Cochrane Training in 2012

The training workshop program for this year is now available on the ACC website. Introductory workshops will be held around the country for those just getting started on their Cochrane reviews, as well as our intensive Review Completion work-ins for authors at a more advanced stage. Our first Introductory workshop is already booked out, so make sure you register early.

In addition, there are some new special features on our training calendar this year:

Cochrane Live! Webinars – we are proud to launch our 2012 series of online webinars. These sessions provide brief, interactive training on a range of topics of interest, lasting around an hour, and easily accessible from home or work for anyone with an internet connection. The first two webinars will cover ‘Scoping a Cochrane review question’ in March, and an ‘Introduction to RevMan' in April, but look out for further announcements of a range of beginner and advanced topics throughout the year. Recordings will be available for those unable to join the webinar on the day. More information at http://acc.cochrane.org/cochrane-live-webinars.

Cochrane systematic reviews of complex interventions – this special workshop is aimed at authors working on more complex reviews, whether complexity arises from interventions, methodological issues, outcomes or context. This one-day workshop on 9 May will be hosted by the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group, and is followed by an optional work-in day for authors who would like to work on their own reviews, supported by Cochrane editors and methodologists. More information at http://acc.cochrane.org/description-workshops.

Miranda Cumpston Systematic Review Trainer Australasian Cochrane Centre

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2012 Cochrane Colloquium comes to Auckland – save the date!

We’re delighted that our New Zealand Branch colleagues, led by Cindy Farquhar and Mark Jeffery, have taken up the challenge of organising this year’s Cochrane meeting. The 20th Cochrane Colloquium will be in Auckland from 30 September to 3 October. Planning is well under way with the call for abstracts and a preliminary program soon to be available on the Colloquium website.

This will be the first time the Colloquium has been in New Zealand and an opportunity not to be missed for people on both sides of the Tasman. More details here.


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Cochrane reviews featured in new section of MJA

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Sir Iain Chalmers interviewed on the BBC's 'The Life Scientific'

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The Knowledgeable Patient: Communication and Participation in Health

Part of the Cochrane Book Series, The Knowledgeable Patient is an essential guide to a new era of complex healthcare. Integrating consumer stories and evidence from systematic reviews, it examines key communication and participation issues in a range of contexts, including surgery, safe medicine use, chronic disease self management and notification of rare disease risk. The book is edited by Sophie Hill, head of the Centre for Health Communication and Participation and coordinating editor of the Cochrane Consumers and Communication Review Group. Read and listen to Sophie’s take on the book on Croakey – the Crikey health blog.

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Tamiflu review featured in The Conversation

Governments have spent millions stockpiling drugs to use in the event of an influenza pandemic despite the evidence base for this policy being hotly contested because of concerns over the disclosure of all relevant data. A Cochrane review published in January used a novel approach by taking on the mammoth task of trawling through reams of regulatory information, mostly from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Chris Del Mar, one of the review’s authors and the coordinating editor of the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group based at Bond University, wrote a piece in The Conversation highlighting the inconsistencies with published reports and possible under-reporting of side effects.


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Short course on Evidence-informed Public Health
Melbourne, 21-22 March 2012

The Cochrane Public Health Group is running a two-day short course on ‘Evidence-informed public health’ in Melbourne on Wednesday 21 to Thursday 22 March.

This practical workshop aims to assist practitioners and policy officers to develop skills and confidence in using evidence for decision-making in public health and health promotion practice. Topics covered include:   1. Evidence in public health 2. Asking answerable questions 3. Searching for research evidence 4. Assessing trustworthiness 5. Applying evidence to policy and practice, including applicability & transferability 6. Evaluation – generating evidence about our practice 7. Workshop: Working in an evidence-informed way

For more information: download the flyer.
To register: download the registration form.


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Survey on the future of The Cochrane Library