022

Clinical Trials Day is celebrated on 20 May marking the day in 1747 on which James Lind is believed to have begun the first known controlled trial, comparing different treatments for scurvy which was common among sailors in the British Royal Navy. (Watch a video explaining the trial to see history in the making.) 

Learn about Cochrane systematic reviews and how clinical trials are used:

Registering and reporting the results of clinical trials is an ethical, and often legal, responsibility. However, it is well documented that the results of many studies are never published.

Cochrane’s systematic reviews rely upon the results of clinical trials. To assess the effectiveness and safety of healthcare interventions, we need to know what trials were done, how they were conducted and what their findings were. Without access to detailed information from all clinical trials, we cannot have a full picture of the evidence.

Cochrane's  clinical trial transparency advocacy: 

• Cochrane Convenes report, which covers key issues around clinical trials in emergency conditions
• Cochrane participates in a session on Clinical Trials and COVID-19
• Cochrane Sweden host webinar on clinical trial transparency
• Cochrane's statement to the 74th World Health Assembly
• Cochrane shows support for WHO-ICMRA statement on transparency and data integrity
• Cochrane signs letter asking medicines regulators in Europe to address unpublished clinical trials
• US FDA begins enforcement of clinical trial transparency regulation
• Cochrane Belgium partners on clinical trial transparency report
• Cochrane Austria launches joint trial transparency report
• Cochrane Sweden highlights under-reporting of Swedish clinical trials
• Read the Evidently Cochrane blog post 'Retention to clinical trials: how can we keep participants involved?'
• Read the Cochrane Review 'Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials'
  
  

Cochrane Library systematic reviews of interest: 

• Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials
• Factors that impact on recruitment to randomised trials in health care: a qualitative evidence synthesis

 

Thursday, May 19, 2022