The Nova Scotia Cochrane Resource Centre

via IHRTP.ca

Dr. Don Weaver will give a talk on “Intellectual Property: Who Owns Your Research?” on May 23^rd, 1:00pm – 2:00pm at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Weaver is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience. This talk is part of the Integrated Health Research Training Partnership Research Skills Program.

View the flyer here (PDF).

The Health Council of Canada has just released a new report, “Measuring and reporting on health system performance in Canada: Opportunities for improvement” (PDF – May 2012). With included examples from across the country, the focus of the report is on accountability in national and provincial health systems.

The report forward notes:

The need to improve the overall performance of Canada’s health care system has become a common point of discussion among health care leaders and policy-makers as we draw closer to the end of the current health accords and begin to see more clearly the new opportunities and challenges that will form the context for our future health system.

About The Health Council of Canada:

The Council provides a system-wide perspective on health care reform in Canada, and disseminates information on leading practices and innovation across the country. The Councillors are appointed by the participating provincial and territorial governments and the Government of Canada.

Announcement: The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is now available in Spanish!

From the Cochrane Operations Unit:

“We are delighted to let you know that the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is now available in Spanish: http://www.cochrane.org/training/cochrane-handbook. Many congratulations to Xavier Bonfill and the team at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre on this fantastic achievement.”

This news is particularly relevant to the Dalhousie University research community:

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is planning to close their interlibrary loan service as of February 2013 due to recently announced federal budget cuts that will see the loss of over 300 positions related to archives, and major cuts to or elimination of programs that support researchers across the country.

Read more here on the Dalhousie Libraries blog.

On Wednesday May 9 from 4-6 pm, the Atlantic Health Promotion Research Centre will host a panel discussion and debate on the topic of drug policies impacting community health. From the event promotional poster:

Drug policies (or lack thereof) affect our communities. Join our panelists for an interactive discussion on what works, what doesn’t, and what we need to change in order to reduce the harms associated with drug use.

The event will take place at Pipa Restaurant on Argyle Street in Halifax. Read the event advertisement here (PDF). Check the AHPRC website for announcements of other events related to health promotion.

Do you organize or know of events going on or resources available in Nova Scotia that might be of interest to those involved with health research? The NSCRC is now collecting items for our spring 2012 newsletter (to be published in mid-May) and news items or notices of upcoming events are welcome. We are also always on the lookout for health researchers conducting systematic reviews for our research spotlight!

Please contact us at Cochrane.NS@Dal.ca with your news or questions, and please note that the NSCRC reserves the right to modify submitted items according to space constraints, or to publish them on our website if appropriate, time-sensitive, or received after the publication of the spring newsletter.

We look forward to hearing from you!

On behalf of the workshop organizers:

Registration deadline: May 15, 2012

Cost: none

Join your colleagues from the Atlantic Provinces to learn about the research results on The Next Generation of Nurse Leaders project and to share ideas about practice and policy.

Wednesday June 6, 2012
8 am – 12 noon
Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Halifax
Attendees include: Nurse Leaders, Researchers, Policy Makers, Students/Trainees and individuals with an interest in Nursing
Health Research
At the conference participants can:

• Share nursing research findings that raise important implications for nursing education, practice, research, and health policy in the Atlantic Canadian context.
• Engage in discussions about possible strategies for recruiting and retaining nurses in leadership positions.
• Network for the exchange of ideas and expertise within and beyond the nursing community.

To register, email Lisa.speigel@acadiau.ca or phone 1-902-585-1671
There is no conference fee. Coffee breaks will be provided.

Deadline for applications: Thursday, May 31, 2012

Stipends application is now open for the 20^th Cochrane Colloquium this fall (Sept. 30 – Oct. 3, 2012) in Auckland, New Zealand.

From the 20^th Cochrane Colloquium website announcement:

“Do you need financial support to get to the Colloquium? A limited number of stipends to help cover registration, travel costs, accommodation and other expenses associated with attending the 20th Cochrane Colloquium in Auckland are available for Cochrane consumers and contributors from developing countries.”

For more information regarding application criteria and the application process, please visit http://colloquium.cochrane.org/colloquium-stipends.

This is a reminder for the ‘save the date’ posting from March 22, 2012. Hopefully you already RSVP’d, but just in case…

Are you thinking of conducting a systematic review? Do you have an idea for a systematic review but aren’t sure how to refine your question? Are you interested in finding out more about what’s involved in conducting a systematic review from colleagues who are currently working on reviews or who have completed reviews in the past?

Join us for the first in a series of informal networking sessions jointly hosted by the Nova Scotia Cochrane Resource Centre (NSCRC) and the Research Methods Unit (RMU) of Capital Health, the IWK Health Centre, and Dalhousie University.

When: May 4, 2012 from 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Where: 5790 University Avenue, the Centre for Clinical Research, RMU Conference room 114 Due to great response to this event, we will be holding it in a larger venue – please RSVP for details!

What: A very brief presentation about what is involved in conducting a systematic review, and resources available through the NSCRC and the RMU. Local experts in systematic review methodology, statistics, search strategy design and database searching, study quality assessment, and software used to conduct reviews will be available for questions and discussion, in addition to authors and researchers who have worked on Cochrane systematic review projects. Learn from those with expertise in specific aspects of systematic reviews, or who have already been involved in working on one!

Light refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP to Cochrane.NS@Dal.ca, and feel free to include a comment about your area of interest/research so we can connect you with colleagues doing similar work and experts able to answer your questions about how to proceed with a systematic review project.