Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 49, Issue 3 , Pages 344-350 , March 2007

The Cochrane Library as a Resource for Evidence on Out-of-Hospital Health Care Interventions

Presented at the Spark of Life Conference, Adelaide, Australia, April 14 to April 26, 2005.

  • Erin Smith, BHlthInfoManagement, MClinEpi

      Affiliations

    • the Centre for Ambulance and Paramedic Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Smith, Jennings, MacPherson, O'Brien, Archer)
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: Erin Smith, BHlthInfoManagement, MClinEpi, Centre for Ambulance and Paramedic Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia 3199; +61-3-99044213, fax +61-4-99044168
    • ,
  • Paul Jennings, BN, MClinEpi

      Affiliations

    • the Centre for Ambulance and Paramedic Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Smith, Jennings, MacPherson, O'Brien, Archer)
    • ,
  • Steve McDonald, MA

      Affiliations

    • the Australasian Cochrane Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (McDonald)
    • ,
  • Chris MacPherson, Dip Ambulance and Paramedic Studies

      Affiliations

    • the Centre for Ambulance and Paramedic Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Smith, Jennings, MacPherson, O'Brien, Archer)
    • ,
  • Troy O'Brien, Bachelor of Emergency Health (Paramedic)

      Affiliations

    • the Centre for Ambulance and Paramedic Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Smith, Jennings, MacPherson, O'Brien, Archer)
    • ,
  • Frank Archer, BMedSc (Hons), MBBS, MEd, MPH

      Affiliations

    • the Centre for Ambulance and Paramedic Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Smith, Jennings, MacPherson, O'Brien, Archer)

Received 16 January 2006 ,Revised 12 September 2006 ,Accepted 29 September 2006.

References 

  1. Emond SD, Wyer PC, Brown MD, et al. How relevant are the systematic reviews in the Cochrane Library to emergency medical practice?. Ann Emerg Med. 2002;39:153–158
  2. Smith E, McDonald S, Wasiak J, et al. The development of a prehospital search filter for the Cochrane Library [serial on the Internet; 2004;2:CC990071]. Available at: http://www.jephc.com/full_article.cfm?content_id=152. Accessed January 2, 2006.
  3. Langham J, Thompson E, Rowan K. Identification of randomized controlled trials from the emergency medicine literature: comparison of handsearching versus MEDLINE searching. Ann Emerg Med. 1999;34:25–34
  4. Brazier H, Murphy AW, Lynch C, et al. Searching for the evidence in pre-hospital care: a review of randomized controlled trials. J Accid Emerg Med. 1999;16:18–23
  5. Bunn F, Kwan I, Roberts I, et al. Effectiveness of Pre-Hospital Trauma Care: Report to the World Health Organization Pre-Hospital Steering Committee. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2001.
  6. Kwan I, Bunn F, Roberts I, et al. The Development of a Register of Randomized Controlled Trials in Pre-hospital Trauma Care. World Health Organization, Pre-hospital Steering Committee; 2002.
  7. Sayre M, Brown L, White L. National EMS research agenda: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, December 2001. Available at: http://www.researchagenda.org/Agenda/Index.htm (Appendix F). Accessed.
  8. Jacobs I, Finn J. Adrenaline and vasopressin for cardiac arrest [protocol]. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2001; Issue 3.
  9. Smith E, Wasiak J, Boyle M. Prophylactic antiemetic therapy in the emergency and ambulance setting for preventing opioid induced nausea and vomiting [protocol]. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004; issue 3.
  10. Lunxian T, Hu X, Qing H. Intravenous amiodarone for treatment of ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation [protocol]. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003; issue 2.
  11. Lafuente-Lafuente C, Melero-Bascones M. Active chest compression-decompression for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004; issue 4.
  12. Sethi D, Kwan I, Kelly AM, et al, for the WHO Pre-Hospital Trauma Care Steering Committee. Advanced trauma life support training for ambulance crews. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2001; issue 2.
  13. Bunn F, Roberts I, Tasker R. Hypertonic versus near isotonic crystalloid for fluid resuscitation in critically ill patients. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004; issue 3.
  14. Kwan I, Bunn F, Roberts I, for the WHO Pre-Hospital Trauma Care Steering Committee. Spinal immobilisation for trauma patients. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2001; issue 2.
  15. Kwan I, Bunn F, Roberts I, for the WHO Pre-Hospital Trauma Care Steering Committee. Timing and volume of fluid administration for patients with bleeding. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003; issue 3.
  16. McLean SA, Maio RF, Spaite DW, et al. Emergency medical services outcomes research: evaluating the effectiveness of prehospital care. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2002;6:S52–S56
  17. Wilson S, Cooke M, Morrell R, et al. A systematic review of the evidence supporting the use of priority dispatch of emergency ambulances. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2002;6:42–49
  18. Brice JH, Garrison HG, Evans AT. Study design and outcomes in out-of-hospital emergency medicine research: a ten year analysis. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2000;4:144–150

 Supervising editor: Brian H. Rowe, MD, MSc

 Author contributions: ES and FA conceived and designed the study, and ES and SM developed the search strategy. ES, PJ, CM, TO, and FA retrieved records and reviewed study data. ES drafted the article, with PJ, SM, and FA contributing substantially to its revision. ES takes responsibility for the paper as a whole.

 Reprints not available from the authors.

 Funding and support: Funding for this study was provided by the Centre for Ambulance and Paramedics Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. The Web site for the Cochrane Prehospital and Emergency Health Field is http://www.cochranepehf.org. The field is funded by the Department of Health and Ageing of the Australian Federal Government and the Centre for Ambulance and Paramedic Studies at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Frank Archer and Erin Smith are Field Convener and Field Coordinator, respectively.

PII: S0196-0644(06)02343-2

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2006.09.026

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 49, Issue 3 , Pages 344-350 , March 2007

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