The Cochrane Library provides access to a collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform health care decision-making. These databases include:
The Cochrane Library provides access to various systematic reviews in Cochrane Reviews.
According to Churchill Livingstone's Dictionary of Nursing (2006), a systematic review is defined as "a systematic approach to literature reviews (published and unpublished material) that reduces random errors and bias".
Systematic review. (2006). Churchill Livingstone's Dictionary of Nursing. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com
All residents of Australia can access The Cochrane Library for free, thanks to funding provided by the Australian Government and administered by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
It is published by Wiley Blackwell.
The Cochrane Library Reference Guide provides step-by-step guidance to using the Cochrane Library, links to virtual webinars, and self-paced online tutorials.
Cochrane Reviews represent the highest level of evidence on which to base clinical decisions. This evidence is gathered by bringing together the research which looks at the effectiveness of different health care treatments and interventions. Cochrane Reviews attempt to provide answers to the following questions:
How do you know if one health care treatment or intervention is any better than another?
Will the intervention do more good than harm?
How can health professionals and consumers make sense of all the research going on around the world?
The Cochrane Library provides information on diverse topics such as injury prevention for pedestrians and cyclists, St John’s wort for depression, programs to reduce juvenile delinquency, the prevention of jet lag, advice on low-fat diets for obesity, and prayer for the alleviation of ill health.
Terminology relevant to the Cochrane Library
Protocol - plan or set of steps to be followed in preparation of a study
Systematic Reviews - overviews in clinical medicine which were originally summaries of relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
Meta-Analyses - systematic reviews which employ a quantitative method to summarize results
Cochrane Library provides systematic reviews that are in depth, comprehensive and of a high standard.
Use the advanced search to input your keywords. In your results, reviews are indicated by the 'review icon' at the right of each result.
Alternatively, choose to search the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) by selecting 'Search CDSR' from the Cochrane Reviews tab on the main page of Cochrane Library.
Cochrane Database Of Systematic Reviews is full text in the Cochrane Library.
Other reviews and abstracts may only provide links.
For example:
A search for "heparin" in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials database found this result:
Click on title for this information about the result. It gives you an abstract.
Click on Links.
1st - Try clicking on More full text options at CQUniversity Library. This should find the full text if we subscribe to it through one of our databases.
2nd - Try clicking on CrossRef. This will find it using the DOI if available.
3rd - If the options above fail - go to the PubMed record. If an Open Access version is available there will be a link from there. If the PubMed record lists a DOI, but you are off-campus and CrossRef did not find it, try using this URL in front of the DOI to resolve it: http://dx.doi.org/