<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ruglucia@paho.org">ruglucia@paho.org</a>></span><br><div class="gmail_quote">crossposted from: <a href="mailto:EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org">EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org</a><br>
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<h1 style="margin-left:.25in"><b><font size="2" color="maroon" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:maroon">Supporting
the use of Cochrane Reviews in health policy and management decision-making: <br>
Health Systems Evidence <br>
<br>
</span></font></b></h1>

<p style="margin-left:.25in"><font size="1" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Kaelan A Moat, Health
Policy PhD Program, McMaster University, Hamilton,
 Ontario, Canada<br>
John N Lavis, Director, McMaster Health Forum; Canada Research Chair in
Knowledge Transfer and Exchange; Professor, Department of Clinical Epidemiology
and Biostatistics; Member, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis;
Associate Member, Department of Political Science, McMaster University,
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada<br>
<br>
</span></font></p>

<p style="margin-left:.25in"><b><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy;font-weight:bold">The Cochrane Library – February 2011<br>
<br>
</span></font></b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Available online at: </span></font><span><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"><a href="http://bit.ly/hdPzwS" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">http://bit.ly/hdPzwS</span></font></a></span><br>

<br>
</font></span><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"></span></font></p>

<p style="margin-left:.25in"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">The idea that
research evidence should play a more prominent role in health policy and health
system management has been frequently promoted and widely accepted during the
past decade.[<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_1%23ref_1" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">1</span></font></a>,<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_2%23ref_2" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">2</span></font></a>,<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_3%23ref_3" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">3</span></font></a>] However, bridging the
gap between what has been learned through research and what is considered
salient by policy-makers and stakeholders is rarely straightforward. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>

<p style="margin-left:.25in"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Nevertheless,
there are several activities that have promise for better linking evidence to
action.[<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_4%23ref_4" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">4</span></font></a>] One approach,
sometimes called ‘facilitating user-pull’, places emphasis on
creating ’one-stop shops’ for relevant, high-quality and optimally
packaged systematic reviews and related products.[<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_4%23ref_4" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">4</span></font></a>] These types of efforts
have recently gained more recognition and are viewed as key elements for
strategies to strengthen national health systems,[<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_5%23ref_5" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">5</span></font></a>] as was noted at the <a href="http://www.hsr-symposium.org/" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research</span></font></a>,
held in Montreux, Switzerland, in November 2010.<br>
<br>
</span></font></p>

<p style="margin-left:.25in"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"><a href="http://www.healthsystemsevidence.org/" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">Health Systems Evidence</span></font></a> (HSE) was
developed as a one-stop shop with an emphasis on policy- and management-related
systematic reviews and related products. While <em><i><font face="Arial"><span style="font-family:Arial">The Cochrane Library </span></font></i></em>is the
one-stop shop for those with questions about clinical programmes and services
or medicines, and <a href="http://health-evidence.ca/" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">health-evidence.ca </span></font></a>has
emerged as the one-stop shop for those with questions about public health
programmes and services,[<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_6%23ref_6" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">6</span></font></a>] HSE is the only
resource that answers questions about how to organise health systems in order
to ensure that cost-effective programmes and services get to those who need
them. It first became available as a free online resource in late 2008.<br>
<br>
</span></font></p>

<p style="margin-left:.25in"><b><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy;font-weight:bold">There are two key factors that drive the use of research evidence in
policy-making: timeliness, and interactions between policy-makers and
researchers</span></font></b><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">.[<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_7%23ref_7" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">7</span></font></a>] HSE addresses the
timeliness issue. With relevant reviews and review-related products categorised
and presented in an accessible format, HSE enables policy-makers and
stakeholders to find out quickly whether synthesised research evidence exists
on a pressing issue and when the literature was last searched. HSE also
provides information on the quality of the review and on the countries where
the included studies were conducted, as well as links to structured,
decision-relevant summaries.<br>
<br>
</span></font></p>

<p style="margin-left:.25in"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">The product of
a collaboration between the <a href="http://www.mcmasterhealthforum.org/" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">McMaster Health Forum</span></font></a>,
McMaster University’s <a href="http://www.researchtopolicy.org/Home" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">Program in Policy
Decision-making</span></font></a>, the <a href="http://ccnc.cochrane.org/" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">Canadian Cochrane
Centre</span></font></a>, and <a href="http://www.cadth.ca/index.php/en/compus/optimal-ther-resources/interventions/" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">Rx for Change</span></font></a>,
HSE is a continually updated, searchable repository of syntheses of research
evidence, coded according to their relevance to governance, financial and
delivery arrangements, and strategies for implementing change. Records
contained in HSE are identified by: <br>
(1) annual searches of Medline; <br>
(2) review of each monthly issue of the <em><i><font face="Arial"><span style="font-family:Arial">Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews</span></font></i></em>;
<br>
(3) review of each weekly update from the <em><i><font face="Arial"><span style="font-family:Arial">Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects</span></font></i></em>;
<br>
(4) review of each update of the Cochrane Qualitative Research Methods Group's
database of qualitative reviews; and <br>
(5) regular scanning of listservs and websites. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>

<p style="margin-left:.25in"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Each synthesis
has links to user-friendly summaries, abstracts and full-text reports (when
freely available), together with information about how recently the search for
studies was conducted, the quality of the synthesis, and the countries in which
the studies were conducted, helping policy-makers and managers to assess the
relevance of each record.[<a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/details/editorial/1018237/Supporting-the-use-of-Cochrane-Reviews-in-health-policy-and-management-decision-.html#ref_5%23ref_5" target="_blank"><font color="navy"><span style="color:navy">5</span></font></a>]…….<br>

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</span></font></p>

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