Virtual Cochrane Colloquium Santiago

05/12/19

Cochrane’s annual Colloquium brings together the world’s most influential health researchers, scientists, academics, opinion leaders, clinicians, and patients to promote evidence-informed decision-making. However, due to political instability in Chile at the time of the conference, #CochraneSantiago was cancelled and replaced by a virtual event. This event takes place from 2-6 december 2019 on the Colloquium website, with the overall theme being ‘Embracing Diversity’.

Each day, another topic is being discussed (see figure). Briefly, on Monday, the theme of the day is ‘Equity matters, Cochrane’s Next Frontier’. Cochrane has prioritized health equity as part of its new content strategy for all Cochrane reviews because health is inextricably linked with social determinants of health. Content of the presentations will focus on the importance of evidence on equity, how Cochrane is responding to these needs, and the rewards and challenges of using these methods in reviews.

On Tuesday, the theme of the day is ‘Stakeholder Diversity’. Considering the important role Cochrane plays in providing high-quality evidence that serves a variety of stakeholders, this day will provide an opportunity for the Cochrane community to hear from representatives of various groups, including policy makers, clinicians, and civil society and consumers.

On Wednesday, the theme of the day is ‘Methodological Diversity’. The content of the presentations will reflect on the relevance of diverse review methodologies/types for different stakeholders, and how Cochrane is currently addressing the challenge of incorporating and developing new review methods. The new Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions will also be a feature of this day.

On Thursday and Friday, the theme of the day is ‘Looking back’ and ‘Looking ahead’, respectively. First, Cochrane will look back to the past year, the past 25 years, and the importance of gathering as a community - either virtually or in person. Then, Cochrane looks ahead to 2020, the ways to get involved in Cochrane, and what the future holds for Cochrane.

 

Of course, the Cochrane Colloquium would not be the same without CEBaP. In April 2019, a total of 10 abstracts were submitted, and all were allocated a short or long oral presentation at the Cochrane Colloquium Santiago (22-25 October 2019). Due to the cancellation of this event, CEBaP decided to contribute to the Virtual Cochrane Colloquium, by giving five oral presentations. The links to the presentations are available below:

Tuesday: Understanding and using evidence

• Title: “Teaching first aid to African vs. Belgian children: how contextualization of the same evidence results in different guidelines“

Tuesday: Knowledge translation and communicating evidence

• Title: “Cochrane First Aid: a global platform for guideline developers, trainers and laypeople”
• Title: “Development of an evidence-based guideline when evidence is scarce: The importance of a balanced guideline panel”

Tuesday: Patient or healthcare consumers involvement and shared decision-making

• Title: “How mental health experts and patient representatives contribute to the development of a first aid manual for mental health problems“

Wednesday: Inclusion of non-randomized designs

• Title: “How to rate the certainty of prediction modelling studies in a systematic review?”

We hope you enjoy our contributions!