Effectiveness & Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services

Here is the original textbook on 'evidence-based medicine', a term with which few doctors and other healthcare professionals can fail to be familiar. Originally published in 1972, Archie Cochrane's classic text has had a profound influence on the practice of medicine and on the evaluation of medical interventions. He was the first to set out clearly the vital importance of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in assessing the effectiveness of treatments, and his work led to the setting-up of the Cochrane Collaboration, now a world-wide endeavour dedicated to tracking down, evaluating and synthesising RCTs in all areas of medicine.

The message contained in this book is as relevant to clinicians, healthcare managers and policy-makers now as it was in the 1970s. In addition, this new paperback edition of Cochrane's work contains a brand new Introduction by Professor Chris Silagy, who was the first elected Chair of the international Cochrane Collaboration, and a Foreword by Dr Iain Chalmers, Director of the UK Cochrane Centre, the first such centre to be established. Professor Silagy looks at the post-Cochrane agenda, in particular the growth and empowerment of consumers taking more responsibility for their own healthcare decisions, and the influence of consumers on the development of an evidence-based approach to their healthcare.