Cochrane Austria was established in December 2010 and is located at the Department for Evidence based Medicine and Evaluation at the University for Continuing Education Krems. Since 2017 we have been a fully independent Cochrane Centre.
Cochrane Austria is an entity of Cochrane, an international network made up of doctors, scientists, and other specialists. Cochrane’s main function is constructing, distributing, and updating Systematic Reviews (Cochrane Reviews). These Cochrane Reviews are scientific overviews, which are published in The Cochrane Library database and offer stakeholders in health services an independent, scientifically established information base in which the current status of clinical research can be easily, quickly, and objectively assessed.
Cochrane Austria performs the following tasks:
- Provide information about Cochrane and Cochrane Reviews to all persons involved in medicine, laypeople, the media, and politicians.
- Encourage more Austrians to write Cochrane Reviews by training and supporting them
- Organize workshops for interested (future, potential) authors of Cochrane Reviews and Cochrane staff
- Contribute to the methodological development and quality assurance of Cochrane Reviews
- Be the first point of contact for Austrians interested in Cochrane’s work
Cochrane Public Health Europe
Founded in 2015, Cochrane Public Health Europe aims to accelerate evidence-based public health research in Europe and to establish a strong public health group in Europe. CPHE is a cooperation between Cochrane Austria and three partner organizations in Germany and Switzerland. More information can be found here.
Medizin-Transparent.at
Medizin-Transparent.at tests the truth of medical statements made in the media in order to support readers, patients, doctors, and decision-makers to critically analyze the information they encounter. For more information on this Cochrane project click here.
EBM - Medical Information Centre
If you need research on a medical topic, the EBM - Ärzteinformationszentrum (Medical Information Centre) is available for contact. Researchers conduct a rapid review on a specified question and create a response document in German language, that is freely available at www.ebminfo.at. Currently, only physicians in the Lower Austrian hospitals can take advantage of this service and send in questions, because the project is financed by them.
EBN - information centre for nurses
The evidence-based information centre for nurses provides rapid reviews based on inquiries from nurses. These systematically generated evidence syntheses in German language are intended to support evidence-based decision-making by nurses.This service is free of charge for nurses in hospitals in Lower Austria and is online available at www.ebninfo.at. More about this here.
Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group
Decision makers often need evidence synthesis in a shorter time frame than systematic reviews can be provided. Rapid reviews are knowledge syntheses that abbreviate certain methodological aspects of systematic reviews to produce information quicker. Cochrane Austria is co-convenor of this methods group that aims to better inform ‘rapid review’ methodology. For more information visit the Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group website.
Finance
Cochrane Austria is funded by a grant from the Lower Austrian Health and Social Fund (NÖGUS) and supported by the University for Continuing Education Krems.
Cochrane is a registered not-for-profit organisation in England. Profits from the Cochrane Library are used to cover operating costs as well as centralized projects such as the development of the Cochrane website. Individual Cochrane entities and groups must seek their own financing; which, of course, may not come from a commercial source. In this way Cochrane remains neutral is avoids conflict-of-interest charges.
Requests
For information on conducting a Cochrane Review for The Cochrane Library as well as information on Cochrane Austria workshops, please contact office@cochrane.at. We will also gladly inform you about the activities of Cochrane and The Cochrane Library in general.