PHILADELPHIA – Penn Medicine’s Center for Evidence-based Practice is one of 11 institutions to join the newly formed Cochrane U. S Network, representing a significant national expansion of global efforts to improve the quality of health care. The Cochrane U.S. Network will be part of Cochrane, a global independent network of researchers, professionals, patients, caregivers and people interested in health. Cochrane produces systematic reviews that study all of the best available evidence generated through research and makes it easier to inform decisions about health.
The Penn Medicine Center for Evidence-based Practice (CEP) was established in 2006 to support patient care quality, safety, and value through promoting evidence-based practice. CEP performs rapid systematic reviews to inform institutional decision-making, translates evidence into practice through clinical decision support interventions and clinical pathways, and provides education in evidence-based quality improvement to trainees, staff, and faculty.
As a Cochrane Affiliate Center, CEP will identify and disseminate relevant Cochrane reviews directly to Penn Medicine’s clinical leadership to inform routine decision making, and adapt Cochrane evidence into point-of-care clinical tools to meet the health system’s highest priority needs. CEP will also connect Penn clinicians, trainees, students, and staff with opportunities to participate in developing new Cochrane reviews, and to receive training in Cochrane’s gold standard methodologies for evaluating and synthesizing medical evidence. Additionally, as part of Cochrane’s global network, CEP will collaborate with Cochrane colleagues to develop the methodologies necessary for rapid evidence synthesis products responsive to the needs of health system leaders.
The Cochrane U.S. Network is an important new step in expanding the global organization’s national impact. Cochrane’s presence in the United States previously included the Cochrane U.S. West Associate Center based at Oregon Health & Science University; three Cochrane Review Groups producing systematic reviews in neonatal health, fertility regulation, and urological conditions; three U.S. satellites of Cochrane Review Groups focusing on eyes and vision, pregnancy and childbirth, and musculoskeletal disease; and one field specializing in complementary medicine.
Now, the new U.S. Network will partner these groups with several of the country’s leading institutions in the research and practice of evidence-based medicine, to join Cochrane’s 70 existing geographic Groups around the world. Penn Medicine CEP and the other 10 new Affiliate institutions—Academy Health; American College of Physicians; Central Michigan University; Cornell University; Mayo Clinic Evidence-based Practice Center; RTI International – University of North Carolina Evidence-based Practice Center; Texas Christian University; University of Chicago Medical Center; University of Colorado; and University of Maryland School of Medicine—will spearhead this effort.
The Cochrane U.S. Network will promote evidence-informed decision making in health care in the United States by supporting systematic reviews, training review authors, and educating users, as well as working with clinicians, professional associations, policymakers, patients, healthcare provider organizations, and the media to encourage the dissemination and use of Cochrane evidence. Cochrane is a not-for profit organization with over 65,000 members and supporters from more than 130 countries working together to produce credible, accessible health information that is free from commercial sponsorship and other conflicts of interest. Cochrane’s work is recognized as representing an international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.