McMaster Health Forum | Cochrane Policy Liaison Office

The Cochrane Policy Liaison Office (CPLO) is a sub-structure of the Michael DeGroote Cochrane Canada Centre at McMaster University and works to increase the use of Cochrane reviews among health-system leaders (policymakers and stakeholders).

Activities of the CPLO include developing policy resources and tools (e.g., Health Systems Evidence, which incorporates all Cochrane systematic reviews related to health-system arrangements and implementation strategies, and is available in five languages), profiling Cochrane reviews in rapid syntheses, evidence briefs and citizen briefs prepared to support policy processes (both directly as products in their own right and indirectly through stakeholder dialogues and citizen panels), providing education and training activities targeted at health-system leaders (e.g., Health Systems Learning), promoting the use of evidence in policymaking (e.g., conference presentations), and creating linkages with relevant governments and organizations. Increasing the use of evidence by health-system leaders can help to ensure that the right programs, services and drugs get to the Canadians who need them.

The CPLO currently has two main websites: the McMaster Health Forum and Health Systems Evidence. The CPLO periodically profiles Cochrane-related work on the McMaster Health Forum website. However, Health Systems Evidence (HSE) is the primary site for promoting and disseminating Cochrane reviews. HSE also includes three portals containing policy-relevant documents: 

1. Ontario’s Health System Documents Portal;
2. Canada’s Health Systems Documents Portal; and
3. Intergovernmental Organizations’ Health Systems Documents Portal.

Having these portals integrated within HSE means results of searches for policy-relevant documents will prompt users to view related research evidence, including Cochrane reviews, and searches for Cochrane reviews will prompt users to view related policy-relevant documents.

The CPLO is hosted within the McMaster Health Forum. For more information about the CPLO, please contact François-Pierre Gauvin at gauvinf@mcmaster.ca.