Resources for healthcare users

Can you contribute to the work of the Cochrane Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders Group?

The overriding aim of The Cochrane Collaboration is to provide the evidence about the effectiveness of treatments that will enable doctors, policy makers and patients to make informed, practical choices about health care.  The best person to judge whether a treatment has been beneficial or not is the patient themselves, or those people close to them (family, friends or carers).  These 'consumers' of healthcare are vital to The Cochrane Collaboration in a number of ways.  We need them to assist us by:

Commenting on our protocols and reviews before publication so that we can ensure that issues which are important for patients/families/carers are taken into account.

Telling us about subjects they would like to see reviewed and about the outcomes of treatment that are important to them - i.e. fulfilling a general advisory function.

Commenting on the short summaries (synopses) of reviews which are specially written for non-experts such as patients, families, carers and policy makers.

There may also be the possibility of being actively involved in writing a review on a subject they are interested in, and helping with activities such as searching for relevant clinical trials and disseminating reviews. 

If you would like to find out more about involvement of consumers in The Cochrane Collaboration, have a look at the website of the Cochrane Consumer Network.

http://www.cochrane.org/consumers/index.htm

Please contact us if you would like to help - fill in the form on our 'Get involved' page.