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During the last two years a small group of researchers (Ben Adler, Gisela Creed, David Stott) in the Academic Section of Geriatric Medicine in Glasgow has collated and summarised Cochrane evidence for best practice in healthcare and rehabilitation for frail older people and synthesised this into a website for dissemination.

This project was commissioned by the Greater Glasgow Health Board. Titles and abstracts in the Cochrane database for systematic reviews were hand-searched for relevant content. The selection was refined with focus on common health problems in old age (i.e. continence, falls etc.) and different models of service organisation (i.e. acute care, long-term care etc.) for older people. A searchable database consisting of a content tree with themes, sub-topics, questions and interventions with evidence statements, was created and a website developed to disseminate the information. The database currently contains evidence statements from more than 250 interventions in relation to 19 different topics and is openly accessible on the web from 10 September 2007. It is hoped that the website will be of value to healthcare workers and providers of health services for older people giving a rapid overview of the richness of information that is available on Cochrane.

David Stott
Academic Section Geriatric Medicine
Glasgow Royal Infirmary

BGS Newsletter, October 2007
Issue 13 ISSN 1748-6343 13