Nordic Cochrane News

Newsletter for The Nordic Cochrane Centre and Network Issue No 3, May 1998

Weekly methodological help

We try to address the most important issues related to preparing Cochrane reviews at our protocol and Review Manager workshops. Sometimes, however, reviewers encounter problems for which they will need particular assistance here and now. If you are finding yourself in such trouble, you are welcome to contact the office in Oslo or Copenhagen. Andy Oxman and Peter Gøtzsche will usually be available on Wednesdays between 2 and 3 p.m., and you are also welcome to contact other centre staff if that is more appropriate for your problem, but please book in advance:

andrew.oxman@labmed.uio.no (or +47-22 04 23 63)
p.c.gotzsche@cochrane.dk (or +45-35 45 55 71)

Annual Meeting for The Nordic Cochrane Centre and Network

Please note already now the date in your calendar for the 1999 meeting: Thursday, January 28, 1999. The draft programme is:

Evidence based medicine: How do we implement research results effectively?

This year, the Annual Meeting for The Nordic Cochrane Centre and Network will focus on the challenges related to changing professional practice. The meeting is open for everyone, also for people who are not actively involved with The Cochrane Collaboration. There will be ample time for discussion, and the presenters and the audience are encouraged to prepare questions of general interest in advance of the meeting. The meeting will be held in English. For people unfamiliar with the Cochrane Collaboration, there will be a short intro-duction before the main meeting; additional information can be found at www.cochrane.dk.

Venue: Rigshospitalet, Blegdamsvej 9, Copenhagen, Auditorium 2.

Introduction to the Cochrane Collaboration

8:30 - 9:15 Introduction to the Cochrane Collabo-ration and the Cochrane Library. Ole Olsen, Senior Researcher, Nordic Cochrane Centre.

9:00 - 9:30 Registration and coffee.

Main meeting

9:30 - 9:40 Welcome and introduction to the meeting. Peter C. Gøtzsche, Director, Nordic Cochrane Centre.

9:40 - 9:50 Are current guidelines evidence based? Marjukka Mäkelä, Helsinki, Director, Finnish Branch of the Nordic Cochrane Centre and Stakes.

9:50 - 10:00 How to change practice, what works and what doesn't. Andy Oxman, Oslo, Director, Norwegian Branch of the Nordic Cochrane Centre and National Institute of Public Health.

10:00 - 10:10 Quality indicators as measures of EBM: experiences from internal medicine. Mona Britton, Stockholm, Chief Physician, Swedish Council for Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU).

10:10 - 10:40 Discussion.

10:40 - 11:10 Coffee.

11:10 - 11:20 Experiences from publishing obste-trical guidelines on the Internet. Lars Bo Krag Møller, Chief Physician, Dept. of Obstetrics, Hvidovre Hospital.

11:20 - 11:30 Experiences from an implementation project in obstetrics. Jens Lang-hof-Roos, Chief Physician, Dept. of of Obstetrics, Rigshospitalet.

11:30 - 11:40 Experiences from an implementation project in obstetrics. Ole Olsen, Senior Researcher, The Nordic Cochrane Centre.

11:40 - 12:10 Discussion.

12:10 - 13:10 Lunch.

13:10 - 13:20 Rational choice of treatments in general practice. Bjørn Kaj Krølner, Specialist in general practice and/or Jens Peter Kampmann, Chief Physician, Dept. of Medicine I, Bispebjerg Hospital.

13:20 - 13:30 Creating and maintaining an evidence based culture in a hospital department. Peter Matzen, Chief Physician, Dept. of Gastrointestinal Medicine, Hvidovre Hospital.

13:30 - 13:40 Evidence based surgery. Peer Wille-Jørgensen, Chief Physician, Dept. of Gastrointestinal Surgery K, Bispebjerg Hospital.

13:40 - 14:10 Discussion.

14:10 - 14:40 Coffee.

14:40 - 14:50 Evidence based health technology assessment. Finn Børlum Kristensen, Head, State Institute of Medical Technology Assessment.

14:50 - 15:00 Role of specialist societies in imple-menting change. Jørn Neerup, Profes-sor, Steno Diabetes Center, Copen-hagen.

15:00 - 15:10 Role of the National Board of Health in implementing change. Speaker to be announced, Danish National Board of Health.

15:10 - 16:00 Discussion.

New group coming up?

One of the few areas which is not yet covered by one of the existing review groups, is anaesthesia. Drs Tom Pedersen and Ann Møller at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen (the same place where the Colorectal Cancer Group is located), have started to explore the possibility of establishing a Cochrane Anaesthesia Group. If you wish to participate or be informed of progress, please contact:

Dr Tom Pedersen
Department of Anaesthesiology
Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen
Bispebjerg Bakke 23
Copenhagen NV
DK-2400 DENMARK
Tel: +45 3531 2780
Fax: +45 3531 3958
Email: tp.bbh@inet.uni2.dk

How are we doing?

Since the last newsletter, 2 new issues of the Cochrane Library have appeared. The number of reviews has increased from 6 to 9, number of protocols from 9 to 14, with more to come. It would be nice it we could sustain this growth rate for a while. New Nordic contributions are:

New reviews:

Adding betablockers to standard medication for schizophrenia
CSF tapping after IVH
Intraventricular streptokinase after IVH

New protocols:

Amphotericin B vs lipid soluble amphotericin B
Clozapine vs newer 'atypicals' for schizophrenia
Crohn's maintenance, 5 aminosalicylate therapy
In-hospital maternal-infant skin-to-skin contact
Institutional versus at home long term care

(The abbreviations are those of the authors, not mine!)

We can always use new handsearchers and reviewers so please remember our workshops in September in Helsinki, see: www.cochrane.dk.

Peter C. Gøtzsche