Background to the Cochrane Library
The Cochrane Library is an on-line database of scientific research drawn from around the world. It is renowned as one of the best sources of reliable evidence about health care interventions.
Prepared by the Cochrane Collaboration, the library is updated four times a year and contains more than 3,400 systematic reviews of evidence known as Cochrane Reviews.
The Cochrane Library is important because it draws conclusions from scientific literature independent of commercial funding, and because its methods are transparent and open to scrutiny.
All Australians have free access to the Cochrane Library, and are the highest per capita users of the Cochrane Library in the world.
NICS Cochrane Users Guide
The Cochrane Library can be difficult to navigate, particularly for new users. To help users get the most benefit from this unique resource, the Australasian Cochrane Centre publishes a User's Guide to the Cochrane Library, which was developed in collaboration with NICS. This popular resource is designed to be used in conjunction with the Cochrane Library.
A downloadable user guide in PDF format is also available from the Wiley Interscience website.
Cochrane in Australia
NICS has ensured the expertise within the Cochrane Collaboration serves the wider Australian community by establishing a satellite of the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group, which is funded by the Australian Government and located at NICS.
EPOC produces systematic reviews of education, behavioural, financial, regulatory and organisational interventions designed to improve health professional practice and the organisation of health care services. Potentially, these reviews can span any clinical area. The Australian EPOC satellite also identifies and helps produce priority EPOC review that are relevant to Australia and the surrounding region.
To access the Cochrane Library visit www.thecochranelibrary.org. (This will take you off the NICS site.)