Awareness and use of evidence-based medicine databases and Cochrane Library among physicians in Croatia.

AIM: To assess awareness and use of evidence-based medicine (EBM) databases and The Cochrane Library among physicians in Croatia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with a telephone survey was performed among 573 physicians (88.6% response rate from 647 contacted physicians) from family practice and 4 major university hospital centers in Croatia. The main outcome measures were physicians' awareness of The Cochrane Collaboration, awareness and use of The Cochrane Library, access to EBM databases, and access to internet at work. RESULTS: Overall, 54% of respondents said they had access to EBM databases, but when asked which databases they used, they named mostly non-EBM databases. The question on the highest level of evidence in EBM was correctly answered by 53% respondents, 30% heard of The Cochrane Collaboration, and 34% heard about The Cochrane Library. They obtained information about The Cochrane Library mostly from colleagues and research articles, whereas the information about EBM was gained mainly during continuous medical education. There were more respondents who thought The Cochrane Library could help them in practice (58%) than those who heard about The Cochrane Library (30%). Only 20% of the respondents heard about the initiative for the establishment of the Croatian branch of The Cochrane Collaboration. Family physicians had significantly lower level of awareness, knowledge, and use of EBM and The Cochrane Library than physicians from university hospitals. CONCLUSION: There is low awareness about EBM and The Cochrane Library among physicians in Croatia, which creates a need for educational interventions about EBM for the benefit of health care in Croatia.

[Prostate carcinoma patients treated in county hospital Cakovec in past two years]. / Bolesnici lijeceni zbog karcinoma prostate u zupanijskoj bolnici Cakovec u protekle dvije godine.

Prostate carcinoma is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in men of middle and older age. It is second diagnosed malignant tumor among men in USA and in Europe. Hereby, we'd like to show the number of treated patients at our hospital between January 2002 and January 2004. We made a retrospective analysis of patients' histories, discharge letters and operation protocols. During that period 70 transrectal biopsies (12 cilindars) were made, finding prostate carcinomas at 39 patients. Three patients with negative biopsies were incidentally diagnosed at TURP. Average age of treated patients was 72 years (51-90), with Gleason score 6.12 and PSA average 32.4 (5.2-159). Ten radical prostatectomies, 23 subcapsular orchidectomies and 6 chemical castrations by LH-RH agonists were made. Further palliative irradiation was performed in 7 patients with bone metastases and radical irradiation in 16 patients unable to undergone surgery. Only early detection of disease can lead to successful treatment, so we should search for prostate tumor in all male patients who come to see urologist and are older than 50 years.