The ACB has established cooperations with the following institutions.
Medizin-transparent.at
In May 2011, Cochrane Austria launched the project / online service www.medizin-transparent.at in cooperation with the Department for Evidence-based Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology at the Danube University Krems and the Schaffler Verlag. Medizin-transparent.at is an online service based on the model of the project “Behind the Headlines” in the UK.
Background: Many people make decisions about their health based on content published in medical articles in newspapers. Because this content is often not scientifically proven or simply misleading, it is important to offer a service that supports Austrians to make informed decision about their health.
The aim of medizin-transparent.at is to provide patients, consumers, and even medical personnel with a critical appraisal of the scientific evidence behind the latest headlines in the general press. The text is written specifically to be understood by non-medical or non-scientific persons and follows the principles of understandable patient information.
Cooperation with MedMedia
Cochrane Austria has established a cooperation with MedMedia Publishing & Media Service GmbH (MedMedia). MedMedia publishes a total of 21 medical journals addressing employees at Austrian hospital (e.g. doctors, nurses, etc.). Amongst these 21 medical journals there is "Universum Innere Medizin" - the journal of the Austrian Society for Internal Medicine (ÖGIM) - as well as "Klinik", an interdisciplinary medical journal for hospitals.
The Cochrane Library - the central source of systematic reviews (Cochrane Reviews) - gets updated once per month. After each update, for selected journals of MedMedia one relevant Cochrane Review is selected and summarized in German language (one relevant Cochrane Review for each selected journal of MedMedia). Such a summary includes two pages and is created by a clinical expert together with editors of MedMedia. Each summary is created according to the standard structure of a Cochrane Review following these criteria: "Medical context", "Study objectives and endpoints", "Research and selection criteria", "Results" and "Conclusions / implications for the (clinical) practice". After completion, each summary is reviewed by Cochrane Austria staff - to validate the accuracy of the information and to validate the proper use of the terminology used in the field of Evidence-based Medicine. After completion and approval, each summary is published with the Cochrane logo as well as with information about current Cochrane Austria activities and workshops in the corresponding journal of MedMedia.
The aim of this cooperation is to provide a bridge between practicing doctors in Austria and The Cochrane Library. A limitation within the German-speaking world is the fact that Cochrane Reviews and their abstracts get published exclusively in English. This cooperation specifically aims to address those practicing doctors in Austria who typically do not access and use medical information in English within their daily work. Furthermore, the aim of this is to increase the awareness of these practicing physicians for the high quality and for the great benefits of Cochrane Reviews in their clinical practice and to familiarize them with the standardized structure of Cochrane Reviews.
Previously published summaries of Cochrane Reviews in journals of MedMedia:
| 1. | GYN-AKTIV - issue 04|11 | GnRH-Suppression bei ART: Agonisten- oder Antagonisten-Protokoll? Summary of the Cochrane Review: Al-Inany H.G., Youssef M.A.F.M., Aboulghar M., Broekmans F.,Sterrenburg M., Smit J., Abou-Setta A.M.: Gonadotrophin-releasinghormone antagonists for assisted reproductive technology. CochraneDatabase of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 5 |  |
| 2. | Universum Innere Medizin - issue 06|11 | PDE-4-Inhibitoren Roflumilast und Cilomilast bei stabiler COPD Summary of the Cochrane Review: Chong J., Poole P., Leung B., Black P.N.: Phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 5 | |
| 3. | GYN-AKTIV - issue 01|12 | Calcium schützt vor hypertensiven Schwangerschaftserkrankungen Summary of the Cochrane Review: Hofmeyr G. J., Lawrie T. A., Atallah Á. N, Duley L.: Calcium supplementation during pregnancy for preventing hypertensive disorders and related problems. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 8 | |
Cooperation with NetDoktor.at
NetDoktor.at is Austria's largest online health portal with around 1.3 million visitors per month. The primary objective of NetDoktor.at is to make independent research on medical topics available to patients; the goal is to provide patients with information they need for informed decisions regarding their health.
Since spring 2012, NetDoktor.at creates therapy assessments on selected medical topics in cooperation with Cochrane Austria, which get integrated into the NetDoktor.at articles. These articles are created in a way readers of these articles can determine easily what treatments have certainly proven benefits, which therapies do not work or are likely to work and what side effects are anticipated.
All therapy assessments that have been developed so far in collaboration between NetDoktor.at & Cochrane Austria can be found on the website of NetDoktor.at.