Knowledge Summaries

Do you need a summary of the evidence around a particular topic? The following listed below can help you, as can your local library services.

If you have tried these sources and still require help in finding and using evidence for decision-making and informing practice, feel free to contact us and we will do all we can to help you.

NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries (formerly PRODIGY)

Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD)

The Cochrane Library

NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries (formerly PRODIGY)

The NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) are a reliable source of evidence-based information and practical 'know how' about the common conditions managed in primary care. CKS is aimed at healthcare professionals working in primary and first-contact care.

CKS is no longer commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE remains committed to providing a replacement service for CKS and is currently reviewing its options. In the meantime, CKS content will remain browsable on CKS site and also searchable on the NHS Evidence website where a wide range of additional information resources may be found, but please note that from March 2011 the content of CKS is no longer being maintained.

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Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD)

Funded by the NIHR, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) hosts the DARE database of systematic reviews; NHS EED database on  economic evaluations and the HTA database on health technology assessments.  This is a rich source of information, gathering and summarising the available evidence.  The CRD also review the reliability of systematic reviews and the strength of evidence through critical abstracts.  If a critical abstract on your area is not available, you can put in a request to the CRD to fast track the writing of individual critical abstracts.

This is an extremely useful source of good quality evidence.  They link in with a number of other information sources too, including NHS Evidence and the Cochrane Library. 

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The Cochrane Library is an international initiative that is a collection of six databases that contain different types of high quality independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making, and a seventh database that provides information about groups in the Cochrane Collaboration.

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