The need for systematic reviews in family planning.

A survey on the response of clinicians when faced with challenging clinical problems has revealed several disturbing facts. The most common of the responses was to consult a respected authority which is regrettably a poor source of advice. The next most common response was to consult a text or clinical guidelines. However evidence indicates that textbooks can be dangerously obsolete for treatment recommendations because of authors inability to keep up with the literature. The least common survey response was to perform a Medline search. In response the Cochrane Collaboration was established to help clinicians access evidences on medical practice. Although such access is important for clinicians to practice evidence-based medicine this could be difficult for clinicians in developing countries where resources are limited. To address this problem an electronic medium can be used to access to systematic reviews of important clinical topics. These systematic reviews are needed by family planning clinicians as a guide to their practice.