Health professionals links

CLINICAL TRIAL INFORMATION

Australian Clinical Trials Registry (ACTR)
The Australian Clinical Trials Registry (ACTR) is a national, online register of clinical trials being undertaken in Australia. The ACTR includes trials from the full spectrum of therapeutic areas of pharmaceuticals, surgical procedures, preventive measures, lifestyle, devices, treatment and rehabilitation strategies and complementary therapies. It has nationwide coverage of all clinical trials involving Australian researchers or Australian participants. http://www.actr.org.au/

Cancer Clinical Trials
Cancer Clinical Trials. The National Cancer Research Institute has brought together
the different UK registers of clinical trials and has developed a directory of
information to provide patients, researchers and clinicians with information about
current cancer trials in the UK. http://www.cancertrials.org.uk/

ClinicalTrials.gov
Provides regularly updated information about federally and privately supported
clinical research in human volunteers. A service of the US National Institutes of
Health, developed by the National Library of Medicine.
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui

Current Controlled Trials
Allows users to search, register and share information about randomised controlled
trials. Access to all the information on this site is free.
http://www.controlled-trials.com/

NON COCHRANE RESEARCH RESOURCES

Breast cancer online
Breast Cancer Online (BCO) aims to facilitate timely access to new trends and topical information in breast cancer for healthcare professionals.Breast Cancer online

Bmjlearning
The BMJ provides a range of learning and appraisal resources with a focus on primary
care providers including general practitioners and nurses. http://www.bmjlearning.com

Critical Appraisal Skills Program
Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) is a programme within Learning &
Development at the Public Health Resource Unit (United Kingdom). CASP aims to
enable individuals to develop the skills to find and make sense of research evidence,
helping them to put knowledge into practice. http://www.phru.nhs.uk/casp/casp.htm

Centre for Health Evidence
Centre for Health Evidence (CCHE), the University of Alberta, Canada, provides a
collection of resources which are assembled, integrated and packaged using simple,
user-specific, Internet desktops http://www.cche.net

RDDirect
RDDirect, an initiative of a UK department of health, maps the different stages of research and provides for information on research methodology, searchable databases, hints, tips and checklists for researchers at all levels. http://www.rddirect.org.uk

Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine
The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) has been established in Oxford (United Kingdom) as the first of several centres around the country whose broad aim is to promote evidence-based health care and provide support and a range of education and training resources resources to anyone who wants to make use of them. http://www.cebm.net/

Consort statement
The CONSORT statement is an important research tool that takes an evidence-based approach to improve the quality of reports of randomized trials. The statement is available in several languages and has been endorsed by prominent medical journals such as The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Its critical value to researchers, health care providers, peer reviewers, and journal editors, and health policy makers is the guarantee of integrity in the reported results of research.

CONSORT comprises a checklist and flow diagram to help improve the quality of reports of randomized controlled trials. It offers a standard way for researchers to report trials. The checklist includes items, based on evidence, that need to be addressed in the report; the flow diagram provides readers with a clear picture of the progress of all participants in the trial, from the time they are randomized until the end of their involvement. The intent is to make the experimental process more clear, flawed or not, so that users of the data can more appropriately evaluate its validity for their purposes. http://www.consort-statement.org

QUOROM statement Lancet. 1999 Nov 27;354(9193):1896-900

MOOSE meta-anlayses of observational studies in epidemiology group checklist containing specifications for reporting of meta-analyses of observational studies in epidemiology, including background, search strategy, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Use of the checklist should improve the usefulness of meta-analyses for authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and decision makers. An evaluation plan is suggested and research areas are explored. http://www.consort-statement.org/MOOSE.pdf

Evidence-Based Medicine Toolkit
This is a collection of tools for identifying, assessing and applying relevant evidence for better health care decision-making. The appraisal tools are adapted from the Users' Guides series
prepared by the Evidence Based Medicine Working Groupand originally published in JAMA.
http://www.med.ualberta.ca/ebm/

SPECIALIST ONLINE LIBRARIES & JOURNALS

Cancer Specialist Library
The Cancer Specialist Library (CSL) is one of a collection of specialist libraries for the National Electronic Library for Health. The CSL is designed to provide useful and reliable information to everyone who is faced with having to make decisions about cancer - clinical practitioners, patients and policy makers. The CSL section on breast cancer contains detailed information about breast cancer. The aim is to bring together high quality information, using evidence-based methods and aimed at healthcare professionals, patients and carers. http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/cancer/

European Journal of Cancer
European Journal of Cancer: International comprehensive oncology journal
published by Elsevier in London. Official journal of the EORTC, ESO, EACR, FECS
and EUSOMA. http://www.intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/ejca/

Effective Health Care Bulletins
Effective Health Care Bulletins is a bulletin for decision makers
which examines the effectiveness of a variety of health care interventions. Effective
Health Care bulletins are based on a systematic review and synthesis of research on
the clinical effect, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of health service interventions.
This is carried out by a research team using established methodological guidelines,
with advice from expert consultants for each topic. The bulletins are subject to
extensive and rigorous peer review. http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/ehcb.htm

Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures- Surgical
The ASERNIP-S mission is to provide quality and timely assessments of new and
emerging surgical technologies and techniques. Services provided include systematic
and accelerated systematic reviews of the peer-reviewed literature, the establishment
and facilitation of clinical and research audits or trials, the identification and
assessment of new and emerging techniques and technologies by horizon scanning,
and the production of clinical practice guidelines. Our ultimate aim is to improve the
quality of health care through the wide dissemination of our evidence-based research
to surgeons, health care providers and consumers, both nationally and internationally.

B.I.G. Breast International Group
A communications network for breast cancer researchers from Europe and around the world. The organisation aims to reduce duplicative work in breast cancer research by providing a forum for researchers to discuss and collaborate in clinical trials. BIG's mission is to promote and accelerate breast cancer research internationally - especially large or difficult trials. http://www.breastinternationalgroup.org

European Network of Cancer Registries
European Network of Cancer Registries is a project supported by the European Commission and begun in 1989 to track cancer data in Europe. The Network promotes continuous collaboration between cancer registries, defines data collection standards, provides training for cancer registry personnel and regularly disseminates information on incidence and mortality from cancer in the European Union. The ENCR is a source of reliable cancer statistics for Europe. http://www.encr.com.fr/

Health Development Agency
The Health Development Agency (HAD) is the national authority of the NHS on what works to improve people's health and reduce health inequalities. It gathers evidence and produces advice for policy makers, professionals and practitioners, working alongside them to get evidence into practice. The website provides collection of evidence briefings on a variety of public health topics. http://www.hda.nhs.uk

Health Technology Assessment
The NHS Health Technology Programme works to provide decisions makers in the NHS with high-quality information on the costs, effectiveness and broader impact of health care treatments and tests. Search the site to find the results of HTA studies, details of ongoing work, and information about our methods of working. You can also find out about Calls for proposals and register for email alerts to keep up to date. http://www.ncchta.org/index.htm

International Association of Cancer Registries
:A professional membership organisation that supports the activity of cancer registries worldwide. It is primarily for population-based registries, which collect information on the occurrence and outcome of cancer in defined population groups. http://www.iacr.com.fr

International Association of Research on Cancer
IARC is part of the World Health Organization. IARC's mission is to coordinate and conduct research on the causes of human cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and to develop scientific strategies for cancer control. The Agency is involved in both epidemiological and laboratory research and disseminates scientific information through publications , meetings, courses, and fellowships. http://www.iarc.fr

National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the U.S. Government's principal agency for cancer research and training. The NCI conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients. http://www.nci.nih.gov

National Guideline Clearinghouse
National Guideline Clearinghouse is a comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), in partnership with the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP). http://www.guideline.gov/

International Union Against Cancer
International Union Against Cancer: Promotes the campaign against cancer throughout the world by advancing knowledge in research, prevention, early detection and patient care. http://www.uicc.org

World Health Organisation
The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. http://www.who.int/en/

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