Recently, confusion has arisen about “Cochrane” in the context of quality of health care. The Cochrane Collaboration and the Cochrane Report both address health-care quality but do so in very different ways.
Dr. Archie Cochrane was a Scottish physician and epidemiologist. His slim 1972 collection of lectures, Effectiveness and Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services, was a founding text of evidence-based medicine. His name graces the Cochrane Collaboration, an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization that produces authoritative systematic reviews in health care and policy. Cochrane reviews are well-regarded for their validity and relevance to practice and BC physicians have free access through the College library in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Find the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in the library’s e-journals collection or in this list of databases and search for reviews on a specific topic.
Do you know of a specific Cochrane review?
- Enter the title in the library search box and click Search.
- You will get a link to the full-text review.
The other Cochrane, the Cochrane Report by Dr. Douglas Cochrane, has been highly influential in identifying quality concerns in medical imaging and credentialing in BC and recommending improvements. Dr. Cochrane, chair and provincial patient safety and quality officer, BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, authored the two-part report, Investigation into Medical Imaging Credentialing and Quality Assurance in 2011 (Phase 1 Report, Phase 2 Report), and also, in 2016, delivered the Review of the Functioning of IHealth: Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Oceanside Health Centre and Dufferin Place.
Registrants are welcome to contact the College library for Cochrane systematic reviews or other information needs including personalized literature reviews, delivery of articles and books, and access to an excellent collection of online clinical information.