The latest evidence and resources for nurses and clinical support staff. You can either scroll through this page or click on any of the links below to jump to the relevant section.
Please note, unlike the rest of our blogs, our Evidence for Nursing: new evidence and resources blogs will not be updated.
Helping you keep up-to-date with evidence
We are now changing these blogs from quarterly to every two months, bringing you new evidence more quickly, and now giving you the bottom line of the Cochrane Reviews we include. You can still give your feedback on our content – how can we make it more useful for you?
- COVID-19
- Air pollution
- Care of the newborn
- Cardiac rehabilitation
- Delirium prevention
- Dementia
- Dietary salt for people with chronic kidney disease
- Hypertension – walking
- Infertility and subfertility
- Pressure ulcers
- Lifestyle modifications for people with non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease
- Reducing sedentary behaviour in older adults
- Spatial neglect/inattention following stroke or adult brain injury
- Urethral catheters – strategies for removal
- Vaccine uptake
- Venous leg ulcers
- Opportunities, news and events
COVID-19
COVID-19
This year, Cochrane is continuing to produce new and updated reviews in response to the pandemic. We have blogged about many of them and this blog COVID-19 evidence: a Cochrane round-up brings together a large collection of evidence and resources, starting from when this evidence was first being produced in spring 2020. Like the reviews themselves, all our blogs are updated to reflect new evidence.
Cochrane Special Collections
Cochrane Special Collections assemble Cochrane Reviews on important topics for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. They are developed with experts from our global Cochrane network. They are based on World Health Organization interim guidance, and continuously updated. You can find Coronavirus (COVID-19) Special Collections here.
Those updated in July include:
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): remote care through telehealth
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): infection control and prevention measures
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): evidence relevant to critical care
Cochrane Podcasts
Cochrane COVID-19 Podcasts offer short summaries of Cochrane COVID-19 reviews from the authors themselves. A good way to hear the latest Cochrane evidence in under 5 minutes each.
Cochrane Clinical Answers
Cochrane Clinical Answers (CCAs) provide a readable, digestible, clinically-focused entry point to rigorous research from Cochrane Reviews. They are designed to be actionable and to inform point-of-care decision-making. Each CCA contains a clinical question, a short answer, and data for the outcomes from the Cochrane Review deemed most relevant to practising healthcare professionals. The evidence is displayed in a user-friendly tabulated format that includes narratives, data, and links to graphics.
You can find Cochrane Clinical Answers related to COVID-19 here.
Air pollution
Cochrane news item: What can individuals do to avoid the effects of air pollution?
Care of the newborn, including preterm infants
Early postnatal discharge from hospital
Cochrane Clinical Answer: What are the effects of early postnatal discharge from hospital for healthy mothers and term infants?
Opioid withdrawal in newborns
The Cochrane Review Opioid treatment for opioid withdrawal in newborn infants was updated in July 2021 with new trials added and conclusions changed.
Patent ductus arteriosus
Cochrane Clinical Answers:
- How does very early (within three days) treatment compare with expectant management of hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in preterm infants?
- How does early (within 7 days) treatment compare with expectant management of hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in preterm infants?
Tube feeding of preterm and low birth weight infants
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The authors of a Cochrane Review Push versus gravity for intermittent bolus gavage tube feeding of preterm and low birth weight infants (August 2021) found a single small study with 31 infants and conclude that “we do not have sufficient evidence to determine the effects of intermittent bolus gavage feeding for preterm and low birth weight infants.”
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The authors of the Cochrane Review Slow advancement of enteral feed volumes to prevent necrotising enterocolitis in very low birth weight infants (August 2021) found that “advancing enteral feed volumes slowly (daily increments up to 24 mL/kg) compared with faster rates probably does not reduce the risk of necrotising enterocolitis, death, or feed intolerance in very preterm or very low birth weight infants. Advancing the volume of enteral feeds at a slow rate may slightly increase the risk of invasive infection.”
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The authors of the Cochrane Review Short versus long feeding interval for bolus feedings in very preterm infants (August 2021) conclude that “The low‐certainty evidence we found in this review suggests that there may be no clinically important differences between two‐ and three‐hourly feeding intervals. There is insufficient information about potential feeding complications and in particular necrotising enterocolitis. No studies have looked at the effect of other feeding intervals and there is no long‐term data on neurodevelopment or growth.”
Cardiac rehabilitation
Cochrane Clinical Answer: What are the effects of exercise‐based cardiac rehabilitation for adults after heart valve surgery?
Delirium prevention
Delirium is common in hospitalised patients. The authors of a Cochrane Review on Non‐pharmacological interventions for preventing delirium in hospitalised non‐ICU patients (July 2021) have concluded:
- “There is moderate‐certainty evidence regarding the benefit of multicomponent non‐pharmacological interventions for the prevention of delirium in hospitalised adults, estimated to reduce incidence by 43% compared to usual care.
- We found no evidence of an effect on mortality.
- There is emerging evidence that these interventions may reduce hospital length of stay, with a trend towards reduced delirium duration, although the effect on delirium severity remains uncertain.”
Dementia
Our blog Tube feeding for people with severe dementia: making decisions includes professional and personal reflections, plus practical advice and resources.
There is a also a Cochrane Clinical Answer What are the benefits and harms of enteral tube feeding for people with severe dementia?
Dietary salt for people with chronic kidney disease
Dietary salt for people with chronic kidney disease
The authors of a Cochrane Review Altered dietary salt intake for people with chronic kidney disease (June 2021) found high certainty evidence that salt reduction reduced blood pressure in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and albuminuria in people with earlier stage CKD in the short‐term. They state that “if such reductions could be maintained long‐term, this effect may translate to clinically significant reductions in CKD progression and cardiovascular events. Research into the long‐term effects of sodium‐restricted diet for people with CKD is warranted.”
Hypertension – walking
Cochrane Clinical Answer: What are the benefits and harms of walking to prevent and control hypertension?
There is also an Evidently Cochrane blog Can walking help lower your blood pressure? The latest Cochrane evidence.
Infertility and subfertility
IVF add-ons
The Cochrane Special Collection In vitro fertilisation – effectiveness of add-ons was updated in July 2021. There is also an Evidently Cochrane blog IVF add-ons: the latest Cochrane evidence:
Preconception lifestyle advice
Cochrane Podcast: Does preconception lifestyle advice help people with infertility to have a baby?
Lifestyle modifications for people with non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease
Cochrane Clinical Answer: For people with non–alcohol‐related fatty liver disease, how do lifestyle modifications compare?
Pressure ulcers
In a blog for nurses, Support surfaces for managing pressure ulcers: which to choose?, Chunhu Shi, a nurse and lead author of a Cochrane Overview Beds, overlays and mattresses for preventing and treating pressure ulcers: an overview of Cochrane Reviews and network meta-analysis, shares what the latest evidence tells us about support surfaces for managing pressure ulcers, and what we still don’t know.
Cochrane Clinical Answer: What are the effects of alternative reactive support surfaces (non‐foam and non‐air‐filled) for preventing pressure ulcers?
Reducing sedentary behaviour in older adults
In a Cochrane news item Get up, stand up: new review looks at reducing sedentary behaviour in older adults the lead author of the review Interventions for reducing sedentary behaviour in community‐dwelling older adults (June 2021) discusses the findings.
Spatial neglect/inattention following stroke or adult brain injury
The authors of a Cochrane Review Non‐pharmacological interventions for spatial neglect or inattention following stroke and other non‐progressive brain injury (July 2021) have concluded that “no rehabilitation approach can be supported or refuted based on current evidence from RCTs. As recommended by a number of national clinical guidelines, clinicians should continue to provide rehabilitation for neglect that enables people to meet their rehabilitation goals. Clinicians and stroke survivors should have the opportunity, and are strongly encouraged, to participate in research.”
Urethral catheters – strategies for removal
The Cochrane Review Strategies for the removal of short‐term indwelling urethral catheters in adults was updated in June 2021. The authors conclude “There is some evidence to suggest the removal of indwelling urethral catheters late at night rather than early in the morning may reduce the number of people who require recatheterisation.
It appears that catheter removal after shorter compared to longer durations probably reduces the risk of symptomatic catheter‐associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and may reduce the risk of dysuria. However, it may lead to more people requiring recatheterisation. The other evidence relating to the risk of symptomatic CAUTI and dysuria is too uncertain to allow us to draw any conclusions.”
The review is one of several included in the blog Short-term catheterisation: considerations for best practice.
Vaccine uptake
Based on evidence from systematic reviews, Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) has prepared three information leaflets for health systems planners and implementers involved in developing vaccine communication strategies. You can read more and find the leaflets in Communicating to the public about vaccines and using digital strategies to promote vaccine uptake: information for planners and implementers.
Venous leg ulcers
A Cochrane Review Compression bandages or stockings versus no compression for treating venous leg ulcers (July 2021) has found that:
- “If using compression bandages or stockings, people with venous leg ulcers probably experience complete wound healing more quickly, and more people have wounds completely healed.
- The use of compression bandages or stockings probably reduces pain and may improve disease‐specific quality of life.
- There is uncertainty about adverse effects, and cost effectiveness.”
Opportunities, news and events
Cochrane Nutrition have a newsletter and invite you to sign up to keep up with nutrition evidence and news.
Our colleagues at Cochrane Rehabilitation describe their function as “a bridge between Cochrane and all Rehabilitation stakeholders. On one side, it drives evidence and methods developed by Cochrane to the world of Rehabilitation, and on the other, it conveys priorities, needs and specificities of Rehabilitation back to Cochrane.” Learn more from their recent conversation with Science in the Break.
On this page, Important Cochrane Links, you can find opportunities to get involved, including how to join Cochrane, find volunteer tasks, or jump into the Cochrane Library.
This year World Evidence-Based Healthcare (EBHC) Day will be on October 20. Cochrane and six other leaders in evidence-based health care put the spotlight on the global impact of evidence on healthcare research, policy, practice and health outcomes. Read here about the Launch of World Evidence-Based Healthcare Day 2021: the role of evidence in an infodemic.
Please note that this page includes a round-up of materials mainly published within the last two months, and is not updated after it’s posted.
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I must say that this blog is an absolute gem. It’s great to see a comprehensive collection of up-to-date information that’s relevant to our field. The blog does an excellent job of summarizing the key findings and providing practical insights for nurses to apply in their daily practice. Kudos to the authors for curating such valuable content! It’s definitely worth a read for any nurse looking to stay informed and enhance their skills. Keep up the good work!