LRC Network Web Site

Dear all!
Workers of the Centre for learning and educational resourses of Stavropol Medical Academy developed 3 projects that may greatly influence medical practice in our organizations. All of them were developed after discussion of problems faced by info-coordinators and doctors. We had discussion at the conference and workshop that were held in Almaty in September 2005.

The first project is named "Russian-language critically appraised topics database" (see description attached). The project was approved in principle by chief managers of the LRC Association Project. We invite everyone to a wide discussion of the project. Decision about the final characteristics of this project will be taken on the basis of consensus of Association members.

Currently, our team is developing a recommended strategy of searching and appraising information, standardized form of CAT, mechanism of expert’s appraisal of quality of prepared CAT etc. This process will take 3 weeks. After that, all materials will be presented for discussion.

Discussion will be carried out between members of Evidence-based practice Group of LRC Association (LRC-ebp@mail.aiha.com). Please, send your comments, proposals and criticism to the mailing list of the EBP Group. All members of the EBP Group will receive your message. You can sign up to the EBP Group mailing list o­n the LRC Association Web-site (http://lrcnetwork.org).

With best wishes,

Oleg Borisenko, MD
Chief
Centre for learning and educational resourses
Stavropol State Medical Academy
Stavropol, Russia

Project "Russian-language critically appraised topics database"
(CAT-bank project)

Chief project manager
Oleg V Borisenko, MD
Chief
Centre for learning and informational resources
Stavropol State Medical Academy
e-mail: oleg-med@yandex.ru

Every day hundrends of doctors throughout Commonwealth of Independent States find answers for the questions arose from clinical practice. Indications for hospitalization in chronic diseases, management of patients with aortic aneurysm, long-term outcomes of acute otitis media in children etc. As the results of such searching there is an importain information can be found, that can greatly improve quality of medical care. Unfortunately, it can take a lot of time – from some minutes to 3-4 hours. But there is no such resourse in Russian language nowdays which would contain the results of similiar searching for the whole medical society.

There is an abbreviation CAT which means critically appraised topic. CAT is the most useful and reasonable method of salvation the problem of lack of information, for the doctors of the same speciality, as the rule, have the same questions, and every time valuable conclusions are losing after being o­nce used.

The aim of existing project is to improve the access to appraised information for doctors.

It is necessary to solve the following problems for attaining the goal:

1. Working up the standardized form of CAT (recommended strategy of searching, appraising the information, data extraction, method of presence prepared CAT into database) and it’s approbation.
2. Working up the criteria of apprising of CAT’s quality (for reaching standart approach to expert appraising of quality of given materials).
3. Creating of Internet-resourse with a useful interface and possibility of searching by key-words and specialities.
4. Wide announcement of the information about the project, attraction the most possible members of doctors to the participating in project. Making database daily used resourse by keeping high quality of the publications and constant increasing of considered topic’s quality.
5. Postal and internal tution info-coordinators of LRC Association of CAT’s technology.

Key elements of project

• Contact with investigators who are develope and maintain existent CAT-banks (BestBETs, EBON-on-call) – contact by e-mail, visiting of such center.
• Selection of several experts in evidence-based practice (from LRC Association and external), training, pilot assesment of CATs.
• Developing Internet-resourse (maybe o­n LRC Association site’s basis), that would satisfactory for all project elements.
• Necessary information materials: Manual for CAT makers (for users – description of project, goals, searching methods, procedure of critical appraisal of paper’s quality, criteria for inclusion papers in CAT, data extraction from the papers, standard form of publishing in CAT-bank, procedure of experts reviewing of finished CAT, feedback mechanism, possibilities of publishing in biomedical journals); Manual for quality assesment of CAT (for experts – standardized checklist, procedure of reviewing and publishing in CAT-bank, how to deal with criticism); Learning materials in printed and electronic versions (examples of formulating questions, searching, critical apprisal, preparing for publishing in CAT bank), news release for publishing in biomedical journals and e-medical sites.
• Financing for: developers of the project, experts, Web-designer, site hosting.
• Planning for the prospective study with objectives: to investigate (1) effectiveness of training in developing CAT, (2) influence of project o­n medical practice in member organizations.

During project developing consultations with leading experts in evidence-based medicine and health informatics (V Vlassov, S Bachinski, I Ibraghimova, C Ball).

Project schedule

1 stage – developing of conception and basics of functioning of CAT-bank, planning of prospective study – 1,5 months.

2 stage – testing of system, peer-reviewing by leading experts – 1 month.

3 stage – corrections and modifications of system, preparing of Manuals – 1,5 months.

4 stage – pilot testing, announcement in biomedical journals and e-medical sites – 1 month.

5 stage – maintainance of project, current modifications, training support.

Monthly informing of donation organization about partial progress: progress in different elements of project, accordance to project schedule, production costs.

Project’s perspectives

• Increasing of participation in organization’s actions that make systematical reviews (Cochrane Collaboration, DARE, Campbell Collaboration) and national clinical practice giudeline’s makers by improving of searching and apprising skills.
• Begining of publications of the most successful and valuable CAT in leading biomedical journals and constant increasing of these publications numbers.
• Keeping of effective actions of LRC, even after stopping financing from AIHA.
• Including CAT-bank’s URL to the registers of the leading orgabizations who realize evidence-based practice.
• Total ability to pay the project – it’s own way by placing an advertisement o­n site.

What might this project influence to

• Attraction to the problems of medical infromation.
• Existence of quick and useful access to the qualitative source of structurized medical information (in Russian) for doctors from the CIS – this would be unique for o­nly Russian-speaking auditory.
• Improvement of the searching and critically appraising skills among the project’s members.
• Valuable increasing of number of Russian-language partners of AIHA.
• Increasing and strengthening AIHA’s influence as an organization; ability to getting further financing of this and other projects.
• Improving of understanding of evidence-based medicine by medical society.